He was drawn to the church as a boy and felt called to ordained ministry after high school.
After initially studying commerce and working for Fell & Starkey (chartered accountants) he completed a BA in education, classics and philosophy at the University of Newcastle[1] and then studied theology at St John's College, Morpeth.
[2] He completed a master's degree in ecumenical theology at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland in 1985.
[5][6] Stevens received his Doctor of Ministry degree from the Melbourne College of Divinity in 2006.
He was inducted as rector of the parish of Mt Gravatt in the Diocese of Brisbane on 1 December 2012.