Biography

Hi!  Thanks for visiting my website.

My name is Stephen Craig Marcy.  Here is a summary biography divided into sections that include my professional trade, academic education, teaching and ministry experiences, and a personal profile. I hope you find this page interesting and informative, and that it adds some personal context to what you read on my site.

---

Professional Trade

Steve is a Steinway-trained concert piano technician.  He began his career in 1977 as an apprentice in the Steinway Concert & Artist Department that was housed in the famed “Steinway basement” at Steinway Hall at 109 West 57^th Street in Manhattan.

Steve was part of a team of four technicians led by Franz Mohr who were tasked with the preparation, regulation, and tuning of the concert stock of Steinway grand pianos. These pianos were used by world-renowned artists such as Vladimir Horowitz, Rudolph Serkin, Glenn Gould, Alicia de Larrocha, Claudio Arrau, Eugene Istomin, et al. for performances in Carnegie Hall, the Carnegie Recital Hall, Lincoln Center, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Broadway Theaters, and other major music venues throughout New York City.

Steve also worked as a Steinway Retail Service Technician, tuning and regulating pianos in private residences in New York City, Long Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey.

As the Steinway National Service Manager working from the Steinway factory in Long Island City, New York, Steve was responsible for assessing and remedying warranty issues nationwide.  In this capacity, he also gave factory tours and taught Steinway technical seminars at the national Piano Technicians Guild conventions in Long Beach, CA, and Kansas City, MO.

Working for the Steinway Factory Quality-Control Department required detailed examination of new instruments for retail sales. As Administrator of Technical Training at Steinway Hall in New York, he trained technicians in proper tuning and regulation procedures.

In the Charlotte area where he now resides, Steve regulated and tuned for a performance by Andre Watts with the Charlotte Symphony. Other venues he has tuned for include the Halton Theater, McGlohon Theatre, and the Bechtler Museum. He has also regulated and tuned the Steinway concert grands at Queens University, Davidson College, and Winthrop University.

For a time, Steve was also employed as the campus piano technician at the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music in Wheaton, Illinois, his alma mater from which he holds a Bachelor of Arts and two Master of Arts degrees.

---

Formal Academic Education

Steve is a three-time graduate of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, and a theologian by education.  He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biblical Studies (‘83), a Master of Arts degree in New Testament Theology (‘88), and a Master of Arts Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with majors in Old Testament Theology and Educational Ministries (‘97).

He also attended the Wheaton in the Holy Lands Program, which consisted of intensive studies in biblical archaeology, the geography of Israel, and Old Testament history, along with six weeks of travel and study in Israel, Greece, and Italy.

During graduate school, Steve provided leadership assistance on a trip to Washington, D.C. for International Graduate Students. The trip provided these students with the opportunity to learn, discuss, and debate about the unique history, foundations, and functions of American Government.

---

Teaching and Ministry Experience

Steve’s experiences in this regard have been quite diverse.

In the churches he attended, he has taught many Adult Bible classes. These included the following book studies: the Gospel of Luke, Romans, Philippians, Job, Proverbs, Genesis, and the Gospel of John. Topical studies included: “The Coming of the Kingdom: Scriptural Studies on the Kingdom of God”; “The Doctrine of Scripture: Inspiration, Inerrancy, Authority, Text Criticism, and Translations” and a “Christ or Culture” course, which is a curriculum Steve developed consisting of the following topics: Biblical Foundations of Culture, Worldliness, Practical Atheism, Politics & Economics, Feminism & Marriage, Issues of Personhood and Radical Discipleship.

Steve was an instructor in the Center for Adult Leadership and Learning at The King’s College in New York City, New York.  This is an interdisciplinary program allowing adult students to complete a Bachelor of Science Degree in Organizational Management.  Steve taught the Judeo-Christian Values in the Workplace course at their Empire State Building campus.

Steve was also a Residence Director at Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky.  He supervised a college dormitory of 150 students and was responsible for overseeing the physical and financial administration of the building as well as the educational and spiritual development of 7 staff members and the students, which included counseling, discipline, and activity programming.

He was also the Assistant Director of the Outdoor Adventure Program at The Stony Brook School in Stony Brook, New York.  He compiled, documented, and submitted philosophy and practice proposals for future Outdoor Adventure programs and assisted in teaching group initiatives and ropes course activities.   

At The Summit School in Forest Hills, New York, Steve was a Special Education Industrial Arts Instructor.  He organized and managed a fully equipped woodshop, developed and taught a woodworking curriculum to special education students, which included drafting, construction of projects, and safe use of hand and power tools.

For two years, Steve taught World History, American Government and Economics, Old Testament History, and Woodworking to Junior High School students at the Smithtown Christian School in Smithtown, New York.

Steve loves the outdoors, so he took the opportunity to work at Honey Rock Camp, the Northwoods Campus of Wheaton College in Three Lakes, Wisconsin.  After two years as a camp counselor, Steve served as the Summer Leadership School and Boys Camp Director (’89).  He coordinated and supervised the total operation of the summer boys’ camp program – recruiting and training college students for Christian leadership and ministry to youth in the context of a residential boys’ camp program, modeling Christian character and leadership, facilitating group dynamics, providing leadership opportunities, and teaching college-level coursework in camp ministry, camp programming, leadership development, and wilderness skills.

---

Personal Information

Stephen was raised in Queens Village in New York City.  He has an older brother and a younger sister.  They all had a fine evangelical Christian upbringing with parents who cared about both their physical and spiritual well-being.  The whole family went to church together every Sunday.  Throughout the years, Steve attended Assembly of God, Arminian Baptist, Reformed Baptist, Evangelical Free, Charismatic Episcopal, and Orthodox Presbyterian churches in New York City and on Long Island.

Steve’s parents, George and Claire, made our home a place of love, warmth, security, tranquility, and fun times.  It was a safe and pleasant place to live and grow.  Steve’s mom was a caring, diligent mother and wife, and an excellent cook. Plenty of macaroni and meatballs was a tradition. After we children were grown, Mom founded and directed a very successful Christian nursery school for 20 years.  “So-Big” is still a thriving school today. Steve’s father was a kind, gentle, quiet, and contented man. He faithfully provided for our family day after day as a union iron worker.  He worked through cold and rain without a word of complaint.  He worked on many prominent New York landmarks, like the Verrazano Bridge and Madison Square Garden.  When times were slow, he ran his own business as a handyman.  He could do almost anything. My parents, who were always content with life, found joy in welcoming friends and family into our home for good food and a good time. And from their modest home, with a covered patio, swimming pool, and lawn in the backyard, “Marcy Park” was open almost all year round, serving Maxwell House coffee, Entenmann’s cakes, and sunflower seeds. In those years, snow was common in the winter – and lots of it! It was then that we spent hours in our winter wonderland building snowmen, “forts,” and having snowball fights.

Steve has been married to his lovely and wonderful wife, Heidi, since 1998. They met at the New Hyde Park Baptist Church in New York. Heidi is a very competent, caring, and compassionate person. She is a graduate of Bob Jones University and had a professional career as a human resources director in a prominent, worldwide accounting firm, where she faithfully worked for 39 years.  We are both now retired. Her attention to detail and investigative skills serve her well for one of her favorite pastimes: researching our ancestry. Heidi and I grew up in Queens, NY, and have lived in Floral Park and South Huntington on Long Island, in Marvin, NC, and most recently in Indian Land, SC.

What Steve enjoys most is reading, studying, and writing on theology.  At different times in his life, he has played the piano, guitar, banjo, and violin.  He enjoys bluegrass music.

Steve has always loved being by the ocean.  He helped his grandfather resurrect a 16-foot motorboat in which they cruised around New York Harbor, seeing the sights.  He also has woodworking skills and rebuilt the mahogany flying bridge on a friend’s yacht. He also worked as a yacht technician in a marina in Port Washington, NY. There, he spent many pleasant summer days repairing and installing equipment on sailing yachts.

Steve has other skills, such as auto mechanics (in the days you could work on your own car), painting, and wallpapering.

He loves the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and has tried his hand at oil painting.

Steve has traveled to Israel, Greece, Italy, England, Scotland, and Canada. In his younger, heartier days, he enjoyed backpacking with friends and family. 

He has been to the Grand Canyon three times, hiking both the South Rim and down to the Colorado River. Steve climbed Long’s Peak (14,259 ft.) in the Rocky Mountain National Park, hiked and canoed throughout the Northwoods of Wisconsin, climbed Mt. Marcy (5,344 ft.), the highest peak in the Adirondack Mountains, skied the Catskill Mountains, and hiked up Slide Mt. (4,180 ft.).  Steve also climbed to the top of Ben Nevis (4,413 ft.), the highest peak in the British Isles in Scotland’s Grampian Mountain Range.

---

Of course, much more could be said, but that’s enough for now.  I hope this provides some context for what you read on my site. Thanks again for visiting!

---

Home / Table of Contents