Alex McFarland


Alex McFarland is an American public speaker, author, educator, and advocate for Christian apologetics. He currently serves as Director of the Christian Worldview Center at North Greenville University in Greenville, South Carolina and as organizer of the Truth for a New Generation Conferences. He also co-hosts the radio program "Exploring the Word" that airs on American Family Radio.
McFarland was President of the Southern Evangelical Seminary from 2006 - 2011. He is director of the Center for Christian Worldview and Apologetics at North Greenville University.
McFarland is a popular speaker among evangelical Christian audiences.

Childhood and education

Alex McFarland was born and raised in North Carolina where he attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He later completed a master's degree from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia in Christian Thought and Apologetics. In 2017 he returned as the University's Convocation speaker.
He lives in North Carolina with his wife.

Career

McFarland's 2000 Tour of Truth saw him preach the Gospel in all 50 states in 50 days. Hawaii was the first stop in a 17,000-mile tour during which McFarland preached in one church in each of the fifty states. McFarland and his wife traveled in an RV accompanied by three college students working as interns, and a married couple who did the driving. In Easley, South Carolina on day 32, a lightning strike fried the computer modem, and a German Shepherd bit McFarland's arm outside a Chase, Maryland church. He wrote his first book, 50 States in 50 Days: The "Tour of Truth" Story, and How 9 People Made the Journey of a Lifetime Across America.
McFarland later served at James Dobson's Focus on the Family as Director of Teen Apologetics based on Colorado Springs, Colorado. In 2006, he accepted the position as third president of Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina where he served for nearly five years.
Since 2011, McFarland has served as Director of the Christian Worldview Center at North Greenville University in Greenville, South Carolina. In addition, he co-hosts a radio program called "Exploring the Word" on American Family Radio.
McFarland created the Truth for a New Generation apologetics conferences. He argues that the United States, especially on university campuses, has become hostile to Christian believers. In his 2017 book 2017 Abandoned Faith: Why Millennials Are Walking Away and How You Can Lead Them Home, McFarland and his co-author Jason Jimenez argue millennials drift away due to "the breakdown of the family," in America.