Pat MacPherson founded MAC Ministries in 2006 to partner with church leaders to intentionally disciple men inside and outside the church. His unique approach focuses on growing, rather than gathering, the Church through personal relationships.
He’s a graduate of Georgia Southern University and currently lives in Marietta, Georgia with his wife and five children.
Pat’s Testimony
I was born and raised in Marietta, Georgia and blessed to have been active in a church family all my life. After earning an undergraduate degree from Georgia Southern University and two master’s degrees from Georgia State University, I pursued a fast track career in Healthcare Administration.
Over the course of five years, I got married and started a family, while working my way into a management role administering health & welfare benefits for Fortune 500 companies. Success was not far off and the future was looking hopeful.
Within 18 months I noticed my discontent with life. I had surrendered my life (or so I thought) to Jesus Christ a couple of years before but things in my life were not where I wanted them to be.
I was struggling in my job and blaming my discontent on my employer. Everything else in my life was secure. A loving wife, wonderful children, growing responsibilities at church, but something was missing. I knew it was my job…I thought I just wasn’t in the “right” place.
I started sharing those frustrations with men in a small group that I was attending. One of the men asked me to breakfast, which resulted in a commitment to meet weekly with him. He allowed God to use him to develop a discipleship-oriented relationship with me.
This weekly meeting lasted for about a year. In the end, I discovered that I had not yet surrendered my whole life to Christ. I was simply giving him bits and pieces. My mentor and friend asked, “How are you serving the Lord in all areas of your life?” The answer seemed clear: I was not incorporating God’s purpose for me at work.
God opened my heart to a new approach and within a short time, work became my mission field. I began discipling other men, whom I discovered faced a multitude of challenges. Opportunities to witness became a daily encounter.
It was then that God began to prune me for what I now know as His mission in the MAC Ministries. It became clear that He wanted me to do more one-on-one discipling work with men that He brought into my life.
Next thing I knew, my parallel career was in full swing and I was meeting with other men between three and five times per week. It was also around this time that I was asked to help lead the Men’s Ministry at my church which consisted of a 60-80 men meeting in small groups on Saturday mornings twice a month. These small groups were witnessing changes in each others lives.
God was really making a difference in the way these men looked at their marriages, children, careers, churches, and relationships.
It wasn’t long before I found that, again, I had a strong desire to leave the corporate world. This time, however, it was because of His calling. God wanted me to use my days to meet with men and help them develop disciplines which would lead to a life of significance and seek out churches who could use my assistance in getting men into places to be discipled.
I sought affirmation from men I knew at work, at church, in my family, with small groups and friends. God led a group of men together who became my [Board of Directors] committed to launching MAC Ministries.
I look forward to watching God develop and grow this ministry for His purpose. And I look forward to an opportunity to get to know and support you.
May our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, be praised!