For Immediate Release
GALLATIN, TN—Dr. Gavin Ortlund, President of Truth Unites, will deliver a series of guest lectures during the 2026 Leroy Forlines Lectures at Welch College, according to President Matt Pinson. The presentations are scheduled for April 13–14, 10:00 to 12:00, in Celorio Auditorium on the Welch campus. Ortlund’s topic will be “Reasons to Be Protestant.”
The Leroy Forlines Lectures began in 1993 at Welch College as a means of bringing well known speakers to campus who could address challenging issues of the day related to theology, philosophy, worldview, world mission, and other topics. They are named for long-time Welch professor and dean F. Leroy Forlines. The lectureship is made possible by means of a generous endowment by Professor Forlines’s wife Dr. Fay Forlines.
“It’s a special privilege to host Dr. Ortlund at Welch to deliver the Forlines Lectures,” President Pinson said. “He has done more than anyone to discuss with generations young and old the importance and biblical reasons for being Protestant in an era where many in Generation Z are decrying the shallowness of evangelical church life, looking for a way out, and even questioning Protestantism. Gavin is the best person to address this topic, and it’s such an honor to have him speak at Welch.”
Ortlund is President of the Christian apologetics ministry Truth Unites, Theologian-in-Residence at Immanuel Nashville, and Visiting Professor of Historical Theology at Phoenix Seminary. He has a Ph.D. from Fuller Theological Seminary in historical theology, an M.Div. from Covenant Theological Seminary, and a B.A. from the University of Georgia.
Dr. Ortlund is the author of nine books as well as numerous academic and popular articles. His book What It Means to Be Protestant won the Christianity Today 2024 Book of the Year award. He is also author of the award-winning 2021 book Why God Makes Sense in a World that Doesn’t. He is a sought-after speaker at churches and conferences around the country. He and his wife Esther have five children.
The Forlines Lectures are open and free of charge to the public. Gifts to help make the Forlines Lectures possible may be made to Welch College by sending a check marked “Forlines Lectures” to Welch College, 1045 Bison Trail, Gallatin, TN 37066, or by giving online at welch.edu/give with designation to the lecture series.