John McVay

John K. McVay will be inaugurated as Walla Walla College’s 23rd president on Monday, Nov. 13. McVay assumed WWC’s presidency on the first of September, succeeding Jon Dybdahl, who had served for the past four years.

Prior to his arrival at WWC, McVay was a professor of New Testament and associate dean at Andrews University, in Berrien Springs, Mich., from 1998 to 2000, and as dean of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary from 2000 to 2006. He also taught for 13 years at Pacific Union College, in Angwin, Calif., and was senior pastor of the PUC Church.

Born in Corvallis, Ore., to a pastoral family, McVay felt the call to pastoral ministry early in life and followed in the footsteps of his father, Ken, who served for many years as a pastor and hospital chaplain. While still in college, McVay spent time as a youth pastor in Des Moines, Iowa. He began his pastoral ministry in the Georgia-Cumberland Conference where he led a vigorous program of evangelism and church growth.

McVay, 48, is a graduate of Georgia-Cumberland Academy, Southern Adventist University, Andrews University, and England’s Sheffield University, where he earned a doctoral degree in New Testament studies in 1995. His dissertation focused on the theme of the church in the Epistle to the Ephesians. In addition, McVay has been active in scholarly research, presentation, and publication, authoring or co-authoring numerous articles for publications such as the Journal of Adventist Education, the Adventist Review, and the Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists.

McVay’s wife, Pam Aalborg McVay, works as an obstetrics nurse. The couple has two children, Marshall, 18, and Macy, 14.