Meet Josh McDowell: Christian apologist, speaker, and writer who, in over 58 years of ministry, has reached 46 million people in 139 countries with the truth of the gospel. If you have trouble witnessing to others, McDowell’s materials can help. He knows what it feels like to be on both ends of the conversation.
In books like his bestselling Evidence that Demands a Verdict, he doesn’t just explore the truth of the gospel. He sifts through evidence with a fine-toothed comb to convince unbelievers (himself first).
You would never know that this is the same person who wanted to end his life at age 11 and thought Christianity was worthless.
What Happened to Josh McDowell During His Childhood?
McDowell grew up on a small town farm in Michigan, the son of an abusive alcoholic. He often saw his father beat his mother (already struggling with health issues) so much that she couldn’t stand up afterward. McDowell tried to intervene on several occasions from age eight onwards. He recalls fighting his father and contemplating ways to kill the man. In a 700 Club interview, McDowell recalled his mother saying she only wanted to live long enough to see him graduate high school. She passed away the Friday after the ceremony.
More trauma followed at age six, when McDowell’s father hired a new farm employee. The employee sexually abused McDowell for years, and his mother did not believe him when he told her about it.
“At 9 and 12 years old, I remember feeling so scared,” he recalled. “All these things were being done to me, and there was nothing I could do about it! And it was almost like those that God gave to protect a child were not protecting me.” McDowell confronted his abuser at age 13, and the man stopped working at the farm.
How Did Josh McDowell Become a Christian?
All McDowell knew from a young age of fear, anger, and hopelessness. He had felt so abandoned by his family, the world, and God that he carried a festering hurt that wouldn’t allow God in. But as always, God had a unique plan for McDowell.
McDowell enrolled at Kellogg College in 1957, and within a couple of weeks, he noticed a small group of people who seemed different than everyone else. “Have you ever been around a group of people who really stand out . . . they seemed to have a love, a genuine love, for each other. They were very genuine. But this is what was different—they also seemed to have that same genuine love for those outside their group,” he remembered.
These people started talking about Jesus, and McDowell thought they were crazy. They challenged him to investigate the Bible’s claims for himself. He took time off from school to study extensively in Europe and the United States. Ultimately, he found the evidence for Christianity’s reliability compelling and impossible to ignore.
McDowell went to Wheaton College to finish his undergraduate studies, then attended Talbot Theological Seminary to get his Master of Divinity Degree. In 1964, at 25, he joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru). Shortly afterward, he started Josh McDowell Ministries, a Cru ministry that reaches young people worldwide. In 1991, McDowell founded Operation Carelift to help meet physical needs that he witnessed within hospitals, orphanages, schools, and prisons within the former Soviet Union.
How Has God Used Josh McDowell to Advance the Gospel?
While the story of anyone coming to know Jesus and going out into the world to make a difference in His name is wonderful, McDowell’s is amazing. Considering the amount of pain he went through in his childhood, no one would question his questioning of God. But that questioning changed his life and the lives of millions of others. Once he learned that truth is truth and accepted Christ as his Savior, he knew that God doesn’t waste a hurt. Case in point, God, in His great mercy, redeemed his relationship with his father, who quit alcohol and became a Christian when McDowell was in college.
Today he reaches people around the world through speaking engagements, interviews, 155 authored and co-authored books, live events for young people, and his care for people with low incomes through his organization. From terrible pain, McDowell has become a messenger who has helped millions of people come to faith. Hallelujah.
Significant Books Written by Josh McDowell
1. Evidence The Demands a Verdict
2. More Than A Carpenter
3. Evidence for Jesus: Timeless Answers for Tough Questions about Christ
4. Evidence for the Historical Jesus: A Compelling Case for His Life and His Claims
5. 77 FAQs About God and the Bible: Your Toughest Questions Answered
6. A Ready Defense: The Best of Josh McDowell
7. Answers to Tough Questions Skeptics Ask About the Christian Faith
8. The One Year Book of John McDowell’s Family Devotions
9. The Unshakable Truth: How You Can Experience the 12 Essentials of a Relevant Faith
10. God-Breathed: The Undeniable Power and Reliability of Scripture
10 Quotes from Josh McDowell
1. “You can laugh at Christianity, you can mock it and ridicule it. But it works. It changes lives. I should say Jesus Christ changes lives. Christianity is not a religion; it’s not a system; it’s not an ethical idea; it’s not a psychological phenomenon. It’s a person. If you trust Christ, start watching your attitudes and actions because Jesus Christ is in the business of changing lives.” — More Than a Carpenter
2. “Adversity did make me strong and determined. But it was a superficial strength, a defense mechanism, an artificial mask that hid dark things. What I longed for—what we all long for—was a loving relationship with someone who accepted me for who I was, no matter what.” — Undaunted: One Man's Real-Life Journey from Unspeakable Memories to Unbelievable Grace
3. “. . . the value of Christian faith is not in the one believing, but in the One who is believed in, its object “ — Evidence That Demands a Verdict
4. “. . . truth was never given for the sake of knowing truth. Truth was given for the sake of being applied to relationships with God, spouses, parents, children, friends, and non-believers.” — interview with Sean McDowell
5. “Jesus intended truth to be relational. He became man. God became man, as truth, and he related to people. So He has created us to understand truth in relationships. That if it is true, it will work. This is why I think the scripture is so dogmatic about relationships.” — Christian WorldView interview.
6. “Do not underestimate the role you may play in clearing the obstacles in someone’s spiritual journey.” — Evidence That Demands a Verdict
7. “If we stacked the manuscripts of the average classical author, of whom most scholars accept, it would be about four feet high. In contrast, stacking the manuscripts for the New Testament would result in a pile over a mile high.” — Bible Gateway interview
8. “The chief aim of all investigations of the external world should be to discover the rational order and harmony which has been imposed on it by God, and which he revealed to us in the language of mathematics.” — More Than a Carpenter
9. “God is not a harsh taskmaster who simply wants obedience. His instructions in his Word for thinking and acting rightly are for our benefit. He knows that when we live according to his ways, it brings us joy, fulfillment, and meaning in life.” — God-Breathed: The Undeniable Power and Reality of Scripture
10. “Speaking in math terms, they are one to the infinite power. Jesus said, “The Father and I are one.” — The Unshakable Truth: How You Can Experience the 12 Essentials of a Relevant Faith
Photo Credit: © Getty Images/kasto80
Mary Oelerich-Meyer is a Chicago-area freelance writer and copy editor who prayed for years for a way to write about and for the Lord. She spent 20 years writing for area healthcare organizations, interviewing doctors and clinical professionals and writing more than 1,500 articles in addition to marketing collateral materials. Important work, but not what she felt called to do. She is grateful for any opportunity to share the Lord in her writing and editing, believing that life is too short to write about anything else. Previously she served as Marketing Communications Director for a large healthcare system. She holds a B.A. in International Business and Marketing from Cornell College (the original Cornell!) When not researching or writing, she loves to spend time with her writer daughter, granddaughter, rescue doggie and husband (not always in that order).
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