Our Pastor

Michelle Smith began preaching every other Sunday in September 2025, and became Steelville’s Commissioned Ruling Elder in January 2026, continuing to alternate preaching Sundays with Lanin Thomasma. Her duties include worship leadership, administering the sacraments, moderating session and congregational meetings, offering pastoral care, visiting the sick and homebound, officiating weddings and funerals, participating in Ministerial Alliance meetings, leading Bible studies, and more. She is excited to walk alongside the congregation in ministry.

Michelle’s home church is Trinity Chapel Presbyterian in Cuba. She joined Trinity in 1995 and served as an elder and clerk of session through the years. Trinity is her husband Jim’s home church and she continues to be a member at Trinity. She has also been active in Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery for the last ten years. Michelle completed the training to be a commissioned ruling elder in 2020. Her training included an internship at Steelville with Rev. Wendy Downing. She served local churches as pulpit supply until she retired from East Central College after a career in education.

Michelle was raised in St. John’s United Church of Christ (Bem) in southern Gasconade County. She was confirmed there, and this church nurtured her faith journey. She has always lived in the country and appreciates rural life and rural churches. She and her husband sold their lifelong home in 2022 to move six miles to her family’s farm and continue raising cattle. She looks forward to continuing Steelville’s ministries and perhaps sharing a few new ideas.

Michelle is married to Jim Smith, also newly retired. They have two daughters who are each married. Claire and Eric live in Washington. Lauren and Neil live in St. Louis with Louis Lee, born in 2025, just ask for pictures!

Pastoral History

The first pastor of the Steelville Church was the Rev. John E. Braley, who was succeeded by his brother, Rev. James B. Braley in 1844, and remained until 1851. The succeeding pastors, or supplies, with the dates of their pastorates are below.

Rev. I. B. Allen, 1852
Rev. Jas. B. Braley, 1855
Rev. W. P. Renick, 1859
Rev. Jas. B. Braley, 1877
Rev. W. T. Rogers, 1883
Rev. J. P. Campbell, 1884
Rev. W. D. Hawkins, 1887
Rev. J. P. Campbell, 1889
Rev. H. D. Kenedy, 1890
Rev. A. T. Carr, 1893
Rev. J. T. Todd, 1896

Rev. J. A. Sigler, 1900
Rev. S. E. Wilson, 1902
Rev. M. A. Prather, 1902 – 06
Rev. Joseph Latham, 1906 – 07
Rev. J. T. Alexander, 1907 – 08
Rev. D. L. Temple, 1911 – 12
Rev. J. M. Glick, 1908 – 10
Rev. T. N. Hunt, 1913 – 14
Rev. S. L. Roper, 1914 – 21
Rev. Charles Martin, 1921 – 24
Rev. O. H. Campbell, 1925 – 27

Rev. A. L. Whitfield, 1927 – 28
Rev. Sam L. Roper, 1929 – 1953
Rev. Raymond A. Schondelmeyer, 1954 – 1964
Rev. Charles D. Likely, 1965 – 1985
Rev. Wendy Roberts, 1985 – 1986
Revs. Wm. C. and Susan L. Guyer Birch, 1986 – 1995
Rev. Al Hoyer, 1997 – 2000
Rev. W. Dale Starr, 2000 – 2003
Rev. Mary Arnold, 2006 – 2008
Rev. John Welton, 2012 – 2016
Rev. Wendy S. Downing, 2017 – 2025

Rev. Sam L. Roper

1914-1921, 1929-1953

Rev. Raymond A. Schondelmeyer

1954-1964

Rev. Charles D. Likely

1965-1985

My Adventures with Uncle Sam Roper

by Carol Marsh Banta

“

When I was 18 years old, I was in my Sunday School class and Uncle Sam came in and asked if I would try to keep the Junior boys class as the teacher had quit because they were so mean to her. I had no idea how to teach but I gave it a try. The boys in that class that I remember were Roger and Ronnie Rome, Butch Fishwick, Bruce Earls, Jimmy Decker and Bobby Burkel. I know there were 12 boys in all, and we met in the basement kitchen in the old church. They brought all kinds of playthings with them, including toy guns, sling shots and anything that would make noise, so I just collected all these things when they came to class and gave them back when the class was over. These boys went on to a higher class after three years and I inherited more junior boys to replace them. Since no teacher was ever found to take that class, I was still teaching Sunday School 50 years later. Needless to say, the same boys that I first taught still talk about our class after all these years when I happen to see them.

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Our church secretary resigned and there was no one to do the Sunday bulletins. I was working in the bank as I had finished high school, and Uncle Sam came and asked if I would fill in until they could find another secretary. Back then you had to type a stencil and then run it out on a mimeograph machine. It took a lot of time to print 200 or so bulletins, but every week Uncle Sam would come into the bank on Saturday afternoon and give me all the information to print. He never did find another secretary, so I was still doing bulletins 13 years later. One Saturday he failed to show up with the information for the Sunday service. So I called Stanley Scott and asked what I should do. Stanley said he was probably fishing and to just leave it blank and see what would happen. Stanley drew a picture of a man fishing and put it on the stencil and ran it off on the inside of the bulletin. When Uncle Sam opened the bulletin on Sunday morning at the beginning of church and saw that picture and no order of service, he looked down at me sitting in the front row and laughed. He had completely forgotten he had not brought the information to me the day before. Stanley was always a great help in time of need. He was our church treasurer for 60 years.

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Bible School was another favored activity. One year Uncle Sam challenged us to memorize the catechism. I never let a challenge go untried, so I asked to do it. He gave me a book to memorize it from and told me if I accomplished my goal, he would give me a Bible. Well, I memorized all of it and he would come to my home on Cedar Lane each week and we would sit under the old hickory tree, and he would ask me the questions and I would give him the answers. When we had finished after several weeks I asked for my Bible. He took quite some time to get it, but he brought it to me. I had never had a Bible and it was a treasured possession. I realized after I was grown what it must have cost back then to buy a new Bible and Uncle Sam probably had very little to spend back in the 1930's.