On this episode of Coffee with Cool People, Chip Munn sat down with Steve Fairchild, a man who has lived two lives that somehow feel like one story. He begins with identity, not job titles. Child of God. Husband. Dad and grandfather. A people person who loves to laugh. He also happens to be a former Garth Brooks tribute artist who now serves as a full-time pastor in Murrells Inlet. The thread connecting it all is performance with purpose.
The show business chapter started by accident. In the early 1990s, Fairchild was in San Antonio working with the Spurs’ mascot program, visiting schools to talk about staying in class and saying no to drugs. Kids kept calling him Garth. A parent asked him to appear at a conference in a hat, boots, and a guitar. People swarmed. He could already sing and harmonize, thanks to a family steeped in music and a childhood spent around the road life. One audition in Las Vegas led to fifteen years with Legends in Concert, rotating through Myrtle Beach, Branson, Atlantic City, and Vegas, with overseas tours and USO shows mixed in.
The most unforgettable crowd was far from neon. On Diego Garcia, a remote military base in the Indian Ocean, he played for thousands of service members starved for a taste of home. They sang every word. It was Gilligan’s Island scenery with high-stakes reality. Cargo planes, debriefs, concrete pads ready to sprout tent cities. The gratitude went both ways.
Myrtle Beach became home during one of those long runs. Fairchild and his wife loved the south end’s slower pace. He joined a local church’s praise team. Then the unexpected happened. His pastor fell ill on a Sunday and passed away days later. The church needed someone to preach until they could find a new leader. Fairchild agreed to cover for a few weeks while still under contract with the show. Months passed. One morning he woke with a clear conviction that he was supposed to be the pastor. That same day, the theater announced a shutdown and move, clearing the contract concern. In October 2010, the congregation voted him in.
Fairchild had not gone to seminary. He built a rhythm that fit his gifts. Study days that lead into Thursdays with P3, his “Pastor’s Preaching Practice,” where he delivers the message to elders and staff, invites critique, and sharpens it as a team. Saturdays are for final polish. Fridays are Sabbath, a true day off to rest and reset. He also meets weekly with a mentor and sees counselors when the load of other people’s pain gets heavy. He believes spiritual leaders need sturdy mental health too.
Sundays, he preaches the way he once performed, with story and timing and a touch of mischief. He believes church should make room for laughter. He also knows the stakes. Forgetting a line in a Garth song is one thing. Mishandling Scripture is another. That tension keeps him humble and careful.
When asked about his favorite fictional character, Fairchild doesn’t hesitate, Superman. Not for the cape or the flight, but for the heart behind the hero. He admires Superman’s quiet strength, compassion, and instinct to help people, even when it costs something. Fairchild says he doesn’t have superpowers, but he knows the One who does. That belief anchors everything he does, both onstage and in the pulpit, two platforms, one purpose: to serve with love, joy, and truth.
