Stephen Knowles was born and grew up in Long Beach, California.  In college, he studied English literature, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1972.  The summer of that year, he married Florence, and today they have two daughters.

Steve next attended San Francisco Theological Seminary, the only Presbyterian U.S.A. seminary in the western United States. He received his Master of Divinity degree there in 1975. Part of his course work included a year of internship at the First Presbyterian Church of Inglewood, Calif.   After a year there, he was ordained as a pastor and served two more years there as an assistant pastor.   Many African-Americans were beginning to attend this church, which was in what once had been a predominately white area of Los Angeles.  He handled new member orientation classes.  Along with Florence, he sang with the young adult choir, a group that specialized in Black Gospel music.

In 1977, Pastor Steve got his own congregation, taking a church in southern Utah, the Cedar City Community Presbyterian Church.  While there, he began a branch church in La Verkin, Utah, about 40 miles south of Cedar City.  This has evolved into a congregation of more than 300 in St. George.

In 1981, Pastor Steve returned to San Francisco Seminary, this time to complete a Master of Arts degree in pastoral psychology.  As part of his fieldwork, he directed a service center for the Salvation Army in San Rafael, Calif.

Next, Pastor Steve took a church in Templeton, Calif., where he oversaw construction of a new sanctuary and office wing for the congregation, begun with a $550,000 bequest from a member of the community.

From there, it was a move north. In February 1996, the Rev. Stephen Knowles was named pastor of Emmanuel Presbyterian Church in Bothell, Wash.