Steve Pettit was born in Quitman, Georgia, but his parents, who had met in the United States Air Force, moved to Columbia, South Carolina, when he was three.

Pettit spent his childhood in Columbia, performing in a workshop theater founded by his mother and playing the tuba in his high school band.

[1] He served as an assistant pastor at the First Baptist Church, Bridgeport, Michigan, from 1980 until 1985 and then formed his own Steve Pettit Evangelistic Association with headquarters in Pembine, Wisconsin.

[6] During Pettit's first seven years as BJU president, the University gained regional accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, the University regained its tax exempt status, it launched a new School of Health Professions, and it added eight new intercollegiate sports and gained provisional membership in NCAA Division III.

During the Covid pandemic, Pettit opted to open the University for in-person classes in the fall of 2020 and organized several task forces to make the necessary adjustments work successfully.