In mentoring University of West Alabama students, Pat McGahey uses some hard-rock gospel. He often uses this well-known warning: “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you more than you want to pay.”
McGahey first heard the words from Buddy Leach, a former support guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers Band. The two met on a missions trip to Honduras in 2011 and later served on three more trips.
Reaching young people for Christ, encouraging them and discipling them in their faith is a calling for McGahey, a deacon at Christian Valley Baptist Church, Coatopa.
He and his wife Sara open their home to students, host Bible studies and provide meals and even lodging when students need a place to stay.
“I keep my house open for them to have another place to go other than the party group,” McGahey said.
Life-changing decision
A retired Northwest Airlines pilot, McGahey, 75, said he lived 33 years without Christ and has had 42 years with Christ. He shares God’s word and tells college students how it changed him.
“Of the Christian students that go to college, 44% lose their faith,” he noted. “I have observed that a lot of Christian students are not in the Word and it affects their spiritual maturity.
“I see a lack [of biblical literacy], of not knowing God’s word. I am surprised at how many young people don’t understand the Trinity. I am very honest with them — I don’t hold any punches.”
Salvation and grace
McGahey says one of the reasons he is so passionate about mentoring young people is because he “was raised in a home knowing nothing about Jesus.” He went through confirmation for six weeks at the Episcopal church his mother had joined, but the lessons focused on history rather than discipleship.
“There was nothing on salvation and grace. Afterwards I didn’t have a clue of why the man was hanging on the cross,” McGahey said.
He said he has seen a lot of good, bad and ugly in his life, and he uses those experiences to point students toward the gospel.
“I have been there, done that. It’s not worth it. When they come to campus the world is there — sex, drugs, alcohol. The world will not lift you up. The world will pull you down. If people are in a habitual state of sin, the consequences are not good. Be aware you’ll suffer the consequences,” he said.
Now he reinforces the truth of God’s plan: “God created us for one reason, to have a personal relationship with Jesus. It took me a while to figure that out.”
He said he understands the temptations young adults face in college.
“Before my experience with Christ, before being saved, there were a lot of things I got involved with that were outside the will of God.”As he has related his own experiences, McGahey has developed trust and a bond with students.
“God has brought some awesome people into my life,” he said.
A new calling
After serving in the Marine Corps, McGahey began an aviation career that lasted from 1966 to 2001. While based in metro Atlanta, McGahey was ordained as a deacon at Westside Baptist Church in Snellville, Georgia, in the early 1980s. The couple moved to Livingston, Sara’s hometown, in 2001 and built a house on a 75-acre farm.
The last thing on his mind when moving to Alabama was mentoring and discipling young people, McGahey said, but now he attends weekly Fellowship of Christian Athletes meetings on the UWA campus.
During the years he has had a Bible study in his home, McGahey has encountered many hurts students talk to him about, a lot of them due to divorce. Once again, McGahey’s experience helps.
The first 10 years of his marriage, he didn’t know the Lord and “didn’t know how to be a godly husband or father,” McGahey said, who now has three children and eight grandchildren.
He asks students where they are in their walk with Christ.
“If you don’t understand the words ‘death to self,’ you haven’t reached a relationship with Jesus,” he tells students. “You’re not where you need to be in your walk with Christ. Do you truly know Him if you don’t understand death to self?”
Love of Christ
McGahey wants to show unconditional love and seeks to help without judging.
“You may wonder why this 75 year-old has interest in you,” he tells them. “Young people are the future of this country. The future doesn’t look real good right now. Are they going to step up and be who God calls them to be?
“If you say you are going to follow Christ, are you going to be obedient and live for Him?”
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