Steve Thurston

Steve Thurston is the second born of three children to missionaries James and Lina Thurston. He was born in Santiago, Chile in 1974. His father James Edward Thurston, was a representative of Campus Crusade for Christ International, appointed to work in the Chilean university campuses. James later married Lina Yerin Gallegos Suñer and a decade later, after their work with Campus Crusade for Christ came to an end, they remained in Chile as independent missionaries.

Thurstons' education began in grade school at The International School Nido de Aguilas, in Chile. He continued his basic elementary and high school studies at Santiago Christian Academy[6] from 1980 to 1993 in Santiago, Chile. He then studied Radio, Television and Film and attended Messiah College as well as Asbury University, formerly Asbury College in the United States. Through a specialized partnership between Messiah College[7] and Temple University, Thurston also attended Temple University and received enhanced course offerings in Film and Media Arts. He later received his Bachelor of Arts from Messiah College in 1998.

During his studies at Messiah College, He participated in a program through Asbury University and the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) where he received training, and later worked in paid broadcasting positions at the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, United States in 1996 with Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and National Broadcasting Company.[8]

In high school, Thurston became interested in various artistic endeavors, and began to write and became an amateur photographer. For several years, he continued to develop his photography skills while working various volunteer and paid jobs. Most notably, his work is primarily focused on live music events for Enlace Musical magazine at such events as Creation Festival, Premios ARPA and Expolit. Thurston currently volunteers his time as a humanitarian photographer, covering countries such as Chile, Nicaragua and Mexico.