Christ, Cubs, & Church History: How Blake McKinney shapes the lives of Texas Baptist College students

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the Spring 2023 issue of Southwestern News.

Teaching in higher education is a special calling in life that not many have. Blake McKinney, assistant professor of history and humanities at Texas Baptist College, has felt this calling since he was in his undergraduate program at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee.

McKinney earned a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in music and Christian studies while at Union. Though McKinney has experienced many changes in his life, he has always felt called to impart knowledge and wisdom through teaching in higher education.

Growing up in Hendersonville, Tennessee, McKinney was raised in the church. “For as long as I can remember, my church growing up was Long Hollow Baptist Church,” says McKinney. While he grew up in the church, it took a sermon from a Southwestern alumnus, Ronnie Hill (’93), at an evangelistic event to lead him to a relationship with Christ. McKinney says that Hill’s sermon touched him and he wanted to “rededicate” his life. He says that Hill saw through his façade and told him, “You can’t rededicate what you don’t have.” It was then that McKinney gave his life to Christ.

After entering into a relationship with Christ, McKinney was able to learn what it means to truly love the Lord and follow in His will through his pastor and youth pastor, the late David Landrith, and Lance Taylor (’89), respectively. “Lance had a really intentional discipleship model,” McKinney recalls. “He didn’t tell us he was walking us through spiritual disciplines, but he would walk us through them in the way he taught us.”

After being discipled by Taylor, McKinney began to feel something change in his heart. “Through a series of conversations with mentors and diving in God’s Word, I felt what I thought was a call to ministry,” says McKinney. “I sat down and had a lot of conversations with David Landrith,” McKinney recalls. Landrith encouraged McKinney that if it were God’s will that he end up in ministry, God will make the path known to him.

McKinney describes Landrith as being “cautious towards pastoral ministry.” He said that Landrith was encouraging him to choose “anything else” if that other thing could make him happy while doing it. This calling in McKinney’s life was further refined in 2002 while he was on a mission trip with his church to New York City.

While on that trip, McKinney began to consider going to a Christian college rather than a state school. McKinney says that the rest of his family “has always gone to Austin Peay State University,” a state school outside of Nashville. He decided to visit Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. While visiting the school, he met Southwestern alumnus George Guthrie (‘84, ‘91), who was serving as the chair of the Christian Studies department and was the Benjamin W. Perry Professor of Bible. “Dr. Guthrie made me feel very comfortable at Union and I wanted to be surrounded by a Christian learning environment,” says McKinney.

During his time at Union, McKinney felt God narrowing the call he felt for his life. “I was always hesitant to committing to pastoral ministry,” says McKinney. “I preached a few times, but I really considered myself a spot-starter like in baseball.” In a class with Guthrie, McKinney says he “began to realize” that God was calling him to “academia, not vocational ministry.”

This realization was furthered while he served as the minister of music at the First Baptist Church of Linden, Tennessee, while in college. “I enjoyed leading worship, but I did not sense the Lord was calling me to music ministry,” McKinney recalls. “I was there for about three and a half years, but I began to realize that God was calling me to ministry in the academy.”

While pursuing his undergraduate degree at Union University, McKinney met his wife, Jennifer, while on a choir trip to Germany. “Our first date was actually in Germany, but our second date was at Steak and Shake in Jackson, Tennessee,” says McKinney. “We dated for three years in college and then got married right after I graduated.”

After getting married, the McKinneys moved to Louisville, Kentucky, so he could pursue a Master of Divinity at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. While at Southern Seminary, McKinney felt God calling him to further his studies, but not in the theological field. McKinney shifted gears slightly after graduating with his Master of Divinity and earned a Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Both of his degrees from UA were in European history and religious history.

“My family did not have strong ties to a college football team, so I quickly became a big Alabama fan,” McKinney explains. “I am just glad that I do not have to betray any family ties and that I get to be a fan legitimately.”

At that point in his life, McKinney did not have any direct ties to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, but he had been shaped by many people who were alumni of the school, including Landrith, Taylor, Hill, and Guthrie.

One other Southwesterner who played an integral role in getting McKinney to Southwestern was President David S. Dockery (’81). Dockery was the president of Union University when McKinney earned his undergraduate degree. When McKinney was not sure where to look for job openings in higher education at the end of writing his dissertation, he went straight to his former president.

“I reached out to Dr. Dockery and he graciously gave me an afternoon and talked me through what it looks like on the job end, and he was really helpful in that,” says McKinney. He explains when Dockery was interim provost at Southwestern, Texas Baptist College was “looking for a historian and I got an interview.”

McKinney described his ultimate goal in the academic field was to “work under David Dockery.” When Dockery retired as president from Trinity International University, where he served from 2014-2019, McKinney remembers he thought, “Well, there goes my academic life’s goal.” However, he explains “through God’s providence and sense of humor, I’m working with David Dockery.”

Since joining the faculty of TBC in the fall of 2021, McKinney has tried to “engage students” as best he can. “Most people do not like history classes,” says McKinney. “I ask students if they like TV shows, movies, or podcasts. I do this because I want them to know that they like stories and history is just that: a story.”

McKinney does not want students to “simply know facts” when he teaches. While he says that “knowing things is important,” his ultimate goal is for students to be able to “trace ideas and influences throughout history.”

“I have the wonderful opportunity to help students love God with all of their minds,” says McKinney when talking about why he enjoys teaching. “In history and humanities courses I get to help students not be conformed to the pattern of this world but to be transformed by the renewal of their minds.”

For McKinney, the classroom is not the only place to meet students and engage with the Fort Worth campus. “In my undergrad, I was in professors’ homes and I still have professors I can call,” says McKinney. “I want to be that way for our students here.” He says that he enjoys interacting with students beyond the classroom by going to trivia nights, faculty versus student softball games, and going to student recitals so that he can show students that he wants “to be invested in their lives, not just their studies.”

“One way I love to reach students is when I see them at church, worshipping with my family,” says McKinney. “I am not a leader in the church and I am not a minister in the sense of being a pastor or preacher, but I want to be an example to my students that you can be a good steward of the time God has given to you by being in church consistently.”

“I am grateful to serve Christ and His church at TBC,” says McKinney. “It is my joy to teach my students with the goal and prayer that the Lord will use their time at TBC to conform them to the image of Christ.” McKinney feels that his role is to help students “think more Christianly about the world” and adds that TBC “is a wonderful Christian academic community that supports local churches.”

McKinney also enjoys doing things for the Office of Student Life on the campus of Southwestern and TBC. “I just go to the coffee shop to talk with students and then I end up getting roped into doing things for Student Life,” says McKinney. “But it is a joy getting to do life with these students.”

McKinney has previously been involved with campus events such as the Fall 2022 Student Life Paint War when TBC students and faculty had the chance to throw paint at each other on the intramural fields beside the Recreation and Aerobics Center. “I just love being able to have fun and be away from the classroom environment with students,” says McKinney.

Academics and music are not the only things that McKinney is interested in, however. One of his greatest interests outside of the church and the classroom is baseball. While he grew up in the greater Nashville area, he has been a Chicago Cubs fan since he was a young child.

“In Tennessee, everyone picks one of the major market teams or one of the teams closest to Tennessee,” McKinney explains. “I fell in love with the Cubs at a young age, but baseball became so much more to me when I sat down with a former pastor who could predict every play on the diamond.” McKinney says that he loves every single moment of baseball.

One piece of memorabilia that McKinney is very proud of is a counterfactual pennant from when the Cubs participated in the National League Championship Series but did not win. The pennant reads “Chicago Cubs, National League Champions.” McKinney says, “My wife got me that pennant and I love it, but it is also kind of depressing for a Cubs fan.”

McKinney says that he has “an open office policy” as much as he can. When students walk in, they see all of his Cubs memorabilia, bookshelves filled completely with books, and various decorations like maps and posters. McKinney says that he wants students to “know that I care for them, pray for them, and know what’s going on in their lives.” One way McKinney enjoys connecting with his students is through his passion for his sports teams.

Coming from a musical background, McKinney enjoys how intentional the School of Church Music and Worship at Southwestern is with the way they assist in the leading of chapel services. “Every chapel is scripturally driven, including the worship aspect,” says McKinney. “We’re reading Scripture together, everything is intentional, and it all coincides with what is being preached.”

Throughout all of the changes in his life, McKinney has felt one constant calling: teaching in higher education. He uses his knowledge and pedagogical style to help students find joy and pleasure in studying. He also tries to be involved in the lives of students as a way to give honor those professors who poured into his life during his own academic studies. McKinney serves the Lord in ministry by preparing future church leaders not only from behind a podium, but through interacting with students outside of the classroom as well.

James Dugger (‘23) is a news writer for Southwestern News.