“From Hunter to Prey”

James H. VanSteenhouse, raised on a Michigan rotation crop farm and graduate of Michigan State University, made Houston, TX home in 1994.

Jim quickly took to the Mortgage Banking industry and in January 2021 Jim resigned his position as CEO at InterLinc Mortgage Services, LLC and now serves as Chairman of the Board. Jim’s sole purpose is full-time ministry to go anywhere at any time to tell his story.

Jim and his wife, Elizabeth, are proud parents of three children. Jim’s rural upbringing brought with it a passion for hunting. Since the early days of hunting in the Michigan countryside, Jim has replaced his shotgun and rifle with a bow and has hunted around the globe.

In September 2015, VanSteenhouse, an avid sportsman and adventurer, boarded a plane headed to Canada’s NW Territories to pursue his dream of archery hunting moose in the Mackenzie Mountain Range. The adventure did not go as planned. On the fourth day of the hunt, deep in the wilderness and miles from base camp, he went from hunter to hunted.

Unaware that he was being stalked, Jim was viciously attacked by a Grizzly Bear. A man of faith, he found that faith tested when the world’s largest carnivore tossed him like a ragdoll, with its teeth ripping his flesh, breaking his bones, and raking into his skull. Jim survived by the grace of God and with help from his brave Canadian guide.

In reflecting on his experience, he said, “If you don’t run into the devil from time to time, you may question if you’re running in the same direction.”