Rayford Steele is a fictional character and the de facto protagonist in the Left Behind series of novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.
Over the next several years, Rayford leaves the Air Force and begins working as a pilot for Pan-Continental Airlines; when he is thirty, he and Irene unexpectedly have a son, Raymie.
Three years after Raymie is born, Rayford has a brush with death when he nearly collides with another airplane while landing at LAX, and he impulsively promises God that he will go to church and pray more regularly; on the same night, Irene, after talking to a neighborhood friend, becomes a born-again Christian.
Though his job at Pan-Con enables him to afford a large house and expensive cars, he finds that these material things do not bring him the satisfaction he had expected, and he increasingly withdraws into himself, sullen at Irene's constant pushing him to "receive Jesus as his Savior."
As a father, he is pleased with Chloe's questioning, independent streak, and though he loves Raymie, he is dissatisfied with what he perceives as the boy's soft and overly compassionate nature – as well as the enthusiasm he shares with Irene for everything church-related.
By the time of the Rapture, Rayford is a self-described (afterward) “negligent father and lustful husband with a roving eye,” on the verge of an affair with his senior flight attendant, Hattie Durham.
He is piloting an overnight flight to London when the Rapture happens, and in the ensuing chaos, he returns home to find – as he feared – that Irene and Raymie are among the missing, for his wife had often told him how she anticipated Jesus “calling His people home.” In desperation, he goes to Irene's church, New Hope Village Church, to find only one member of the staff left – the visitation pastor, Bruce Barnes, who has already realized his error and urges Rayford to “receive Christ” as well.
While watching a pre-made videotape left by the Raptured pastor of the church, Rayford finally acknowledges his sinfulness and accepts Christ as his Savior.
He is thrilled when Chloe soon does the same, and together under Barnes's tutelage, they form the Tribulation Force to face the travails of the next seven years and to counter the plans of the Antichrist, who is soon revealed to be the new head of the United Nations, Nicolae Carpathia.
During this time, celebrated journalist and fellow Tribulation Force member Cameron "Buck" Williams becomes Rayford's son-in-law when he meets and marries Chloe.
Rayford organizes and helps lead Operation Eagle, a mass exodus of believers, especially Jews, to the stone city of Petra, which God promised to protect during the Great Tribulation.
After slaying the GC Unity Army and banishing both Antichrist and his False prophet to the Lake of Fire, Jesus welcomes all the saints who were raptured or martyred back to earth.
[5] One critic has argued that Rayford's eventual lack of forwardness in pursuing his second wife, Amanda White, is unrealistic and an example of boastful, conservative prudery on the part of the authors.