A native of Alabama and the son of a coal miner, Joe McKeever has been saved since 1951, been preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ since 1961, and has been writing and cartooning for religious publications since the mid-1960s. He put in 42 years pastoring six Southern Baptist Churches– the last three were the First Baptist Churches of Columbus MS, Charlotte NC, and Kenner LA– followed by 5 years as director of missions for the SBC churches of metro New Orleans. He retired in the summer of 2009.
Joe’s education includes high school at Double Springs, AL, a B.A. from Birmingham-Southern College (history/political science), and masters & doctorate from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary with emphasis on evangelism.
For nearly 25 years, Joe has drawn a daily cartoon for the Baptist Press (www.bpnews.net/comics). To see his cartoons, google “Joe McKeever cartoons,” and pull up a seat (there are thousands on the internet).
Joe writes a column on “My Favorite Deacon” for each issue of Lifeway’s Deacon Magazine, blogs almost daily for church leaders at www.joemckeever.com, and has published numerous collections of his cartoons as well as eight ministry books:
–“Help! I’m a Pastor” (2024). Joe’s longest book, with over 60 chapters.
–“Help! I’m a Deacon” (2015);
–“Grief Recovery 101” (2016, with wife Bertha Fagan McKeever);
–“Sixty and Better: Making the Most of Our Golden Years” (2017; written with Bertha);
–And four smaller books: “Pastoring,” “Pray Anyway,” “Listen: God is Speaking,” and “A Healthy Church.”
The books can be ordered from Joe at his home address: 203 Garden Cove; Ridgeland, MS 39157 (His cell phone is 504 615 2190.) His Venmo is @Joe-McKeever-7. His email is cartoonistjoe@gmail.com, or you can order direct from the publisher “Parson’s Porch” in Cleveland, TN. Or from Amazon, of course.
Joe is the father of Neil, Marty, and Carla, and the grandfather of eight. After 52 years of marriage to Margaret Henderson of Birmingham, AL, Joe was widowed in January 2015. Two years later, he married Bertha Pepper Fagan of Jackson, Mississippi, the widow of a seminary classmate. Bertha McKeever is a career schoolteacher, with degrees from Bob Jones University and Rhode Island College. She and husband Gary Fagan served churches in Birmingham, AL, Melbourne, FL, and Boston, MA, then served as missionaries in Malawi and Brazil. Bertha has two children and six grandchildren. Joe and Bertha enjoy telling friends they are “living happily ever after.” (Please pray for her. She’s facing some health challenges.)
The McKeevers live in a small gated community in Ridgeland, MS, on the north side of Jackson.
In March of 2025, Joe’s son Marty died of cancer. Joe says he thought he knew grief when his wife died 10 years earlier, but the loss of a child hurt worse than anything ever. His heart is an open wound. But we have the promise of Scripture: “So shall we ever be with the Lord.”
Joe’s life verse is Job 4:4, “Your words have stood men on their feet.” He’s also partial to Romans 8 and Psalm 103, which he memorized decades ago and cites on his morning walks.