Alumni Spotlight on Chris McLain

What does it look like to serve a rural Texas congregation? For Truett Seminary alumnus Chris McLain, senior pastor of First Baptist Church Bandera, it means building relationships, serving his community, and embracing the everyday work of pastoral ministry. A 2014 Master of Divinity graduate, he shares how Truett shaped his calling and continues to influence his ministry in the Texas Hill Country.

1. Tell us a little about yourself. 

I graduated from Truett in 2014 with a Master of Divinity and am currently working on a Doctor of Ministry at Truett’s San Antonio campus. I grew up in Vernon, Texas and received my call to ministry during the summer before my freshman year of high school. After serving in youth ministry and with international students through the Baptist Student Ministry at Texas Tech University, my calling to the pastorate was further clarified during my time at Truett. I also met my wife, Jessica, through Truett classmates, and we have a wonderful son, Robert, who is in the second grade.

2. Can you tell us about your journey from seminary to serving as pastor of First Baptist Church Bandera? 

While I was at Truett, I served in multiple capacities at a local church in Crawford, including as youth pastor, associate pastor, and interim pastor. After I graduated, I was called to serve as pastor of FBC Crowell, Texas and spent over five years ministering to that community on the rolling plains of northwest Texas. 

In Crowell, I became deeply involved in Bi-Fork Baptist Association, and that led me to volunteer with Gospel Advance Partners (GAP), a mission organization that grew out of the association’s work that provides ministerial training and support to pastors and churches in northern Namibia. After several years of taking trips to co-teach ministerial certificate courses to pastors and church leaders from Namibia and Angola, GAP is beginning the process of founding an accredited seminary in Namibia.

In 2020, as the COVID pandemic took hold, I was contacted by FBC Bandera, and through the trials of technology and social distancing, the Lord called me to serve as their pastor. And after six years loving people in the Hill Country, it has become home.

3. What does your weekly schedule like for as a Texas pastor? 

FBC Bandera is a fairly small, rural congregation, and I’m the only full-time staff member at present, so I get to participate in most everything our church does, from teaching Sunday School and leading worship services, to hosting Bible studies in our home, fellowshipping with the leaders of our Grief Share ministry, and participating in the broader community through the Parent Teacher Organization at my son’s elementary school. On a good week, I also get to enjoy God’s creation with family and friends somewhere along the Medina River. 

All the usual tasks of pastoral ministry—prayer, study, and administration—are mingled with the most important work God has given us, loving him by loving the people made in his image. So I keep my office door open and embrace “interruptions” because the people who come to call are the people I’m blessed, and honored, to serve.

4. What does it mean for you to be involved in Texas Baptists life?

I currently serve as an executive board director for Texas Baptists, representing the Hill Country and South Texas. In previous years I’ve served on the Millennial & Gen Z Task Force, the Resolutions Committee, and the Credentials Committee. I also participated in one of the early Leadership Texas Baptists cohorts and helped organize Pastor’s Common events.

I’ve been a member of Texas Baptist churches for my whole life. Their Super Summer camps helped me clarify and then nurture my ministerial calling, their Baptist Student Ministry taught me evangelism, and their generosity through grants and scholarships made my education possible. I am, in many ways, a product of the cooperative work of Texas Baptists, and I’m deeply grateful for it. Because of that, when I entered full-time ministry after graduating from Truett, I actively sought opportunities to participate in Texas Baptist life in order to give-back to the institution that raised me. I want to be an active steward of the resources Texas Baptists provides for the sake of others—particularly people like me who belong to small, rural churches.

5. How did your time at Truett Seminary prepare you for serving as a pastor? 

I grew up in church and was already serving in part-time vocational ministry when I came to Truett, but my undergraduate education was in human development and family studies, so I was hungry for the biblical and theological training Truett provides. I not only learned a ton, but Truett taught me to be a lifelong learner and gave me the skills to find answers to questions I never knew to ask in the classroom. 

Truett also exposed me to voices like Eugene Peterson and Wendell Berry, who have shaped my pastoral imagination. Seminary also showed me how to apply tools like Family Systems Theory, which I learned in my undergraduate studies, to congregational life. I would not be the person, much less the pastor, I am today if not for my time at Truett, and the community of alumni, faculty, and staff continue to enrich both my ministry and me personally.

 6. What advice would you give to someone considering serving on a church staff? 

Pastoral ministry is a wonderful and challenging calling, and it is a calling, not a merely a job. Your theological education will be a great asset, but pastoral ministry is also the sort of work that you only learn by doing. And you will always be learning! You will continually encounter new questions, obstacles, and inter-personal dynamics for which you won’t have a ready answer. That keeps ministry interesting, but it also requires you to attend first to your own life of faith because every pastor regularly comes to the end of their own personal capacity and skillset. When that happens, your obedience to the Great Commandment is what will sustain you—your love for God, and your love for the church he has placed in your care. Just as you take up your cross each day to follow Jesus, make the choice each day to love the place and the people he gives you. If God is calling you to church leadership, embrace it with deep joy, reverent fear, and a holy trust that the One who called you will also sustain you.