The Spiritual Condition of America, Politics, Culture, and Current Events Analyzed Through the Lens of Scripture. Welcome to the Alex McFarland Show. We've been doing a series of shows from NRB, National Religious Broadcasting, in Nashville. Alex McFarland here. And, you know, one of the joys of this is all the people you see.
It's kind of like a family reunion. And so my whole week has worked up to this point to visit with someone that I love in the Lord. He's an amazing man of God, an amazing friend, and he's always just fun to talk to. His name is Ryan Dobson, and he's with us now. Ryan, welcome.
It's great to be with you again, brother. Oh, Alec, I'm turning red. You flatter me. I love being with you. You are such a great guy.
We've known each other for. Brace yourself. This will be, I met you in the summer of 2004, so 22 years ago. 22 years. That's amazing.
I love it. Yeah, you had a book out. What book would you have been Be Intolerant? Yes, exactly. That was it.
Be Intolerant. That got me in so much trouble. Oh, yeah. Let's go back, because, hey, folks, go to amazon.com or wherever you buy books. And I said to you, I think, hey, that's the book title Hall of Fame.
Be intolerant. Subtitle was because some things are just stupid. Exactly. Listen, when you go on Amazon, you will only see ones or fives. It is either people absolutely hate it or they love it.
It was. I didn't know I'd get that much hate, May. I thought it was a funny title. It's a great title because true, you know, I mean. Based on God's word, some things are right, some things are wrong.
Yes. You know, I honestly, I've thought about doing another version of it today because so much of what. You know, and I'm not prophetic at all, I'm not like my dad, but so much of the things that we talked about in the original book, you know. Radical climate activism and identity politics, you know, things like that have just hockey sticked up into today and. Thankfully, in this moment, it feels like we're in a bit of a cultural shift where, you know, COVID, we went just.
Insane. We went crazy. And I think the American people are like, you know what? No, no, no. Even people that are on the more liberal side are like, no, no, no, no.
Come on. Enough is enough already. Yeah, exactly, exactly. And you wrote and spoke, you were touring that book. But we've got to have more Christians and certainly pastors speaking out.
Hey, look, we love people, God loves people, but there are some boundaries that a culture has to have. Absolutely. And you will be happier. You'll be more successful. You know, my dad, I have a podcast called Rebel Parenting, and my dad was irritated with the title of it.
And I go, listen, you were the first rebel parent. And he was like, what are you talking about? Did you release Dare to Discipline July of 1970, a month before I was adopted? The leading parenting book of the day was Dr. Benjamin Spock.
He was saying, just let your kids do whatever they want, and eventually they'll come back to the right thing. He was so countercultural, saying children want boundaries. It makes them feel safe. They need that. And the big one in Dare to Discipline that people forget.
Is the distinguishing between childhood immaturity, childhood mistakes, and willful defiance. You don't punish childishness. You don't punish mistakes and accidents. You got a kid that's growing and gangly, and you're saying, Calm down, you're gonna spill the milk, and he's still gangly and the milk gets spilled. That's an accident.
It's an accident. But if you say, Watch out for the milk, and he looks you in the eye and he smacks it across the room, that's willful defiance. Those are the things you want to correct. Since my dad's passing, the number of people that have Brought those exact words to me and said that was the turning point of my parenting journey. To look at my child and go, oh, that was a mistake.
It might be irritating. We may have stained the couch, but hey, it's a couch. Who cares? It's not my child's will. It's not this, I'm not crushing his spirit.
I'm just correcting the willful defiance. Yeah. Ryan, I got to tell you something. I had the great privilege of sitting in the radio studio many times with your dad. Oh, yeah.
James C. Dobson. Who, I mean, I would love, if you would indulge me, we have to do several hours of how just huge your dad was. He's in heaven now. Yeah.
And your mom, surely. But I want to say this: I mean, this with all my heart. You restated that as perfectly and clearly as he would have stated it. And it's almost, and I've known you a long time, it's almost like the mantle of his. mind and voice is is on you.
And you're your own person. You're Ryan Dobson. You're not James Dobson. God created one James Dobson. Yeah.
I'm just trying to be the best me. The best Ryan Dobson. But, man, your voice is clearer, more compelling than ever, my friend. I appreciate that. God's hand is on you.
I have a lot of people that are saying, you know, you're carrying on the legacy and It's interesting. My dad was... Conservative in different ways that people don't know. He was very conservative with his money. He never took a salary at focus.
He didn't take a salary at Family Talk. He was afraid that money corrupts. He had a controlling board, not an advisory board, because he wanted to make sure he was being guided and directed to do the right thing. And I just want to try and live up to the legacy that he laid down. He was.
He's the greatest. Amen.
Well, and I just want to say this: I've been around a lot of Christian leaders, so have you. Several times I went to your parents' house where they lived in the Springs, had dinner literally at their kitchen counter with your mother and dad, and it was very modest. It was oh, yeah. I mean, James and Shirley Dobson did not live in a castle. No, they had a condo.
It was a very modest house. Alex, that's so funny. When there was a big scandal with some televangelists and they were doing flyovers of these giant mansions and all the cars and the air-conditioned dog houses, and I was at my dad's table you're talking about. We were at the table watching it, and I started laughing so hard. And he goes, What's so funny?
I go, Dad, if they tried to do this to you, they'd have to go, It's the fourth brown house next to the other two brown houses in the neighborhood of brown houses. You know, it's. You know, and that was done on purpose. When they moved to Colorado Springs, it was a very depressed economy. People were really struggling.
And they had sold a house in California, which went for far more than they paid for it. And he said, Listen, if I build some big mansion, people are going to think I'm taking ministry money and doing that. And I don't need a big mansion. They've lived in that same house since the second they moved to Colorado Springs in 1991. They never moved.
They've been in the same place. Wow. Hey, we got to take a brief break. We've got something I want to talk about. I want to do it justice.
Stay tuned. We're going to come back and we're going to talk about something called the covenant. This is powerful, folks. We're talking with Ryan Dobson, Alex McFarlane here from NRB. We're going to come back and you do not want to miss it.
Stay tuned. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland, a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. Christian author and speaker Alex McFarland is an advocate for Christian apologetics. Teaching in more than 2,200 churches around the world, schools, and college campuses, Alex is driven by a desire to help people grow in relationship with God.
He arms his audiences with the tools they need to defend their faith, while also empowering the unchurched to find out the truth for themselves. In the midst of a culture obsessed with relativism, Alex is a sound voice who speaks timeless truths of Christianity in a timely way. With 18 published books to his name, it's no surprise that CNN, Fox, The Wall Street Journal, and other media outlets have described Alex as a religion and culture expert. To learn more about Alex and to book him as a speaker at your next event, visit alexmacfarland.com or you can contact us directly by emailing booking at alexmcfarland.com. He's been called Trusted, Truthful, and Timely.
Welcome back to the Alex McFarlane Show. Welcome back to the program. Alex McFarlane here. We're talking with Ryan Dobson, who, by the way, you should book Ryan and bring him to your city. Online, where are you online, brother?
Oh, you go to my Facebook page, JRyan Dobson. Just look up Ryan Dobson, I'm there. I'm easy to find. Sure. Yeah.
Hey, you will appreciate this. I want to tell you what a conflict is. I was in seminary. Had some tuition bills to pay, and I was in Lynchburg, Virginia at Liberty University, where your dad would later teach and create some classes. But I got to lead a guy to Christ, a local, he's kind of a rough guy, but he had a guitar store.
And he calls me up one day. I led this guy to Christ, Wally Roach. I did his funeral exactly one year ago. He said, Alex, I've got a guitar you need. Because I play guitar.
He had Johnny Cash's Gretsch Duojet from Sun Records. This is an example of a dilemma. This is 30 years ago. My son's middle name is Cash. Yeah, I know.
So I go down there. Wally had, and there were all the pictures, all the provenance. It was legit. It was a Gretsch electric guitar. Johnny Cash played it at Sun Records back in the day.
Oh, my goodness. And Wally had gotten it on a trade. And this was a ton of money, but it would have been worth it. He said $5,000. And there's all this paperwork.
ha a couple of handwritten like on Notebook paper, Johnny Cash was like working on songs. Oh my gosh. There's a ton of paperwork with it. And I said, oh man, I want this, but I have to pay tuition and finish school. Anyway, I queued that up.
I played it. I held it. Oh, my goodness. One of the things you and I have in common is we're Johnny Cash fans. Oh, I love him so much.
Honestly, I proposed to my wife a second time. We left the movie Walk the Line, and we had already named Lincoln Lincoln, but we hadn't chosen a middle name yet. And I wasn't going to do Ryan. I didn't need to carry him on that. And we were walking along, and she goes, you know, Cash is a neat name.
And I was like, yeah. And she goes, wouldn't that be a good middle name for Lincoln? And I'm not kidding. I almost got back down on one knee and said, did you marry me again?
So he is Lincoln Cash Dobson. Very cool. Oh, yeah. Well, we're talking with Ryan Dobson, longtime friend and brother and colleague. I want you to talk about something.
I really want to do this justice, something called the Covenants. This is big. This is very significant. What is the covenant? Virtually everyone's heard of The Chosen.
Dallas Jenkins and I have gone back for years and years. I love him. We're great friends. I'm working with the founding CFO of The Chosen, helped raise the funds for the very first season, and got a brand new project called The Covenant. Andrew Clavin from Daily Wire has written the first script.
We're starting back in the Old Testament in the book of Daniel. And it will be very similar, episodic. And Alex, you understand this. You have all kinds of Christian media across your desk. And I'll never name a name.
And I don't want to disparage anybody, but you get a lot of stuff that's cringe-worthy. Yeah. That you think, no, no, no, don't say you're faith-based. This is going to make us all look bad. I told my wife I got a script.
She kind of rolled her eyes at me and I laughed. And I went downstairs. I couldn't stop reading it. I read it cover to cover in one sitting and came back up and she goes, That was a long time. I had tears in my eyes.
It is so nuanced. It is so layered. It is so deep. And the thing, someone asked me yesterday, what do you hope this does? What it did for me, it compelled me to go back and read the story of Daniel.
It compelled me to go back and go, oh, I didn't remember this. Is this true? And it opens with the story of Susanna. You've not heard of Susanna, it's not in the book of Daniel, but it is in the Apocrypha. I'm going to pronounce that right.
They're using Jewish text, Jewish history, and she's accused of infidelity. And By Jewish elders, and her husband wants to believe her, but Jewish elders don't lie. And Daniel comes in and questions them separately and saves the day and figures out they're lying. Right, right. Later in the story, you see that couple together, and it has hurt their relationship.
Everybody can relate to that. You know, in the script, Daniel is friends with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And I was like, is that true? Were they friends? And I started doing a deep dive.
Yeah, they were. Scholars say they were very likely that they did know each other. And so for Daniel to watch his friends. Get put in a fiery furnace. Standing up, not just standing up for right and wrong, but saying, I will die for what I believe.
I think people are going to see themselves in it. We're in the crowdfunding phase right now. It's similar to a Kickstarter. Sure. So, you know, you donate $25, $50, and you get the entire first season in perpetuity.
And as the higher you donate in, you could be an extra in the series. You could be an associate producer. You can go to the red carpet premiere when it premieres. And we're calling on people. If you missed out on the chosen, so many people are like, oh, I knew they were doing crowdfunding, but I didn't know.
If you missed out on that, or even if you were part of it, they're going to want to be a part of the covenant. It is so compelling. Cyrus Narwasta is the director. He's done Sarah's Oil. He was raised secular Muslim and has come to Jesus.
Andrew Clavin is. Messianic. I mean, think of that coming together to tell stories of the Old Testament with a bunch of faith believers. Sure. This is going to be so powerful.
You know, I've got a friend in North Carolina who is a devout Christian and he's been in filmmaking. And I don't know, eight, nine, ten years ago, he got an early script of The Chosen. He said, look at this. This is going to be strong. And it was.
And I mean, middle school, high school, college kids, by the many, many thousands, young people have gotten into the Bible and come to Jesus through the chosen. That's right. This is that all over again. It is. And that's why we're asking people to get on board.
It's very worthy. It's not just some. thing this is art But it's art based on truth. It is, and so many, you know, I'm not disparaging churches, but so many preachers only preach New Testament. And I'm like, listen, the words of Jesus were Old Testament.
If you want to know the prophecy fulfilled in the New Testament, you must know what the prophets were saying in the Old Testament. And you get the full picture of the Bible. You get the wholeness of the word, and it comes alive. Um where can people, the crowdfunding platform? Thank you so much.
I made it easy. James RyanDobson.com. James Ryan Dobson. It's my full name. JamesRyanDobson.com.
It's all the levels of funding. It's got the different things about it. You'll have learned all about the series. Do you know a hypothetical release date? We're trying to start filming this fall.
Oh, I'll tell you something else that's amazing too. Cool. They're filming in Morocco. Really? Yeah, so you will get terrain.
We tried to film in Israel. It's just so expensive. But Morocco, you're going to get people that look like they're supposed to be in there. You're going to get the terrain that looks exactly like it's supposed to be. It is the most exciting thing I've been involved in in so long.
That is so cool. The Covenant, James Ryan Dobson, spelled just like it sounds, james RyanDobson.com. Yep. Hey, we got to pull away. We got a brief break.
But, folks, stay tuned. And, Ryan, man, it's so great to see what God is doing in your life. I appreciate you so much. Thank you. We got a lot to talk about.
We haven't even gotten to skateboards. I know, let's do it again. Or pinball. Oh, yes.
So, will you come back? 100%. I'll look at it anytime. Folks, stay tuned. And again, keep your eyes peeled for the Covenant.
Participate, donate, as you feel so led. We're back after this. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland, a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. Hi, Alex McFarland here.
You know, I was at a college speaking, and I guess we ministers get too wordy.
Somebody said, Can you describe Christianity in only two words? And instantly, this came to me, and I said it: loving substitution. And students raised their hand and they said, What does that mean? Loving substitution. Here's the thing: because Jesus Christ loves you, He was our substitute on Calvary's cross.
The appropriate measure of God's wrath that you and I deserved was put onto Jesus. You don't have to die and suffer for your sins because He was the substitute who died for you.
So, if you call out to Christ, He will save you, He will forgive you. I urge you to do that today because Jesus Christ has a plan for your life, and it begins with you putting your faith in Him. Thank you for listening. Thank you for your support. Learn more about this at alexmacfarland.com.
He's been called trusted, truthful, and timely. Welcome back to the Alex McFarlane Show. Welcome back to the program. Alex McFarland here as we wrap up our conversation with Ryan Dobson. I just want to be on record giving some reflections about the impact in our life of Dr.
James C. Dobson. We're coming up on the one-year anniversary of Dr. Dobson's passing, August 21 of 2025, and here about a year removed from the homegoing of James Dobson, just one of the great Christian leaders of our lifetime. I want to share some remembrances of how God worked in my life through Dr.
Dobson, but I want to remember a couple of Bible verses, and let me just challenge you. To be mindful of the details. Because, see, what God is doing in your life is weaving a story, really.
Now, this begins when you come to faith in Christ, as I hope every one of you. Half have done. I hope there's been that moment when you trusted Christ. You know, in the life of James Dobson, he told the story a number of times. I heard him share this, that he put his faith in Jesus when he was three years old.
Three years old. He really did. And you know, the Bible says in Matthew 10, 29 that That are not two sparrows sold for a penny, yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your father's notice. God sees the small details. God knows every bird, every sparrow, every ant.
every human being, every detail of his creation. And the Bible says that he knows your story. And before you were in your mother's womb, he knew who you are. Are and who you could be, and who you will be. The Bible says in James 4:10, if we humble ourselves before the Lord, He will lift us up.
And another verse that means so much to me is Matthew 6:33. And it relates not only to the great life and legacy of Jim and Shirley Dobson, and now Ryan and Denae and their incredible impact, but my own story. Matthew 6, verse 33 says, Seek first the kingdom of God. And his righteousness, and all these other things would be added to you. You know, people are very worried about.
Uh the you read about the American dream. Will young people ever be able to afford a house or the things of life that not only the luxuries but the basic necessities. And in Dr. Dobson's life, his message was Jesus Christ and his kingdom.
Now, focus on the family. And I work there, and I not only focus on the family, but later at Family Talk, I worked with and for James Dobson a total of eight years. And the first pillar I'll focus on the family, in other words, the first priority was evangelism. I well remember going through my Orientation, that focused on the family. And over and over, we talked about the Great Commission.
And part of the restoration of marriage and family was because Dr. Dobson and all of us knew that a key Foundation of bringing the world into a relationship with. The Savior is home and family. We know that's why Satan is so vehemently attacked. The family is because.
The family is the church in miniature, and the family was designed to prepare our hearts for the gospel. And so I want to go back and just give God the glory. About the details of life, because look at the details, the mileposts, the significant moments in your own story. Because if you'll allow it, this is part of how God. Is showing you that he is there, he's faithful, he's weaving.
Your story. Of his love and care for you. When I was finishing my master's degree, At Liberty, the commencement speaker way back in 1996 was James Dobson. And I knew who Dr. Dobson was, and my family appreciated Dr.
Dobson. My sister was raising her children with his books, and she loved Dr. Dobson. Well, he was the commencement speaker at Liberty. And I remember going across the stage and shaking the hand of Jerry Falwell and James Dobson.
And little did I know that years later the The commencement speaker would be my boss. And I well remember how one day I had been to a Billy Graham. Training for young evangelists. This was back in the late nineties, and we had gone to the Cove, and Franklin Graham was there, and Anne Graham Lotts, and Luis Palau. Billy Graham couldn't be there because he was not well, but he spoke to us by video.
And he said, get in your quiet place and get alone with God. And get on your knees and say, God, what is my next assignment? And of course, I did that because Billy Graham said, do it.
Well, we began to do these Truth for New Generation conferences, and that's We filled up the Greensboro Coliseum a few times and Christianity Today wrote a tiny little blurb about me.
Well, one day I was having my devotions and I just sensed. God spoke to me and said, I'm going to do something new in your life. And I'll never forget, and this is what I prayed. I said, Lord, help me hear you with unmistakable clarity. Lord, help me to hear you with unmistakable clarity.
Well, like the next day, my fax machine rang. It wasn't my phone, if you remember fax machines. And anyway, it was focused on the family. It was H.B. London, and then Bob Walaszewski, and then Dr.
Dobson called me. And I flew to Colorado Springs and I was offered a job to lead a department they wanted to start for youth apologetics. I've got to say, and I used to say this. Everything good that happened to me over the last really 25 years came about through James Dobson. And he would say, No, Alex, it came through the Lord, and that is absolutely true.
But once I went to work for James Dobson, And we began to rent venues up and down the west coast, and we did events. Yeah. Tyndale Publishers. Said, we want you to write books. And then I got speaking engagements that I Spirit West Coast four times, 100,000 people.
I mean, things that I never could have done. Apart from working for James Dobson. I was in Indianapolis, Indiana. And I was on the road for Dr. Dobbs and I spoke at an event.
I was going to a Howard Johnson's hotel. And when the guy saw my business card, he said, You work for James Dobson? I said, Sure. Yes, I do. And he said, no, the room is on the house.
You can't pay for your hotel room. Dr. Dobson saved my marriage. You're our guest. And uh I cannot overstate How God used this man.
He won so many awards. At his peak, he was on four thousand radio stations, twenty-nine thousand radio markets. But doctor Dobson, everywhere I would go, he would He would say, did anybody get saved? Tell somebody about Jesus. Just an amazing man of God.
He and Shirley, too, Dr. Dobson wrote 70 books. And he allowed me, we were doing an event. Uh they called it the big dig. Truth for a new generation.
my conferences, well they had a brand called Dare to Dig Deeper.
So we brought in Lee Strobel and Josh McDowell and Gary Habermas and Erwin Lutzer. And I said, Dr. Dobson, let's record a radio show. And he said, Well, I've never had seven people around the table. Uh and I s and I'll never forget I said well he It'll work, just trust me.
Well, we ended up doing two radio shows with all the panel: Josh McDowell and all the guys, and Uh it was the the number one selling CD, and we called it Do You Have a Biblical Worldview? Del Tackett of the Truth Project was on there. And for a couple of years it was the number one selling C D. When I was president of Southern Evangelical Seminary, we brought Dr. Dobson to Charlotte, and 5,000 people came from about 20 states.
And of course we gave him an honorary doctorate. He had many, many. But Dr. Dobson was an amazing leader. He did many, many things for me.
I remember we were in Nashville, Tennessee, and I was helping him. Working for him, and we got a deal with Liberty University.
Okay. Paid a wonderful honorarium to Dr. Dobson for using his name, the James C. Dobson School of uh psychology and family formation. But um my phone rang.
And it was Piers Morgan. His assistant, really, and they said, Can you get Dr. Dobson on? The show, Pierce Morgan, wants to interview him.
So I called Dr. Dobbs and I said, oh my goodness. We're going to get you on the Pierce Morgan Show. And he said No, maybe some other time. And I was thinking, wow, you know, when you You've got everybody from Larry King to Pierce Morgan, you know, wanting to solicit your wisdom.
That's an influential man of God. But he loved Winston Churchill. Dr. Dobson loved Winston Churchill. And I went on eBay and I found an actual handwritten Winston Churchill letter.
That was signed. I had it professionally framed. I gave it to him for his birthday one year. It was not cheap. But he cherished that thing, an actual Churchill signature.
You may not know this, but he also really loved the music of the Beatles. The first time I ever recorded with Dr. Dobson, I was sitting in the booth, and over it, just the background music was. like a Beatles greatest hit something. And uh Anyway, we talked about the Beatles and I said, hey, I know every song in every key.
Ask me any song. I'll tell you what key it's in. And so Uh we had fun talking about Beetle trivia back and forth. But here's my point. As I close, Little did I know that my commencement speaker would be the single most significant.
Influence in my ministerial life and and would open so many doors which continue to this day, but doctor Dobson, He was right. It is the family. And not only our earthly family, And good or bad we can overcome the problems. But it's being a part of God's heavenly family. And so I just, on the one-year anniversary of his homegoing, I want to thank God.
for the life, the legacy, the witness of Dr. Dobson. And I want to be a faithful steward of all the doors that God has opened for our work. through my friendship with uh the great James Dobson. Reminds me of Philippians 4 verse 6.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving. Present your request to God. You don't have to be anxious, folks. And just as God has a story and a journey, so that we're living out. He has one for you.
And it begins with your relationship with Jesus Christ. And James Dobson, he would say, Give your life to Jesus, trust him with your future. God is faithful. Let's help others find Jesus Christ. I thank God for Dr.
Dobson and now my friendship with Ryan, of course, but let's. The old saying turn hearts toward home. Let's try to turn hearts toward their true home. which is a relationship with Jesus Christ. May God bless the memory, the legacy of James Dobson, Now lets us take the banner.
And take the love of Jesus to to parts and homes throughout our nation and our world. May God bless you. Alex McFarland Ministries are made possible through the prayers and financial support of partners like you. For over 20 years, this ministry has been bringing individuals into a personal relationship with Christ and has been equipping people to stand strong for truth. Learn more and donate securely online at alexmacfarland.com.
You may also reach us by calling 1-877-YESGOD and the number one. That's 1-877-Y-E-S-G-O-D-1. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you again on the next edition of the Alex McFarlane Show.
