From the outside looking in, things could not have been better for Doug Gunn. From a human perspective, he was living his best life, checking off every box on culture's list of what makes a man successful.
"I grew up in Meridian, Mississippi," Doug recalled. "My dad was a lawyer, and I grew up wanting to be a lawyer. In fact, I ended up going off to school at Ole Miss and stayed there for law school. When I graduated, I moved to Jackson and began a 37-year law practice with a great firm."
In addition to building a rewarding law career, Doug also began a family. He met his wife at the First Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi. Over the years, they have raised three daughters and are now enjoying four grandchildren.
Best of all, Doug was experiencing growth in his Christian life. As an active layman at First Baptist, he had found his niche teaching Sunday school and serving as a deacon. Again, everything seemed to be going according to plan.
Then, God started moving Doug in a new direction.
"By this time, I was in my 50s and had a very busy, very active law practice," he explained. "But I began this sense that I was supposed to close that chapter of my life. I was like, "Lord, what does that mean?' Everything was going well. I was very busy and financially successful; but I had this nagging sense that I was supposed to be doing something different, and I didn't know what that was."
As the feeling kept growing, Doug continued to seek clarity on this new calling, sharing with friends and asking them to pray for wisdom. In the meantime, he continued to grow where God had planted him. He stayed busy with the law practice, but he never lost the sense that those days were moving toward a close.
Around this time, Doug also experienced a health scare that further engrained his commitment to follow God's path no matter what. The reminder of his own mortality removed any doubt that the Lord was starting a brand-new work in his life, a work that would move him out of his comfort zone.
The clouds began to part in 2016, thanks to a simple question offered by his wife.
"She asked me if I thought I should go to seminary," he said with a laugh. "Of course, my initial reaction was "no.' I didn't want to go back to school and take tests and write reports and get a grade. I had done all that through undergraduate and law school. But, within a week, I became convinced that seminary was exactly what I needed to do."
Still living with more questions than answers, Doug took a step of faith that would alter the course of his life and ministry. He made the choice to go part-time at the law firm; and, at the age of 58, he began his journey with New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He renewed an interest in apologetics and pursued a two-year Master of Arts degree. Looking back, he traces this passion to an encounter decades earlier.
"When I was a freshman in college, I had a conversation with a friend who asked me, "Why are you a Christian? Why do you believe in what you say you believe in?'" Doug shared. "And to make a long story short, I didn't have a real good answer. I just believed. I just thought it was true. I just felt like it was the right answer, the right thing.
"It was a horrible answer on my part, no real substance to it."
Doug's inability to provide even a basic explanation for his faith gnawed at him. It forced him to ask some hard questions and search for answers. And, as it turned out, that encounter planted the seed that would grow into something much bigger down the road.
Now, instead of making legal arguments in a court of law, Doug is using the education and training he received from NOBTS to argue for the truth of the gospel.
"People have asked spiritual questions before, and there are good answers for them," he said. "It is possible for a person to believe and to intellectually embrace all of this. A person can proceed with faith that's substantive and real from an intellectual standpoint, as well as an emotional standpoint."
Doug noted that his experience in college marked a "turning point" in his faith, and his time at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary gave him the answers he needed—both for sharing his faith well and for discerning how God wanted him to move forward after drawing his legal career to a close.
"I got my master's degree in 2018, but that raised the question of "What's next?'" he said. "Not long after I graduated, someone asked me to go to Thailand to teach hermeneutics to a church group that needed more training for their staff. So, I did that and really enjoyed it. And I saw the need for it.
"As I explored that opportunity, I saw a door was opening to me. The numbers tell us that 85 percent of the world's pastors have no formal theological training. They're out there teaching and preaching God's Word, attempting to rightly handle the Word of truth and attempting to discern and interpret Scripture correctly. But really, they are without any tools or resources to do that. I thought, "Well, that's something I can do.'"
Those early, unsettled feelings that Doug began to sense on his path toward NOBTS have now taken him around the globe and allowed him to pour into the lives of so many church leaders in so many settings. He left the law firm completely after his graduation, but his new endeavor has kept him busy and thriving. Through connections with the International Mission Board and a Texas-based ministry that offers theological training in dozens of countries, he has served and equipped leaders in places like Macedonia, Uganda, and the Dominican Republic.
As he says, he didn't have to "create the wheel" by establishing his own educational ministry. Instead, he is using his experiences and training to connect within frameworks that are already in place by filling the role of on-site educator.
"I don't have a Ph.D., a D.Min., or even a M.Div.; but I do have sufficient training and understanding from my life experiences and study," he explained. "The great training I got from NOBTS has allowed me to do what God has called me to do, which is to take tools and resources to people and places that don't have ready access to them." He has now been on fifteen theological teaching trips outside the U.S. since graduating from NOBTS.
Despite the questions and struggles along the way, Doug Gunn is seeing God affirm his second act in life. His inner turmoil has been replaced by a sense of peace and fulfillment. Plus, he takes special joy in getting the chance to live out "Prepare Here, Serve Anywhere" in a way he had never imagined.
"In doing what God has called me to do, being available for that, I'm able to help other folks fulfill their call," he said. "That's so enriching and fulfilling to me, realizing that I'm not only having an impact on the lives of these pastors and church leaders, but they're taking that knowledge and making an impact on their congregations. The multiplying effect is considerable."
You may be wondering if God is calling you to a new season of ministry. That's exactly where Doug Gunn found himself—successful in his career yet stirred by deep questions about his faith that led him to pursue theological education at NOBTS. The DEFEND Conference is a place to explore those same questions, seek clarity, and consider how God might be preparing you for what's next. Go to https://nobts.events/defend/ and learn more; also, register for the 2026 conference.
