Donald McCall “Mac” Brunson (born September 20, 1957) is an American Baptist pastor known for leading two of the Southern Baptist Convention’s most influential churches: First Baptist Church in Dallas and First Baptist Church in Jacksonville. Today, he serves as senior pastor of Valleydale Church in Hoover, Alabama. Over four decades of ministry, Brunson built a reputation as an expository preacher, a former president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference, and the author of more than a dozen books on pastoral leadership and Christian faith.
[IMAGE: Mac Brunson preaching from the pulpit]
Mac Brunson at a Glance
| Personal | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Donald McCall “Mac” Brunson Jr. |
| Born | September 20, 1957, Greenwood, South Carolina, USA |
| Age | 68 (as of 2026) |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse | Debbie (Debora Claire DeVore) Brunson |
| Children | Three (including Courtney, Trey, and Wills) |
| Grandchildren | 16 (as of 2023) |
| Education | |
| Associate degree | North Greenville College |
| Bachelor’s | Furman University (B.A.) |
| Graduate degrees | Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div. 1985, D.Min. 1991, Ph.D. 2021) |
| Honorary degree | Doctor of Divinity, Dallas Baptist University |
| Ministry | |
| Current title | Senior Pastor |
| Current church | Valleydale Church, Hoover/Birmingham, Alabama |
| Denomination | Southern Baptist Convention |
| Since | 2018 (Valleydale) |
| Career | |
| Previous churches | South Norfolk Baptist Church; Green Street Baptist Church; First Baptist Dallas (1999–2006); First Baptist Jacksonville (2006–2018) |
| Books | 13+ published works |
| Notable role | President, SBC Pastors’ Conference (2003) |
Early Life and Background
Mac Brunson grew up in Greenwood, South Carolina, the youngest of three children. His father ran a retail furniture store, and Brunson spent his boyhood years helping out behind the counter and playing high school football.
Faith entered the picture early. At age 12, at a summer camp run by his church, Brunson became convinced his faith was real and worth staking his life on. That conviction didn’t fade with adolescence. During his freshman year at North Greenville College, he decided to become a minister.
He finished his associate degree at North Greenville, then transferred to Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, for his bachelor’s degree. From there, he headed to Texas for seminary training that would shape the rest of his career.
[IMAGE: Furman University campus, Greenville South Carolina]
Education and Seminary Training
Brunson earned his Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1985. He returned to Southwestern for his Doctor of Ministry in 1991, and decades later completed a Ph.D. there in 2021. Dallas Baptist University later awarded him an honorary Doctor of Divinity.
He has also served as an adjunct professor for New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, passing his training on to a new generation of pastors.
Ministry Career and Professional Journey
Brunson’s first pastorates were smaller Southern Baptist congregations: South Norfolk Baptist Church in Chesapeake, Virginia, and Green Street Baptist Church in High Point, North Carolina. Those years built the expository preaching habits that would define his ministry.
First Baptist Church, Dallas (1999–2006)
In 1999, Brunson was appointed senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, a historic downtown congregation with deep roots in Southern Baptist life. During his seven years there, he served as president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference in 2003, putting him in front of thousands of pastors across the convention each year.
First Baptist Church, Jacksonville (2006–2018)
In February 2006, Brunson moved to Jacksonville, Florida, to succeed retiring pastor Jerry Vines at First Baptist Church Jacksonville. The church, known locally as FBC JAX, had around 28,000 members and occupied several blocks of downtown Jacksonville. It was nearly three times the size of the Dallas church Brunson had just left.
[IMAGE: First Baptist Church downtown Jacksonville Florida]
Brunson spent twelve years leading FBC JAX. Under his direction, the church opened First Baptist Academy and expanded its high school program, continued its missions footprint around the globe, and maintained its place as one of the largest Southern Baptist churches in the country. He also served on the board of the Institute for Creation Research and was a vocal supporter of biblical creationism, a position he discussed in interviews tied to his study of Genesis.
In the fall of 2016, Brunson brought on Heath Lambert, a counseling professor, as co-senior pastor to help build a transition plan. On April 29, 2018, Brunson stunned the congregation by announcing his immediate resignation, with his final sermon delivered on May 6, 2018.
Valleydale Church, Birmingham (2018–Present)
Three weeks after leaving Jacksonville, Valleydale Church in Hoover, Alabama, called Brunson as senior pastor on May 20, 2018. He preached his first official sermon there on July 22, 2018.
The move was a shift in scale. Brunson went from preaching to roughly 6,000 to 7,500 people each Sunday at FBC JAX to leading a congregation of about 1,000. He said the move felt right at that stage of his life. “I’m excited to be able to pour into the lives of others now that I’m in my 60s,” he told The Alabama Baptist, adding with a laugh that he’d “finally grown up.”
Brunson remains senior pastor of Valleydale Church today, continuing weekly expository preaching and pastoral leadership in the Birmingham area.
[IMAGE: Valleydale Church building Hoover Alabama]
Who Mentored Mac Brunson?
Brunson often points to two men who shaped his preaching: Jerry Vines, the pastor he succeeded at First Baptist Jacksonville, and W.A. Criswell, the longtime Dallas pastor whose expository style influenced a generation of Southern Baptist preachers.
Brunson has said he grew up without an expositional preacher in his home church, so the style felt new when he first encountered it. He described listening to radio preaching as a teenager driving to church on Sunday nights and sensing something different in how the text was handled, even before he had the words for it. Vines, in particular, mentored him informally after Brunson took over the Jacksonville pulpit, even teaching him how to use digital sermon research tools. Brunson has joked that he owes Vines “the bill” for the cost of the commentaries he ended up buying.
“There is no substitute for me, I’m old. So I go to a book. I like a book in my hand.” — Mac Brunson, on his research habits, in an interview with Preaching Magazine
Books, Sermons, and Publications
Brunson has written or co-authored more than a dozen books, most aimed at pastors and everyday believers working through hard seasons of faith.
- The New Guidebook for Pastors (2007, with James W. Bryant) — his most widely read work, a practical manual for pastoral ministry.
- Why Churches Die: Diagnosing Lethal Poisons in the Body of Christ (2005, with Ergun Caner) — a look at the spiritual patterns that slowly kill congregations.
- The God You’ve Been Searching For and The Miracle You’ve Been Searching For (2004) — companion books on faith and God’s character.
- Paralyzed by Fear or Empowered by Hope: A Fresh Look at Psalm 23 (2010).
- God Is for You: Learning to Trust God’s Wisdom through Life’s Crises (2024), along with an accompanying workbook.
- Wisdom 101: Walking with Jesus in a Wacky World (2023), a video teaching series produced for Grace Ministries.
Beyond his books, Brunson’s sermons circulate widely through Valleydale Church’s media ministry and past archives from First Baptist Jacksonville, where his expository, verse-by-verse style became something of a signature.
Personal Life
Brunson married Debbie (Debora Claire DeVore) Brunson, and the couple has spent nearly four decades in ministry together. She has been an active presence at each church he’s pastored, speaking at women’s events and standing alongside him through several major transitions, including the sudden move from Jacksonville to Birmingham in 2018.
Does Mac Brunson have any children? Yes. He and Debbie have three children, sometimes named in church records as Courtney, Trey, and Wills, and as of 2023 the couple had 16 grandchildren. Brunson has spoken about his growing family as one of the joys of ministry in his later years, saying his move to a smaller church gave him more room to invest in people, including his own family.
Theology and Ministry Philosophy
Brunson identifies as a conservative Southern Baptist committed to expository preaching, working verse by verse through Scripture rather than topic-driven sermons. He has spoken often about the authority of Genesis and served on the board of the Institute for Creation Research, arguing that the first eleven chapters of the Bible carry weight for how Christians understand the rest of Scripture.
His approach to church leadership, laid out across several of his books, centers on pastors staying faithful to biblical preaching even when culture pulls congregations toward easier, feel-good messaging. In interviews, he has repeatedly returned to one theme: preachers who take a text seriously and “work through it” build churches that last.
Influence and Legacy
Brunson’s clearest legacy runs through the pulpits of two SBC landmark churches. At First Baptist Dallas and First Baptist Jacksonville, he stepped into the shoes of towering predecessors and kept both congregations functioning as major forces within the Southern Baptist Convention. His term as SBC Pastors’ Conference president in 2003 put him at the center of denominational life during a pivotal decade for Southern Baptist identity.
His written work, particularly The New Guidebook for Pastors, continues to be used in seminary and pastoral training settings, extending his influence beyond the churches he has personally led.
Criticism and Controversies
Brunson’s time at First Baptist Jacksonville included a well-documented dispute over church transparency. In 2007, a member named Tom Rich began anonymously blogging as “FBC Jax Watchdog,” raising concerns about church finances, staffing decisions, and members he believed had been pressured to leave. In 2009, it came to light that a police detective serving on Brunson’s security detail had investigated the blogger’s identity, a move that drew national scrutiny and became a widely discussed case study in church accountability.
During that same period, questions arose publicly about Brunson’s compensation package, including a home built on land reportedly gifted by a church member. Reported figures for his salary and housing benefits circulated in various outlets at the time, though the church did not release official compensation figures, so exact numbers should be treated as reported estimates rather than confirmed facts.
Separately, when Brunson resigned suddenly from First Baptist Jacksonville in 2018, rumors spread that he or his wife were seriously ill. Brunson addressed this directly in his final sermon, stating plainly that his health was fine and that he was simply moving to another ministry assignment. No credible report has surfaced since confirming any illness, and the departure is better understood as a planned ministry transition than a health-related exit.
Mac Brunson’s Net Worth and Salary
Mac Brunson has never publicly disclosed his net worth, and Southern Baptist churches generally don’t release senior pastor salaries as public record. During his years at First Baptist Jacksonville, a blogger reported his salary at roughly $300,000 to $400,000 annually, plus a housing allowance and other benefits, though these figures came from unofficial sources and were never confirmed by the church itself.
Sites that publish celebrity-style “net worth” estimates for Brunson generally rely on guesswork rather than disclosed financial records. Readers searching for a confirmed number won’t find one, because pastoral compensation at Valleydale Church, like most SBC congregations, isn’t made public.
Interesting Facts About Mac Brunson
- He played football in high school in Greenwood, South Carolina, before deciding on ministry.
- He decided to become a pastor during his freshman year of college, not before.
- He succeeded two of the most recognized names in Southern Baptist preaching: Jerry Vines in Jacksonville and, indirectly through his Dallas years, followed in a pulpit tradition shaped by W.A. Criswell.
- He earned his Ph.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2021, decades after finishing his first two degrees there.
- He went from preaching to a congregation of roughly 10,000 in Jacksonville to a church of about 1,000 in Birmingham, a scale-down he has openly described as refreshing rather than a step backward.
Mac Brunson Timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1957 | Born September 20 in Greenwood, South Carolina |
| 1969 | Becomes convinced of his faith at a church summer camp, age 12 |
| 1985 | Earns M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary |
| 1991 | Earns D.Min. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary |
| 1999 | Becomes senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas |
| 2003 | Elected president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference |
| 2006 | Becomes senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Jacksonville |
| 2007 | Publishes The New Guidebook for Pastors |
| 2009 | FBC Jax Watchdog blogger controversy draws national attention |
| 2018 | Resigns from FBC Jacksonville; becomes senior pastor of Valleydale Church, Birmingham |
| 2021 | Earns Ph.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary |
| 2024 | Publishes God Is for You |
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Pastor Mac Brunson now?
He is senior pastor of Valleydale Church in Hoover, Alabama, a role he has held since July 2018.
What was Mac Brunson’s salary?
His salary was never officially disclosed by any church he led. During his time at First Baptist Jacksonville, unofficial reports put it around $300,000 to $400,000 a year plus housing benefits, but these numbers came from outside sources, not the church.
Who mentored Mac Brunson?
He points to Jerry Vines, his predecessor at First Baptist Jacksonville, and W.A. Criswell as the two preachers who most shaped his expository style.
Did Mac Brunson have an illness?
No confirmed illness has been reported. Rumors surfaced around his sudden 2018 resignation from First Baptist Jacksonville, but Brunson directly denied them in his final sermon, stating his health was fine.
What is Mac Brunson’s net worth?
No official net worth figure exists. Online estimates are unverified guesses, since Brunson and his churches have not released financial disclosures.
Does Mac Brunson have any children?
Yes. He and his wife Debbie have three children and, as of 2023, 16 grandchildren.
What books has Mac Brunson written?
His best-known books include The New Guidebook for Pastors, Why Churches Die, The God You’ve Been Searching For, and God Is for You.
Why did Mac Brunson leave First Baptist Jacksonville?
He announced his resignation on April 29, 2018, after twelve years as senior pastor, describing it as a sense that his ministry there had reached its natural end. He preached his final sermon on May 6, 2018.
