An associate pastor of an Atlanta megachurch is facing a criminal charge of cruelty to children after being accused of beating his stepson with a power cord. Kenneth McFarland, 42, of 2819 Church was arrested on Nov. 10.
McFarland’s arrest came after an assistant principal at Creekside Christian Academy in Hampton, Georgia, where the child attends school, contacted police.
According to the police report, the child had received an in-school suspension. Upon entering the classroom, the child asked the assistant principal if he had blood on his pants. The assistant principal reported seeing dried blood on the back of the child’s pants.
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When asked about the cause of the injury, the child reportedly said that “my dad called himself disciplining me.”
The child claimed that McFarland beat him with an extension cord from the child’s gaming system before school. The alleged beating was in response to the child having received an in-school suspension, the child reported.
Police documented bruising on the child’s upper right thigh and lower buttocks.
McFarland was subsequently arrested and taken to Henry County Jail.
McFarland does not appear on 2819 Church’s website, but he lists on his Facebook page that he worked at 2819 Church. In a 2023 Facebook post, Philip Anthony Mitchell, lead pastor of 2819 Church, said that McFarland had recently preached at the church.
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“This is what GRACE looks like,” Mitchell said in the post, “how God took two dudes from the street in deep darkness and brought them into the Kingdom of light to do His glorious work.”
