About Clay

I was blessed to be born into the Christian home of Sam and Gayla Reed in Waco, Texas. I grew up and went to church with my family in Pensacola, Florida and trusted Christ as my Saviour as a little boy. My formative years were spent at Charity Baptist Church under Pastor James McGaughey. Dr. McGaughey is a trusted friend and counselor, and his family is among our dearest personal friends.

After graduating high school, I moved to Chicago to attend Bible college for training in the ministry. The best thing I got out of college was my wonderful and beautiful wife, Heather. Through the years, she has been my rock, supporting, loving and caring for me and our children.

In 1998, we moved from Chicago to Arlington, Texas to begin working with Dr. Bob Smith at Trinity Baptist Church. Our family has enjoyed our time with Dr. Smith, a great Baptist preacher. Also, it has been a great blessing to work near my mom and dad, staff members at Trinity Baptist Church and Trinity Baptist Bible College.

Feeling God’s call to help start more churches, I founded Global Church Planters, a non-profit ministry, in 2003. The organization helps plant churches around the world and to date, has helped start more than three hundred churches. This ministry has allowed me to travel around the world and speak in many churches and conferences, and meet people from many nationalities and all walks of life.

My family and I started Southlake Baptist Church in 2009. We are enjoying meeting and serving the great people of Southlake, Texas.

I enjoy dating Heather, hanging out with and training our five boys: Jack, Josh, Eric, Matthew, and Tyler, loving our little girl, Abby, pastoring a growing church plant, frequenting Starbucks, and traveling around the world. My personal goals are: to be a great husband, effective father, encouraging pastor, and see thousands of churches planted around the world.