Not Your Typical Bible Study
Brian and Emilie McCormack share their love for God’s Word with thousands of college students each week
Before Brian McCormack steps onto the basketball court on Tuesday nights at Texas A&M University, he kneels to pray. He recalls how close he came to being a freshman walk-on with the Aggies basketball team, and how devastated he was when that offer was rescinded. Decades later, he steps onto that court every week, not as a basketball player, but as a Bible
teacher preaching to thousands of college students.
“It really struck me the first time I walked onto that court that I was preaching in the place I thought I was going to play basketball,” he says with a smile. “It’s
the kind of story you could not write.”
Brian and his wife Emilie are the leaders of Breakaway Ministries, a non-denominational Bible study for college students on the campus of Texas A&M. Every Tuesday night of the semester, thousands of college students gather to worship and hear God’s Word at Reed Arena.
Breakaway got its start in 1989 when four students formed a small Bible study in their apartment. Over the years, the ministry grew to become one of the largest weekly gatherings of college students in the country. The ministry’s long-term fruitfulness is due in large part to faithful leaders who remain on the board to this day. Breakaway has always viewed itself as a ministry that is connected to the church, says Emilie.
“Students know this event is not everything that you need [as a Christian],” she says. “You need the local church.”
Despite its tremendous growth, Breakaway continues to call their event a “Bible study.” Brian points out that this is a nod to Breakaway’s past and also helps make visible the expository nature of the teaching.
“It is a Word-centered environment. What looks like a conference because of attendance numbers is still an exegetical walk through the Bible.”
As an example of the commitment to an exegetical approach, Brian took 30 weeks to teach through the book of Luke last year.
Before Brian became Breakaway’s executive director in 2023, he and Emilie spent more than a decade pastoring Reach Church in Seattle. They planted the church in their apartment living room in 2012 with a handful of friends. Over the next 10 years, Reach grew steadily, sending out three church plants of its own.
“We didn’t have high expectations, but definitely high hopes,” acknowledges Emilie. “But we were totally blown away by God’s favor.”
Brian says their church’s growth was steady but never so explosive that they exceeded their ability to care for people. Located an exit away from the largest Mars Hill Church at the time, Reach became a sort of “spiritual triage center” for many Christians who had been left confused and hurt by the eventual collapse of Mars Hill.
“It was a difficulty but an honor to be there for people in their darkest spiritual time,” says Brian.
Brian and Emilie felt a sense of completion at Reach in 2023. They were grateful to be leading a healthy church that was preaching the gospel and planting other gospel-preaching
churches in a challenging ministry context, but they felt the Lord nudging them to consider a change.
“We really loved Reach and wanted to stay long term, but we were open-handed with it and began to feel a stirring that there might be something else,” says Emilie.
That’s when they heard about the opportunity to return to Brian’s home state of Texas and lead Breakaway. It seemed like the right timing for their family of seven to join a new ministry that was ministering to so many college students.
“We are getting the chance to impact a generation,” says Brian. “I am preaching to thousands of college students who are in a pivotal moment [of their lives].”
The McCormacks are grateful for the ways that seminary has equipped both of them for ministry. Brian graduated in 2018 from Western Seminary with a MA (Biblical and Theological Studies) and was part of a cohort that met once a month in Portland. Emilie is a current student in the Master of Applied Biblical Leadership program and participates in a Zoom cohort, giving her the flexibility to earn her degree from Texas.
“Western is where I learned to be brave to follow the text of Scripture wherever it leads, knowing that doing so will feel very lonely at times,” says Brian. “But to have a circle of friends (in the cohort) who are doing the same thing was widely valuable.”
Emilie agrees, pointing out that her experience in the Leadership Cohort has given her the ability to articulate her beliefs biblically with a humble confidence.
“One of the highlights for me at Western has been a diverse set of voices and experiences in ministry, coming together with our Bibles open, willing to dialogue with Scripture. This softened me, but it has also given me more confidence.”