Steve Pridemore is Hillside’s Lead Pastor. He provides overall leadership to the church and staff and oversees the Alpha Course, Small Groups, Church Administration and Facilities, along with various other activities and events for adults. Steve is also Hillside’s primary teaching pastor.
Steve grew up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where his parents were missionaries for twenty years. Though he grew up in the church he could not bring himself to believe in God. “I saw God as a beautiful idea, but I had no reason to believe it was a true idea.” That changed in college during a winter backpacking trip. “I think God decided it was time for me to believe. I experienced an undeniable sense of his presence, deeper than my objections and doubts. That has never left me.” Steve has spent the last fifteen years exploring the implications of a world in which God is not only a beautiful idea but a true idea. Everything he does as a pastor is an attempt to live and share the beauty and the truth of God.
Steve graduated from Wheaton College, just outside Chicago, with a multidisciplinary degree focused on philosophy, art and art history. He then spent a year in the Middle East and North Africa where he studied Arabic and helped develop materials to educate churches about the people of the Sudan. Shortly after returning to the United States he moved to Mill Valley where he earned a Master of Divinity degree from Golden Gate Theological Seminary. Before coming to Hillside he spent several years working for the David B Gold Foundation in San Francisco. In 2006 Steve began working at Hillside as the Pastor of Spiritual Formation and served as Hillside’s Executive Pastor until March of 2014 when he assumed the position of Lead Pastor.
Both Steve and his wife Jessica love Marin and the people who live here. They were married in January ’06 and now live in Novato. Their son, Kyle, was born in April of 2011 and their daughter, Claire, was born in November of 2012.
When asked about hobbies and interests Steve has a hard time narrowing down the answer. He will talk about playing with his kids, cooking, backpacking, and travel, then talk about how he loves the opera. He has traveled to six continents (Antarctica is still on his list) and backpacked all over the United States. “I love exploring. There is always another flavor to taste, another summit to climb, another culture to experience.” But give him a minute and he’ll tell you that what he really loves is getting to know people and helping them get to know God, and that is why he is our pastor.
