Steele Michael, our parish intern, comes to us from Grace Episcopal Church, Brunswick, where he pursued music ministry and outreach before he heard the call to discernment and Exploring Baptismal Ministry with the Diocese of Maryland. That amazing journey in God’s call for all of us to ordained or lay ministry also introduced Steele to Fr. Chris Tang, an EBM mentor, and Steele is delighted to discern the priesthood at St. Mark’s.

Steele grew up on a farm in Frederick County, and he graduated from Saint James School, an Episcopal prep school near Hagerstown, MD. He received his B.A. from the University of the South in Sewanee, TN, and after training in theatre production at Central Washington University, Steele pursued a career in theatre management & dramaturgy. Along with his late spouse, Kirk Bowers, they owned Frederick’s costume & tuxedo rental shop which they renamed Stage & Screen and sold in 2019.

Currently, Steele is in Pathways to Ministry, an introductory degree at Virginia Theological Seminary while he works towards postulancy in the final stage of discernment with the diocese, Discerning Ordained Vocations. His new interests are Biblical Greek and practical theology, and he welcomes this amazing pastoral opportunity at St. Mark’s Highland!