Covenant Seminary Names Dr. Justin McLendon to Francis Schaeffer Chair of Apologetics

The board, faculty, and staff of Covenant Theological Seminary are pleased to announce that Dr. Justin McLendon will join the Seminary’s faculty as Associate Professor of Apologetics and Systematic Theology and hold the Francis Schaeffer Chair of Apologetics, effective July 1, 2024. In addition to teaching courses in apologetics and theology, he will provide oversight for the Francis A. Schaeffer Institute (FSI) at Covenant Seminary.

Dr. Justin McLendon

Dr. McLendon currently serves as Professor of Theology at Grand Canyon University (GCU) in Phoenix, Arizona, where he teaches Christian worldview and theology courses. He also serves as Department Chair for the Master of Arts programs for Grand Canyon Theological Seminary and has taught a range of apologetics courses for Colorado Christian University. He is the current President of the Far West Region of the Evangelical Theological Society, an Associate Fellow with the Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology in Cambridge (England), and a Managing Editor for the Journal of Biblical and Theological Studies.

A Teaching Elder in the Arizona Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America, Dr. McLendon is a scholar-in-residence at King of Kings Church (PCA), in Goodyear, Arizona, and preaches and teaches frequently in Arizona churches. His many publications include academic articles and essays, as well as contributions to Crossway’s Theology in Community series, the Jonathan Edwards’s Miscellanies project, and The Encyclopedia of American Religious History. Forthcoming writings focus on ecclesiology and cultural apologetics, including Theology and the Blues (part of the Theology and Pop Culture series published by Fortress Press/Lexington). Dr. McLendon holds a BS in interdisciplinary studies from Mississippi State University, and an MDiv and PhD in systematic theology from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tennessee. He is married to Christie, who has served as an educator for over twenty years; they have three teenage children.  

Of his new appointment, Dr. McLendon said: “I am grateful for the privilege of serving for the last nine years at Grand Canyon University and for cherished friendships with faculty, staff, and students there. I am overjoyed and humbled by the opportunity to serve at Covenant Seminary and eager to continue the pioneering work of Professor Jerram Barrs and others through the work of the Francis Schaeffer Institute. Long an admirer of Covenant’s pastor-scholar model, I am committed to Covenant’s mission to train men and women to serve Christ’s church at home and abroad and am honored and excited to join the excellent faculty there. I look forward to working with and learning from them.”

Rev. Dr. Thomas C. Gibbs, President of Covenant Seminary, noted, “We are excited to welcome Dr. McLendon to the Covenant family and thrilled to have him assume the Schaeffer Chair of Apologetics and leadership over the Schaeffer Institute. His wide-ranging expertise in theology, worldviews, and cultural apologetics makes him the ideal candidate to take up the mantle of the Schaeffer-Barrs approach to apologetics training and to carry on this honored tradition at the Seminary. We look forward to seeing new generations prepared under his tutelage to think biblically about and engage compassionately with the people and issues of a constantly changing world.”