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John Vernon McGee was born in Hillsboro, Texas, in 1904. Dr. McGee remarked. "When I was born and the doctor gave me
the customary whack, my mother said that I let out a yell that could be heard in all the four corners of Texas!" His
Creator well knew that he would need a powerful voice to deliver a powerful message.
Raised up on jipp water in Synder, Texas and from poor and humble settings J.Vernon new what hardship was as he stated.
He worked hard in his youth and at the age of 14 his father died. From then on he had to make the tough choices on his own.
As he was growing up he worked picking cotton. He stated," That he hated picking cotton more than anything. In his teens
he ran fast and lose with a rough group of boys till he came to know Jesus as his Savior. As he was learning to walk with
the Lord he worked in a bank as a teller. He heard the Lord calling him to the ministry but finacially it was impossible.
His supervisor though could see The Lord's calling and helped him pay his way through school.
As a student pastor, Dr. McGee's first church was located on a red clay hill in Midway Georgia. It was here that he received
his greatest compliment: " It was from a country boy wearing high buttoned, yellow shoes. After a morning service he
came to speak to me. He groped for words, then blurted out,"I never new that Jesus was so wonderful!" He started
to say more but choked up and hurried out of the church. As I watched him stride across the field, I prayed, " Oh God,
help me to always preach so that it can be said, I never knew Jesus was so wonderful."
After completing his education ( earning his A.B. from Southwestern University in Memphis, Tennessee; his B.D. from Columbia
Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia: his Th.M. and his Th.D. from Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas Texas), and after
pastoring Presbyterian churches in Decatur, GA, Nashville, TN, and Cleburne, TX, he and his wife came west, settling in Pasadena,
where he accepted a call to the Lincoln Avenue Presbyterian Church. He recalls this period as the happiest in his life, with
a youngfamily and a young congregation that he loved.
Dr. McGee's greatest pastorate was at the historic, Church of the Open Door in down town L.A. where he served from 1949
to 1970. Here he began a daily radio broadcast called "High Noon Bible Class" on a single station.
Dr. McGee began teaching Thru the Bible in 1967. After retiring from the pastorate, he set up radio headquaters in Pasadena,
and the radio ministry expanded rapidly. Today the program airs on over 400 stations each day in the United States and Canada,
and is heard in more than 100 languages around the world and is broadcast worldwide via the internet.
During his last failing years of health demanded the cancellation of many speaking engagements. This was extremely distressing
to him. There was no recurrence of an earlierbout with cancerduring this time, only a weakening heart. Back in 1965, after
radical surgery, the doctors had gave him 6 months to live. The Almighty gave him 23 years.
Dr. McGee and the Board of Directors planned in advance how the program would continue in the event of Dr. McGee's homecoming.
The message would remain the same "voice" of Thru the Bible would continue to be Dr. McGee, thru the taped 5-year
program, except for those foreign langauge broadcasts, where the producers used the 5-volume Bible study to translate and
produce the program.
On the mornig of December 1, 1988, a few minutes after a visit with the Associated Director of Thru the Bible, alert and
in conversation centered around his concern for the continuance of the radio ministry. Dr. McGee fell asleep in his chair
and quietly passed into the presence of his Savior.
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