Gavin McKinley

Gavin McKinley was born in 1964 in Lima, Ohio to a factory worker and teacher. After being a graphic designer for 7 years, he lived in Ukraine for a year with a short-term missions project through Campus Crusade for Christ. After moving to Colorado to attempt a career as an artist, he met his wife, began a family, and moved to Missouri for 16 years. He built his own house, barn, and other buildings. They heated with firewood and lived with no running water. He wrote the first copy of "Briar Patch" by hand in a school notebook while working as a carpenter, handyman, and laborer. After his father died in 2015, they returned to Ohio and lived with his mother. He now has 8 kids, and drives a bus.