Here is our preacher!” That’s what farmer and Church of the Brethren preacher Walter Scott McClain joyfully announced on April 11, 1888, in Aurelia, Iowa, when his wife Mary presented him with their first son, and he wrote in the family Bible “Alva Jay McClain.” Bible-reading relatives supposed that “Alva” came from the “Alvah” in Genesis 36:40, one of Esau’s descendants, but they didn’t understand the “Jay.” In fact, for years, most people thought Alva J. McClain had only a single initial for a middle name, like Harry S. Truman. Why his father chose that name is still a mystery.
Hearing that there was good land in the Arizona Territory, the McClains moved there with their four children in 1898, only to discover that it wasn’t exactly the Garden of Eden. Irrigation, of course, was the major problem and would be until the government built a dam. In 1899 they relocated to Los Angeles, where Walter rented a house for his family and sublet rooms to guests. Alva enjoyed the big city with its public library, stores, streetcars, and train station, but the family’s California sojourn wouldn’t last long. Walter read about a Christian cooperative some Church of the Brethren leaders had formed at Sunnyside, Washington, and he decided it was better to raise the children among Christians than in the big city. Just to be sure, he took a train to Washington to see for himself.
Shortly before Christmas in 1900, Mary got the anticipated summons from Walter, packed, and took the train to Mabton, Washington, the closest stop to Sunnyside. There Walter met his family with a horse and wagon and they drove to their new home. When they arrived at Sunnyside, they saw sand, unpainted wooden shacks, and not much green vegetation; but Walter assured his wife that one day that desert would “blossom like the rose.” He was right. It took time, but thanks to irrigation, eventually that area became a fruitful land of orchards and truck gardens.
The children were enrolled in school and also did their share of work on the farm, but when Alva turned sixteen he dropped out of church and devoted himself to sports, dancing, playing cards, smoking, enjoying life with his school friends, and quarterbacking the high school football team. His parents wisely didn’t preach or nag but simply prayed and maintained their personal and family devotions at home. Alva was to be their preacher, and God in his time would save him and call him into his service.
Alva bluffed his way through his senior year in high school and almost had to repeat the year, but he was permitted to take a special test that, if he passed, would earn him his diploma. He read the assigned books, easily passed the test, and graduated with his class in 1908. He went to the University of Washington where he again got involved in athletics and excelled. A serious accident while playing baseball sent him to the hospital and then home to recuperate. His father and a friend had founded the Sunnyside Nursery Company, and while home from college, Alva joined the business and became a skillful nurseryman among the famous Yakima Valley apple trees.
He also started thinking about marriage. One day a new resident arrived in town, Josephine Gingrich from Iowa, and Alva claimed her as his girl. She wasn’t a professed Christian, but neither was Alva. Friendship turned to love and they were engaged in August 1910 and married the next year on June 7. Their marriage lasted fifty-seven years, until Alva’s death in 1968.
In August 1912, they were both converted to faith in Christ at a prophetic conference led by popular Church of the Brethren preacher Louis S. Bauman. Alva’s father suggested he take the afternoon off and go to Sunnyside Brethren Church with Josephine to hear the guest preacher. Their arrival at the church raised some eyebrows, but God began to deal with the young couple and they returned for the evening meeting. When the preacher gave the invitation, Alva said to his wife, “I’m going down there.” She asked, “Can I go with you?” Both were soundly converted.
Their new life in Christ brought changes in their ambitions, and Alva decided not to return to the University of Washington. More than anything else, he wanted to study God’s Word. He had heard God’s call and wanted to obey. In 1913 they moved to Long Beach, California, where Louis Bauman was pastoring First Brethren Church, and they listened to the Word expounded and grew in their Christian life. Sensing they had a call to ministry, Bauman suggested that the young couple attend the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, which they did for one year. Then he advised Alva to study at Xenia Theological Seminary in Xenia, Ohio, where he earned a Master of Theology degree. Alva also studied at nearby Antioch College and at Occidental College, graduating from the latter school with a BA, “with highest honors.”
He served as pastor of First Brethren Church in Philadelphia from 1918 to 1923, and during that time was Professor of Apologetics at the Philadelphia School of the Bible. The next two years he was Professor of Theology at Ashland College in Ashland, Ohio, and then returned for two years of teaching at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. When Ashland College founded a seminary, he was called to be Professor of Theology and Apologetics (1930–37). During those years, liberalism crept into the school in spite of the protests and opposition of the orthodox members of the faculty. It was a sad time for Alva and Josephine McClain and the friends who stood with them, but denominational politics and board compromise precipitated a board vote on June 1, 1937, that meant the end of Ashland Seminary.
Believing the Lord was on their side, the conservative minority met that night for prayer and discussion relative to starting a new seminary. Providentially, Dr. Bauman was in town and he joined them. The Lord directed them to begin a new school where Brethren young people could train for Christian service, and Grace Theological Seminary was born. Dr. Bauman wrote a check as the first contribution. When the news got out, the men were accused of dividing the denomination and failing to submit to authority, but like the apostles, they replied, “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
The school opened on October 4, 1937, in a church in Akron, Ohio, but the facilities were too confining. Dr. William E. Biederwolf, Director of the Winona Lake (Ind.) Christian Assembly and Bible Conference, invited them to relocate. They accepted his invitation, and in 1939 Winona Lake became their permanent address. Classes initially met in a church, until 1951, when McClain Hall was dedicated on the school’s own campus. Over the years, God has provided buildings, faculty, and staff for the growing seminary, and in 1953, Grace College of Liberal Arts opened with Dr. McClain as president.
Any student who attended his classes would say that Dr. McClain was a gifted teacher. However, he didn’t suffer fools gladly, but was all business when it came to studying God’s Word. In class one day, a student asked, “If God already knows whether or not I’m going to pass my theology exam, why should I study?” Dr. McClain replied, “Young man, if you don’t study for this exam, you are predestined to fail!”
His class on Romans was a foundational course in which Dr. McClain taught “all the counsel of God.” The lectures had originally been delivered to his congregation at First Brethren Church in Philadelphia, and one of the members had made a stenographic report. This formed the basis for his book The Gospel of God’s Grace: Romans, originally published in 1973 by Moody Press and reprinted today by BMH Books. Dr. McClain’s successor, Dr. Herman A. Hoyt, heard the lectures when he was a student at Grace Seminary and assisted in editing the manuscript. This book is one of the finest overviews of Romans I have read. Before you tackle the detailed commentaries, carefully read this book.
Daniel’s Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks was published by Zondervan in 1940, with a new edition released in 1969. It is an excellent discussion of that important Messianic prophecy. Law and Grace: A Study of New Testament Concepts as They Relate to the Christian Life is also published by BMH Books and is a balanced discussion of the subject. Dr. McClain didn’t divorce theology from practical Christian living.
But I think his finest book is The Greatness of the Kingdom: An Inductive Study of the Kingdom of God. It was originally published jointly in 1968 by Moody Press and BMH Books, but today BMH Books is the publisher. I treasure my copy for three reasons. First, the book is biblical and untangles much of the confused “kingdom theology” that still remains from the liberal era in American theology. Second, Dr. McClain autographed the book. Third, he handed the book to me personally, with a smile. I was the junior member of a three-man preaching team at a Grace Seminary conference, and each of us received a copy. The other two men were Dr. Torrey Johnson, one of the founders of Youth for Christ, and Dr. John Walvoord, president of Dallas Seminary. Why I was there was a mystery to me, but I’m glad I was.
McClain was also a member of the Editorial Committee of the New Scofield Reference Bible, published in 1967. He was dispensational in his approach to Scripture, and said “Christianity is not a philosophy. But Christianity has a philosophy—the best and the brightest of all philosophies”1 He was not a robust man, but battled poor health most of his life and experienced six major surgeries. Apart from the grace of God, he could not have accomplished as much as he did—when you consider his responsibilities in teaching and administration, as well as his participation in denominational activities and ministries to the church at large. For fifty years he was a trustee and Candidate Secretary for the Foreign Mission Society of the Brethren Church, and twice he served as Moderator of the General Assembly. He was a founding member of the Evangelical Theological Society and a member of the Board of Directors of the Winona Lake Christian Assembly—and for nearly ten years secretary of the board.
He retired from Grace College and Seminary in May 1962, and in 1968 moved with his wife, Josephine, to a retirement facility in Iowa, where on November 11 of that same year he was called to Glory. In his final chapel message as president, “Remember Jesus Christ,” his text was 2 Timothy 2:8. “You may forget me, what I have said, and what I have done. I shall not complain. I ask of you but one thing: that you will always ‘remember Jesus Christ.’” He added, “Remember who He is, and you will never be ashamed to confess Him before men. Remember who He is and you will never have any doubts about your eternal salvation.”
We should remember Dr. Alva J. McClain, and in remembering him, remember Jesus Christ, the Savior and Lord he loved and served so faithfully.