Retired Covenant pastor Steve Hickey passed away on June 27, 2025, in Soldotna, Alaska. He was 58.
Steven Andrew Hickey was born on June 4, 1967, to parents Robert and Nancy Hickey in Chicago, Illinois. He moved with his parents and older brother, David, to Johnson County, Kansas, where Steve developed a lifelong love of baseball, bowling, fishing, Boy Scouts, the Kansas City Royals, and box turtles. The family later relocated to Wisconsin, where Steve graduated from Milton High School. He played football and found a love for farming through Future Farmers of America.
After high school, Steve had a genuine encounter with Jesus that changed his life. He became a youth pastor at Hillcrest Covenant Church in Prairie Village, Kansas, where he met the love of his life, Kristen Olson. They married on November 19, 1988. Their first child, Caleb, was born in Kansas City before the family moved to Chicago so Steve could attend North Park Theological Seminary. While there, he served at Edgebrook Covenant Church and welcomed two more children, Thomas and Catherine. Steve earned a master of divinity from North Park in 1994 and was ordained by the Evangelical Covenant Church in 1996.
The Hickeys then moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where Steve planted what is now Church at the Gate. He also served as a chaplain with the Sioux Falls Police Department and the Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office. He cherished deep friendships with Native American communities and worked to establish the church locally and abroad.
Steve was elected to the South Dakota House of Representatives for three terms. He was especially proud of his work to eliminate payday and title lending. He also championed the cause of Native peoples abused in Christian boarding schools and stood with those who had been wounded, marginalized, and forgotten.
Steve’s lifelong pursuit of Jesus and his interest in the Sermon on the Mount shaped him into an ethicist. He championed a consistent pro-life ethic, advocating for abortion bans, the repeal of the death penalty, and nonviolence in all forms—whether related to cage fighting or factory farming. His writing increasingly focused on creation care, the tragedy of perpetual war, and the Christian call to mercy, justice, and generosity.
After being diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, Steve devoted his remaining years to teaching and writing. He earned a master’s degree in theological ethics and a Ph.D. from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. His scholarship centered on Leo Tolstoy’s interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount and resulted in two books: Tolstoy’s Novel Idea and Second Tolstoy: The Sermon on the Mount as Theo-Tactics. A prolific writer, Steve also wrote about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, church planting, and enemy love.
In his final years, Steve and Kristen lived in Alaska, where he served as faculty chair of the Christian ministries department at Alaska Christian College. A double lung transplant in 2022 gave him three more precious years with his loved ones. When chronic rejection set in, Steve turned his gaze toward eternity. He became captivated by the hope of heaven—not as escape, but as the Christian’s true home.
In honor of his passing, flags were held at half-staff at the South Dakota State Capitol in Pierre.
Steve was preceded in death by his parents and grandparents. He is survived by his wife of 36 years, Kristen Hickey; their son, Caleb, and his wife, Elena, and their children, Jack, Oliver, and Ada; their son, Thomas, and his wife, Melody, and their daughters, Eowyn, Piper, and Luna; their daughter, Katherine; and his brother, David, and his wife, Drew Hickey.
A celebration of life was held at Peninsula Grace Church in Soldotna, Alaska, on Wednesday, July 2, 2025.
Peace be to his memory.
