A Faithful Student
Larry McQueen earns his PhD in Religious Studies

Religion and engineering- while the subjects seem far removed from each other- Turner Industries employee Larry McQueen knows them both well. While Larry makes a living working with technology, it is his religious inquiries that have kept him busy when away from his work responsibilities. In 1983, he received his B.A. in Biblical Studies from Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn. "My degrees are more a personal journey, and were never meant to advance my career," Larry said. He complements his B.A. with a Master of Divinity (MDiv), a Master of Theology (ThM) and a PhD in Religious Studies; degrees which he feels bring him balance to his daily rigors.

Larry's engineering career was supposed to be short-lived. During the summer of 1984, fresh out of Lee University, Larry took a job with Babcock and Wilcox, a power generation fabrication firm in Paris, Texas. "It was supposed to be a summer job," he remembers. Five years later and Larry was still a Babcock and Wilcox employee. He left engineering in 1989 for a teaching position at his alma mater, Lee University. However, when Turner Industries bought the physical property and building from Babcock and Wilcox in 1998, Larry had a desire to return to Paris. He decided to apply to Turner Industries where he would be offered a position as Manager of Material Control. Shortly thereafter, he accepted an opening in Turner's pipe engineering department. "I enjoy the details involved with engineering," he said. "My work in technology is strictly a left-brain activity, whereas theology is right-brain," Larry said.

His most recent educational feat, a PhD in Religious Studies from Bangor University in Wales, is highlighted by his thesis, Toward a Pentecostal Eschatology: Discerning the Way Forward, currently in publication. His thesis also led to a newly discovered passion for writing, which he hopes leads to the publication of articles and books on his perspective of Pentecostalism, his religious tradition.