Lawrence J McGaffie II was born May 22, 1987 to Lawrence J. McGaffie a paper mill technician and Nina McGaffie an educator. Lawrence attended Hobby Elementary and was later homeschooled. This caused him to successfully graduate high school a week before his seventeenth birthday. He took some time off to enjoy life then joined the U.S. Military in January of 2007.
Military Service
Lawrence was trained and served as a military intelligence specialist for the Army. He held a Top Secret SCI clearance specializing in sensitive intelligence sources, methods, and analytical processes. His duties involved information collection and analysis as well as providing guidance and direction to assist commanders in decision-making. He was responsible for providing an assessment of data from a range of sources and responding to operational issues regarding the mission and campaign planning. As a result of his meritorious service, he was awarded two Army achievement medals during his second year of service. He was injured while training for the 101st Airborne Division at Ft. Campbell and was medically discharged.
Education
Lawrence returned to Houston to recover and obtained a BFA in fine arts from The Art Institute of Houston. There he received in-depth study of and professional training in the practice of fine arts including the application of liberal arts and sciences. His training supplemented his military training and fine tuned his critical thinking and research skills providing him with essential knowledge in the study of literature, art history, education, counseling, psychology, and philosophy. He demonstrated technical skills, ability and commitment and was inducted into the National Technical Honor Society, America's highest award for excellence in career and technical education. In 2011, He served as VP of the NTHS local chapter throughout his senior year hosting community food drives and donation campaigns.
Community
Service Lawrence was ordained as a minister in 2006 and has continued dedicated service for over a decade serving four churches and founding Alpha and Omega Bible Fellowship. He was known for volunteering with various homeless programs and serving as a public and motivational speaker across Houston which included speaking engagements in Dallas and Mississippi. This set the stage for his public service. Public Service Lawrence was elected to his first public office as Chairman of Precinct 318 in 2016. He later assumed the position of Director of Community Engagement for the MLK Association of Houston. Under his leadership, he helped improve the community by teaming with Rebuild Houston and the University of Houston working in low income neighborhoods.
Lawrence has studied with the following institutions: Dallas Theological Seminary, Sustained Development Goals Academy, Middlesex University, Princeton University, Harvard University, The University of Baltimore's School of Law. He knows Koine Greek and Russian.