believing he was called to preach, pettit enrolled in bob jones university seminary and graduate school of religion, where in 1980 he graduated with an ma in pastoral studies. he served as an assistant pastor at the first baptist church, bridgeport, michigan, from 1980 until 1985 and then formed his own steve pettit evangelistic association with headquarters in pembine, wisconsin. he and his evangelistic teams of young people in their 20s conducted more than 800 evangelistic campaigns throughout the united states and in more than 21 countries. pettit also served as staff evangelist (1985-2002) and camp director (2002-11) at northland camp and conference center, dunbar, wisconsin. in 2011, he became national director of cross impact ministries. pettit has been featured in a number of recordings playing the mandolin, and he has written several devotional books.