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Applications Open April 1st 2026!

Applications Open April 1st 2026!

CIA | 2026 Instructor

Greg Koukl

Founder | President | Stand to Reason
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Applications Open April 1st 2026!

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Greg Koukl

Founder | President
Stand to Reason

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About Greg Koukl

Greg Koukl is the founder and president of Stand to Reason, a Christian apologetics organization committed to equipping believers to think clearly about their faith and engage skeptics with wisdom and grace. He is the author of the bestselling book Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions and has trained thousands of Christians in conversational apologetics. 

Greg Koukl's Bio

Greg Koukl is the founder and president of Stand to Reason (STR), a Christian apologetics organization dedicated to equipping believers to think clearly about their faith and articulate it effectively in the public square. With decades of experience in apologetics, philosophy, and cultural engagement, Greg is widely respected for his clear thinking, gracious demeanor, and practical approach to defending Christianity. 

Greg holds graduate degrees in philosophy and Christian apologetics and has long been committed to helping Christians develop both intellectual confidence and conversational skill. He is best known for his influential book Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions, which provides believers with a practical framework for engaging skeptics through thoughtful questions rather than combative debate. 

Through Stand to Reason, Greg oversees training programs, podcasts, articles, and live events that equip Christians to address challenges related to relativism, atheism, bioethics, the sanctity of life, and moral truth. His approach emphasizes clarity, civility, and careful reasoning—encouraging believers to represent Christ thoughtfully in cultural conversations. 

Greg hosts the nationally broadcast radio show and podcast Stand to Reason, where he responds to caller questions and discusses contemporary issues from a biblical worldview perspective. Over the years, he has spoken at universities, seminaries, churches, and conferences across North America and internationally. 

A consistent theme in Greg’s teaching is the importance of developing a coherent Christian worldview that integrates faith and reason. He challenges believers to move beyond emotional or purely subjective defenses of Christianity and instead ground their convictions in logic, evidence, and philosophical reflection. 

At CIA 2026, Greg brings decades of experience training Christians in conversational apologetics, equipping attendees with practical tools for winsome and persuasive engagement in today’s cultural climate. 

Instructor FAQs

Greg Koukl is the founder and president of Stand to Reason, a Christian apologetics organization committed to equipping believers to think clearly about their faith and engage skeptics with wisdom and grace. He is the author of the bestselling book Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions and has trained thousands of Christians in conversational apologetics. 

At the Academy, Greg Koukl teaches specialized sessions focused on strengthening apologetic skills. Topics may include: 

  • Conversational apologetics 
  • Christian worldview 
  • Moral relativism 
  • Pro-life apologetics 
  • Logic and critical thinking 

Each session is designed to move beyond basic apologetics into instructor-level training. 

Masters in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics at Talbot School of Theology 

Masters in Christian Apologetics with honors from Simon Greenleaf University 

adjunct professor in Christian apologetics at Biola University 

award-winning writer and best-selling author 

Street Smarts: Using Questions to Answer Christianity’s Toughest Challenges

The Story of Reality—How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between,  

Tactics—A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions,  

Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air  

 

Yes. One of the unique strengths of the CrossExamined Instructor Academy is personal interaction with instructors like Greg Koukl. Attendees have opportunities to ask questions, engage in discussion, and receive direct insight in a more focused setting than typical large conferences. 

No. While pastors and ministry leaders attend, Greg Koukl teaches in a way that is accessible to serious Christians who want to grow in defending their faith. Whether you are a student, church leader, teacher, or layperson, the training is designed to help you develop clarity, confidence, and competence in apologetics. 

By attending sessions taught by Greg Koukl , you can expect to: 

  • Strengthen your understanding of Christian doctrine 
  • Improve logical thinking and argument development 
  • Learn how to respond to tough objections 
  • Grow in confidence when discussing your faith
  • Develop skills for teaching or leading others in apologetics 

Yes. The CrossExamined Instructor Academy is intentionally structured to allow meaningful interaction with instructors, including Greg Koukl, throughout the event. Meals, breakout sessions, and informal discussions offer added opportunities for engagement. 

You can learn directly from Greg Koukl by attending the CrossExamined Instructor Academy. Many instructors also provide more resources such as books, debates, podcasts, or online content to continue growing in apologetics beyond the conference. 

Sessions

Greg Koukl's Sessions at CIA

Speaking Topics

Greg Koukl's Topics Being Covered at CIA

Areas OF Expertise

  • Conversational apologetics 
  • Christian worldview 
  • Moral relativism 
  • Pro-life apologetics 
  • Logic and critical thinking 

Greg Koukl's Latest Works

Greg Koukl's Best-Selling Work

Street Smarts—Using Questions to Answer Christianity’s Toughest Challenges

How to engage in productive conversations with those who challenge your Christian convictions.

Gregory Koukl’s best-selling book of practical apologetics, Tactics, wrote the game plan for discussing your Christian convictions with skeptics. In this follow-up, Koukl—a leader of clear-thinking Christianity—reveals the fundamental flaws in common, current challenges to Christian beliefs and values and provides step-by-step strategies to question and reveal those shortcomings.

Street Smarts offers model questions and sample dialogues to help guide believers in persuasive conversations about hot-button issues like:

  • Relativism
  • The trustworthiness of Scripture
  • The claims of the Gospel
  • Abortion
  • Marriage, sex, and gender

This book will teach you how to tackle those discussions that believers often avoid because they feel out of their element, vulnerable, or exposed. Lucid, well-organized, and easy-to-follow, Street Smarts provides a specific set of questions—the same questions Koukl uses in his own encounters—that are embedded in sample mini-dialogues that you can use to have fruitful debates with non-believers.

Order Your Copy TODAY

More Works from Greg Koukl

The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

Gregory Koukl, bestselling author and founder of Stand to Reason, explains how Christianity is a true and comprehensive account of all reality—an unfolding story of the world in all its mystery and wonder.

Many believe Christianity is just another private religious view. Some think of it merely as a vehicle for getting “saved.” Others reduce it to a source of moral teaching. But Christianity is so much more.

In The Story of Reality, Koukl shows how Christianity is actually a complete picture of reality revealing why the world is the way it is. When the pieces of the puzzle are properly assembled, we see the big picture clearly. Christianity is the true story of:

  • How the world began
  • Why the world is the way it is
  • What role humans play in the drama
  • How all the plotlines of the story are resolved in the end
  • How our deepest hunger for meaning a purpose can finally be satisfied


Using five words that form the narrative backbone of the Christian story, Koukl identifies the most important things that happen in the order they take place: God, Man, Jesus, Cross, and Resurrection.

If you’re already a Christian, this book will help you more deeply know and understand the true story of reality. For those still seeking answers to the questions of life, this is an invitation to hear an account that explains the world in a way nothing else does.

This is the story that can change your life forever.

Order Your Copy TODAY

Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

In a world indifferent or even opposed to Christian truth, followers of Christ must be better equipped to communicate the timeless of the Christian faith. But how do you have a conversation with someone who is intent on proving you wrong and won’t accept the Bible as a source of authority?

In Tactics, Gregory Koukl demonstrates how to artfully regain control of conversations, keeping them moving forward in constructive ways through thoughtful diplomacy. You’ll learn how to maneuver comfortably and graciously through the minefields of a challenging discussion, how to stop challengers in their tracks, and how to turn the tables on question or provocative statement. Most importantly, you’ll learn how to get people thinking about Jesus.

Drawing on extensive experience defending Christianity in the public square, Koukl shows you how to:

  • Initiate conversations effortlessly
  • Present the truth clearly, cleverly, and persuasively
  • Graciously and effectively expose faulty thinking
  • Skillfully manage the details of dialogue
  • Maintain an engaging, disarming style even under attack


Tactics provides the game plan for communicating the compelling truth about Christianity with confidence and grace.

Order Your Copy TODAY

Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air

“An extremely well researched, intellectual approach to the problem of relativism and its effect on education, public policy, and our everyday lives.” Youth worker

Order Your Copy TODAY

Popular Videos from Greg Koukl

True Story—An Apologetic for Christianity

Is Christianity actually true?

Are there good reasons and evidence for the Christian faith?

 

Do you long to effectively discuss your faith with a wayward child? Or perhaps you’d love to share the Gospel in a compelling way with an atheist friend at school? Apologetics training is how we master the art of effectively sharing this life-changing narrative. 

Dive into the true story of Christianity. In this 6-lesson video course, you will be introduced to apologetics—a reasonable defense of Christianity—and uncover how the Christian narrative isn’t just wishful thinking or leap of blind faith, but tells us the truth about all reality.

Learn More

The Image of God—Finding Our True Identity and Living it Out in the Real World

Where do you find your identity?

What does it mean to be created in the Image of God? 

How does the Image of God apply in the real world?

 

Our culture is obsessed with one singular question: What is your identity? We are constantly prescribed price tags and identity labels. But what does Scripture say about who we are?

Our identity as God’s image bearers should affect every single aspect of our lives. It tells us why we’re valuable and what amazing things we’re capable of. This idea has actually transformed the history of the world, and that is NOT an overstatement. In this 12-lesson on-demand video course, you will examine what Scripture says about your TRUE identity will tell you WHO you really are, WHAT you’re supposed to do, and HOW life can be so rich and joyful and fulfilling, when we live according to God’s design, not our own.

Learn More

Greg Koukl's

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A Quick Highlight of Greg KouklIn Action

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