Max McQueen

Meet Max

I was born and raised in Hutchinson, Kansas, and graduated from Kansas State University in May 2018. Although faith had always been a part of my life, it really took off during my freshman year at K-State. For the first time, I began to understand what it meant to have a relationship with the Lord, not simply to know about Him, but to actually know Him and walk with Him. That realization changed the trajectory of my life.

As my faith grew, I began investing in and discipling other students. A year after graduating, I was asked to return to K-State, and in August 2019 I helped launch Building Brotherhood, an initiative focused on men’s mental health among college students. We specifically targeted fraternities, a world I knew well from my own fraternity experience. That season taught me something I still believe deeply today: your mission field is always around you. Some of the greatest opportunities to serve people come when we’re willing to step into the environments where they already live, work, and belong.

That conviction has shaped an unconventional professional journey. I spent several years in residential and commercial real estate, but I’ve always been entrepreneurial at heart and fascinated by the intersection of faith, mission, business, and professional excellence. I believe the body of Christ should be at the forefront of taking meaningful risks and pursuing ambitious things. After all, if the Lord of the universe is for us, who can be against us?
I got an unexpected opportunity to put that belief into practice in March 2025, when I traveled to Cape Town, South Africa, for a friend’s wedding. I fell in love with the city and decided to cancel my flight home. Suddenly, there I was in Cape Town with nothing but my carry-on, and the realization that I didn’t have a work visa.

So, I had to get creative! I picked up freelance photography work, bought a car and began leasing it to an Uber driver—a little venture that, remarkably, still pays me to this day—and helped launch a coffee shop on the University of Cape Town’s campus. What was supposed to be a trip for a wedding became an entire year of living, working, building, and learning in South Africa.
While in Cape Town, I also launched my own business in the funeral industry in January 2026. I couldn’t have known it then, but that business would eventually become part of the story God used to bring me to Watermark.