An associate pastor at an Atlanta-area megachurch has been arrested and charged with felony child cruelty after allegedly beating his 15-year-old stepson with a power cord until he bled.
Kenneth McFarland, a 42-year-old associate pastor at the multiethnic 2819 Church, was arrested on November 10 in Stockbridge, a suburb south of Atlanta.
According to a Stockbridge Police report, the incident came to light after McFarland’s stepson arrived at his private Christian school with blood on his pants. The boy told an assistant principal that his father had been “disciplining” him, which prompted the school official to contact the authorities. The teenager reported that McFarland had struck him with an extension cord from a video game system as punishment for receiving an in-school suspension. The police report noted that the boy also had bruising on his thigh and buttocks.
McFarland was booked into the Henry County Jail on November 10 and released two days later on a $2,500 bond. He faces a charge of second-degree cruelty to children, and if convicted, he could face one to 10 years in prison under Georgia law.
In addition to his pastoral role, McFarland owns a gun training business called GFG Trains, which stands for God Family Guns. “We have been in a fight since the day we were born, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually,” stated a social media post for the business. “But enough is enough. We have to fight back, fight back against the things that have held us back.”
Attempts to reach McFarland for comment were unsuccessful. Philip Anthony Mitchell, the head pastor of 2819 Church, also did not respond to inquiries about whether McFarland is still employed by the church. McFarland is not listed as a pastor on current or archived versions of the church’s website.
Mitchell has previously faced public scrutiny for a sermon in which he appeared to blame victims of police violence for disobedience, for which he later apologized. The church, formerly known as Victory Church, rebranded itself as 2819 Church, a reference to the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19. In a 2023 social media post, Mitchell described both himself and McFarland as having come from “the street in deep darkness” before being called into ministry.
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