Mann uses pastoral experience at Southwestern to mentor students

Mentoring students is something that many professors feel is a priority when attempting to influence students. John Mann, associate professor of theology and business at Texas Baptist College (TBC), feels that same conviction to mentor students as he was once mentored.

Born to a family in the oilfield business, Mann moved around Texas until his family settled in Pampa, Texas, a small town outside of Amarillo, Texas. His family faithfully attended church. His father was a deacon and his mother was involved in children’s ministry and other ministry activities.

“Thankfully, I was raised in a Christian home growing up,” Mann said. “I had given my life to Christ when I was eight years old and realized that I truly needed a Savior. When I was about 11 or 12, the Lord really began to work in my life and He started putting a calling on my life.”

Mann said that when his family moved to Pampa, they began attending Central Baptist Church in Pampa, and the calling from the Lord for his life became clearer.

“It was when we got to Central Baptist Church that I began to really sense a call into the ministry,” Mann recalled. “I went to the pastor and shared this conversation with the church that I had felt called to the ministry, and the church affirmed what they saw in my life that the Lord was leading me into a role within the ministry.”

After being affirmed in his calling, Mann sought the advice of his pastor, Derrell Monday, a Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry graduate of Southwestern Seminary, about what next steps he should take to pursue this calling.

“My pastor told me, ‘You can either preach, or you can consider going to seminary,’” Mann recalled. “He was a graduate of Southwestern, so I toured Southwestern and visited campus in August of 1999. In June of 2000, me, my wife, and our two daughters moved out to the townhomes on campus and I began my time here.”

Mann began studying at Southwestern and earned a Diploma of Theology, Master of Divinity, and Doctor of Philosophy from the Fort Worth school. During his doctoral studies he first began teaching at Southwestern in an adjunct role.

“While I was getting my Ph.D. and after I completed it, I continued to teach as an adjunct while also pastoring churches,” Mann said.

Mann pastored LaJunta Baptist Church, now known as Gracepoint Church in Springtown, Texas, for over 20 years during which time he completed his doctoral studies.

While pastoring and teaching at Southwestern, Mann also pursued and earned his Master of Business Administration from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. In 2023 when he was offered a faculty role at TBC to teach business and theology classes and to serve as assistant to the president for constituent relations, Mann followed God’s calling back to the institution where he completed his theological education.

With his teaching areas in the fields of business and theology, Mann seeks to incorporate God and His Word into all business practices and theories. According to Mann, good business practices “develop out of God’s general revelation” to mankind.

“If we look simply into Genesis 1, we can begin to see that good business really flows from the nature of God,” Mann said. “I’ll teach a course on entrepreneurship and I can teach students to see a need and to create something that can solve that need, and to do so in a way that leads to human flourishing in the same way that God made everything that leads to our flourishing.”

“It is something amazing,” said Mariano Gongora, a Bachelor of Music in performance student at TBC from Argentina about the teaching style of Mann. “I really would like to take his class again with the way he teaches.”

Gongora said that Mann teaches large topics like biblical theology in a way that “international students can understand” even through the barrier of not knowing the language perfectly. He said that Mann being accessible after class and via email is “always encouraging.”

When he is not teaching, Mann enjoys spending time with his family, doing some sort of exercise activity, and mentoring students and loving on them as it is “something that the Lord has placed” on his heart. His desire to mentor students stems from when he was mentored as a student by a Southwestern faculty member.

“Malcolm Yarnell has been an invaluable mentor in my life, and he encouraged me from early on in my education to consider doctoral work and teaching,” Mann said. “I spent a lot of time in prayer wondering whether or not I should teach, but God surrounded me with wonderful people, and He gave me a mentor who would help make those opportunities available for me.”

Mann added that he enjoys using his pastoral experience when students seek advice from him and he uses that time to mentor students. One of the ways he does this is through providing premarital counseling for two students who will be married in their home state. Another way is through offering practical advice to Master of Divinity students who are seeking a life in pastoral ministry.

Conrad Mills, a Master of Divinity student from Dallas, Texas, said that Mann’s mentorship is evidence of his pastoral ministry experience.

“I think the main way Dr. Mann has impacted me is through his love for Jesus that is so evident from his time in pastoral ministry,” Mills said. “He really does have a love and a desire for theological education to flourish, specifically at TBC, and I think he shows that by helping me, an MDiv student here, realize how important it is for the health of our churches.”

Mills added that Mann is involved with the Southwestern Society of Pastoral Ministry and that he has been “so generous with his time” and has “been a great friend and encouragement” to the students involved in that organization.

Ethan Pierce, a Master of Divinity student from San Antonio, Texas, said that Mann is “just a good guy to interact with” around campus.

“I work as the administrative assistant to the dean of Texas Baptist College, so I get to interact with Dr. Mann in meetings and other times when he pops by the office,” said Pierce. “He always makes it a point to stop by and talk to me when he is in the building. Not out of some need to see me, but because he genuinely values me as a person.”

Pierce added that Mann’s experience pastoring one church for over 20 years is “incredibly encouraging” and “a plan that young pastors should model their ministries after.”

The Mann family currently attends Cross City Church, formerly known as First Baptist Church of Euless, and they are going through the membership process there. Throughout his life, Mann has felt a strong connection to the local church, so getting involved in a church was an important step when accepting the faculty role at TBC.

Mann continues to mentor students in everything he does, not only in the classroom. He does this because he was once mentored by a faculty member who is now one of his peers. Mann hopes to see some of his mentees as his peers one day as well.