Rev. Prof. Gary S. Maxey
Missionary, theologian, and founder of the West Africa Theological Seminary — whose call to holiness now carries into a new generation through the Network that bears his name.
A calling that crossed continents
Born in the United States in 1948 to a preacher's family, Gary S. Maxey did not grow up devout by his own account — by his teens he calls himself "a spiritual rebel." That changed at a holiness camp meeting in his youth, and then decisively in the early hours of October 23, 1965, when, as he tells it, he finally surrendered his whole life to Christ. Months later, in May 1966, came what he describes as the deeper work of full consecration and sanctification — the experience that gave the rest of his life its center of gravity: a lifelong call to personal holiness.
He married Emma Lou on August 23, 1968, and the two served together first in Parral, Mexico, planting churches, before a season of graduate study at the University of Iowa and a growing, unexpected pull toward Africa. On March 4, 1982, the Maxeys arrived in Nigeria to found a Bible college from nothing in Port Harcourt — enduring illness, danger, and real material loss in the early years. In November 1983, revival broke out among the students at that young college, and by 1984 it had rippled into a wider spiritual awakening across Nigeria — a season Maxey points back to whenever he is asked why he stayed.
The seminary grew and relocated within Nigeria across the following years, eventually settling in Lagos as the West Africa Theological Seminary (WATS), where Maxey served as Provost for nearly two decades and became a national voice on Christian ethics through the Congress on Christian Ethics in Nigeria (COCEN). In 2010 he handed WATS leadership to Nigerian successors and founded New Beginnings International Church in Lagos, a congregation for the city's expatriate and international community. He is the author of more than two dozen books, including The Seduction of the Nigerian Church and The WATS Journey, and holds a Doctor of Missiology from Trinity International University.
"Holiness is nothing more or less than Christlikeness. It is living like Jesus. It is loving like Jesus. It is the message of the New Testament, over and over again."
— Gary S. Maxey, Confessions of a Grateful Pilgrim
A home fully embraced
After more than forty years of life and ministry in Nigeria, Gary and Emma Lou Maxey became Nigerian citizens in 2024 — a formal seal on a home they had long since made their own.
Dr. Emma Lou Maxey — a shared calling
Gary and Emma Lou Maxey were married on 23 August 1968 — a partnership of more than 58 years that has carried them from Latin America to Nigeria and through the founding of two theological institutions. They have raised four children, with grandchildren and great‑grandchildren following in their family's example of Christian living. At the Network's inauguration, Dr. Emma Lou Maxey was named alongside her husband as Convener, a recognition of a ministry the two have shared from the beginning.
Timeline
Each entry below is a short summary. For the full account, in his own words, drawn from his published memoirs — read his complete life story →
Born in the United States, into a preacher's home.
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Gary S. Maxey was raised the son of a pastor, disciplined and Bible-literate from childhood — yet by his own account he grew into "a spiritual rebel," outwardly obedient but inwardly resistant to the faith he'd been raised in. Continue reading →
"The Big 180" — a decisive conversion at a holiness camp meeting.
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After months of mounting conviction, Maxey surrendered his life to Christ in the early hours of October 23, 1965. "It was truly the beginning of my life," he later wrote. "A great 180 in my life. Hallelujah!" That same year he also met Emma Lou, the woman he would marry. Continue reading →
Discovering holiness — a deeper consecration that shaped everything after.
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In May 1966, Maxey underwent what he calls the "glorious climax" of an eight-year spiritual search — a full, deliberate surrender of every claim on his own future. "I could tell all was well between me and God," he wrote. "The sky was clear. My heart was free. I felt the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus." This experience of sanctification became the theological center of his life and ministry — and, decades later, of the Network that bears his name. Continue reading →
Marries Emma Lou.
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Gary and Emma Lou Maxey were married on August 23, 1968, beginning a partnership of more than fifty years that would carry them from the American Midwest to Latin America to West Africa. "No other human relationship has contributed more to my success in life than my marriage to Emma Lou," he later wrote. Continue reading →
First mission field — planting churches in Parral, Mexico.
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The young couple served as missionaries and church planters in Parral, Chihuahua, where their daughter Rachel was born in September 1970. A crisis later that year forced an abrupt, painful exit from Mexico — the family returned to the US having lost nearly everything, but with lessons in forgiveness and perseverance that shaped their later ministry. Continue reading →
Graduate study, a growing family, and an unexpected call to Africa.
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Maxey pursued doctoral studies at the University of Iowa while pastoring small Iowa churches, and he and Emma Lou adopted two sons. Around 1978, a clear and unexpected sense of God's call redirected the family from the Latin America ministry they had planned toward Nigeria. Continue reading →
Arrives in Nigeria; founds Calvary College of Theology, Port Harcourt.
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The Maxeys landed in Nigeria on March 4, 1982, to build a Bible college "from the ground up" in Port Harcourt — enduring illness, danger, and real hardship in the early years. Across his decades in Nigeria, Maxey would count eight serious encounters with armed robbers. "We are all alive and well today," he wrote. "Thank you, Jesus!" Continue reading →
Revival breaks out — first among students, then across Nigeria.
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In November 1983, revival broke out among the students at Calvary College of Theology. By 1984 it had rippled outward into a wider spiritual awakening felt across Nigeria — the season Maxey points to again and again as the reason the work in Nigeria was worth every cost. Continue reading →
The seminary grows and relocates, eventually becoming WATS in Lagos.
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The Bible college relocated within Nigeria and grew through the 1990s, eventually settling in Lagos as the West Africa Theological Seminary (WATS), where Maxey served as Provost. In these years he also became a national voice for Christian ethics through the Congress on Christian Ethics in Nigeria (COCEN), engaging pastors, business leaders, and politicians on corruption and integrity — work that reached a major national congress in Abuja in November 1997. Continue reading →
Hands over WATS leadership; founds a church for Lagos's international community.
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Maxey stepped back from the Provost role at WATS, handing leadership to Nigerian successors, and founded New Beginnings International Church in Lagos — a congregation dedicated to the city's expatriate and international believers, a niche he felt no other Lagos church was filling. Continue reading →
Launches an annual holiness assembly; begins dreaming of a Christian university.
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Maxey launched the WATS Glorious Freedom Assembly, an annual gathering, and began pursuing a long-held dream of a future Christian university and discipleship center in Nigeria. "I have a deeper sense of satisfaction and optimism and acceptance with God than at any time in my life," he wrote at seventy. "The future is bright." Continue reading →
Gary and Emma Lou become Nigerian citizens.
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After more than forty years of life and ministry in Nigeria, the Maxeys formally became Nigerian citizens — a seal on a home they had long since made their own. Continue reading →
The Gary S. Maxey Network is inaugurated in Lagos.
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Launched in partnership with WATS, the Network carries the same call that has run through Maxey's life since 1966 into a new generation: a return to biblical holiness and Christlike living across the African Church. Continue reading →
Drawn from Dr. Maxey's own written memoirs, The WATS Journey and Confessions of a Grateful Pilgrim.
Voices on his impact in Nigeria
"Dr. Maxey's training, his grasp of African culture and history, his long-haul experience in Missions, his strong regard for truth, and his heart for holiness and righteousness, give this book a vast treasure of information for Nigeria."
"A wonderful personal and historical tour of events in the West Africa Theological Seminary and west African church... a breathtaking walk through history in an exciting time in the movement of God's church in Africa."
"We thank God who inspired Dr. Gary Maxey to start a Christian Ministerial Education program in 1982 — a work that grew into what is now West Africa Theological Seminary."
"The story of WATS has been and still is one of faith and action in obedience to the call of God, and through the Maxey family. My prayer is that many people will read it, hear the call, and respond by carrying the successes on to the next generation."
"I have watched closely this amazing story of God's grace... praise God and will challenge every reader to have the importance of reverence to run with it."
"One of the most remarkable and inspiring books I've ever read... Dr. Gary Maxey tells the story of West Africa Theological Seminary, by the man who used it to tell it — candid, delightful, and cutting-edge writing on mission thinking and practice for the present and into the future."
"Nobody is more qualified to tell the story of West Africa Theological Seminary than Rev. Dr. Gary S. Maxey, who had the singular privilege of being used by God to both birth and nurture what has now become the biggest interdenominational evangelical seminary in Nigeria."
"In a beautiful blend of personal narrative, institutional memory, and divine providence, Gary Maxey unfolds for us the amazing story of WATS in Lagos, Nigeria… filled with pathos, stunning miracles, tragic setbacks, but all undergirded by the steady remembrance of God's faithfulness every step of the way. You will not regret engaging in this journey."
"This volume is much more than a recounting of the birth of a dream. It is an amazing story of passion coupled with an unshakeable confidence in an incomparable God who repeatedly translates disappointment and frustration into realized hope."
"We thank God for this personal narrative capturing the highlights of the WATS journey. Gary and Emma Lou Maxey have succeeded where many earlier missionaries have failed, by establishing WATS today as a strong training ground for future generations. And their work is not yet over."
"A fascinating book, a breath-taking account of the inspired program Dr. Gary Maxey began, to start a Christian Ministerial Education addressing the crying need of training pastors… Long live WATS! Long live the Provost and Management of WATS! To God be the glory for WATS's achievements!"
"I have known Gary and Emma for the past 20 years and I am impressed, as many others are, with the great work and contribution they have made in the training of Christian leadership for the Church in Nigeria and Africa."
Excerpted from the foreword pages of The WATS Journey: A Personal Narrative. A few further tributes appear in the book but were not clear enough in the scanned copy to quote with full confidence — let us know if you can supply a cleaner copy and we will add them.
“God is not calling us merely for good health and longevity. God is calling us to righteousness. He's calling us to holiness. He's calling us to be like Jesus.”
— Rev. Prof. Gary S. Maxey, Lagos, August 2026