My dear alumni and friends,
“Sometimes,” Dr. MacArthur once said to me, “you do not know the significance of a man of God until he is gone.” While Pastor John was speaking of individuals like Calvin, Spurgeon, Sproul, and Lloyd-Jones, these words are equally true of the one who originally spoke them.
In the days since his passing, tributes have flowed from close friends and family to major news outlets like Fox News and even The New York Times. Christian leaders representing seminaries, humanitarian aid organizations, denominations, and universities have expressed their condolences. Government officials have written in, business owners have communicated their respect, and those influential in the media have gone online to convey their recognition. Social media itself was and is still dominated by hundreds of thousands of individuals expressing their appreciation and by millions of people watching and reminiscing about Pastor John’s teaching. Even the nation of Israel sent a letter in honor and gratitude to Dr. John MacArthur.
All of this is occurring within the greater context of millions of people voicing their gratefulness for this faithful servant of Christ. The outpouring of such appreciation literally extends around the world, a reflection of the unquestionable and staggering impact of what the Lord has done through one expositor.
On May 12, 1985, Dr. John MacArthur officially became LABC’s eighth president, safeguarding its Christ-centered mission and forever changing its trajectory.
The starting point and driver to this astounding consequence was not clever marketing, polished PR, or shrewd business tactics. Dr. MacArthur always said, “You take care of the depth, and let God take care of the breadth.”
The mission of Pastor John was singular: unleash God’s truth one verse at a time. He was consumed with the careful study of God’s Word, precision in theological belief and conviction, clarity in teaching and the pulpit, and conscientiousness to subject all things to the authority of Scripture. Dr. MacArthur’s heart was captured to the truth — and even more, the God of truth. It was his consistency to the resilience and depths of the truth, in season and out of season, that drew so many to respect him.
This fidelity to the truth propelled a comprehensive fidelity in ministry. From a church whose members were once known as the “church of 900 ministers,” to a worldwide radio ministry, to a seminary that has trained thousands of pastors, the Lord granted Dr. MacArthur opportunity even as he led each institution in Christlikeness and unto Christ.
Dr. MacArthur’s work at The Master’s University was a prime demonstration of that. In the earliest days of his tenure as president, he raised up the right faculty, instilled theological conviction in the campus, redid chapel so that it featured expository preaching, and raised considerable funds for the school, which was in desperate straits. His work to ensure the people were provided for was constant.
While TMU has gone through significantly hard times, they would have been absolutely dire if Dr. MacArthur had not gone time and time again to friends and acquaintances, asking for help for the people. Dr. John Stead, our long-time faculty member and administrator, put it well: “We need to remember that in all our years here, we never missed a paycheck.”
Dr. MacArthur worked hard to support the people of the institution, and not just in financial ways. Though busy with a global ministry, he gave of his time, which perhaps was the most precious commodity he bestowed to us. Students came to talk with him on a regular basis, he had them over to his home, he had them over for Thanksgiving, and he always remembered their name (to everyone’s amazement).
MacArthur’s arrival in 1985 stirred up new levels of excitement about TMC, leading to a massive spike in enrollment.
He also spent time with faculty and staff, ministering to those who deeply appreciated him and demonstrating extraordinary patience and understanding with those who were frustrated. His leadership was an exercise of influence and discipleship, and the lessons learned have shaped individual lives, convictions, philosophy of ministry, and the entire campus culture.
There is a reason why The Wall Street Journal consistently rates TMU as top 10 in the nation for students’ best choice. This is the vindication of the sufficiency of Scripture and the validation of the man who labored to invest it into the lives of so many.
In all of this, Pastor John did not take himself too seriously. To the surprise of many, he consistently participated in students’ projects and films to humor the student body. From a fake commercial for the MacArthur Study Bible to him talking about memes, Pastor John showed that he was not an aloof leader but one who wanted to share in the joy of those whom he so loved.
And every year for nearly 40 years, come graduation, he would be on the platform. Graduation weekend is an intense weekend, filled with board meetings, times with donors, dinners with graduates, and graduations for both TMU and TMS. Despite the intensity, Dr. MacArthur stood on the stage, shook hands, conveyed honest congratulations, and spoke personally with many graduates whom he had known throughout the years at the school. There was never a halfhearted moment.
In that way, Dr. MacArthur’s labor for The Master’s University was deeply self-sacrificing. He not only raised money for the institution but gave of his own resources. When the faculty and staff were at risk of not being paid, he mortgaged his own home to provide the money for their salaries. He has funded numerous students every year with scholarships from his own pocket.
The MacArthurs are pictured here with Dr. Joseph Stowell (longtime president of Moody Bible Institute) and his wife Martie at a TMC graduation ceremony.
This self-sacrificing investment into the institution continued to the very end. In these last years, Dr. MacArthur went on one final campaign for the University. Traveling from state to state to meet with every major donor for the institution, he raised capital as a final gift for the school. Donors rallied because of his strong stand in COVID and because of his clarion call that this was the crucial time to make a stand for Christ and Scripture.
Resources have come in to make what I never dreamed possible a reality. For my entire career at The Master’s University, I prayed that the Lord would give us an endowment to protect us from the pressures that society and politics can exert, and to help us be free to be who we are. Such a vision seemed like an impossible reality. It was hard enough to raise one million dollars, much less to raise hundreds of millions. But in his last campaign, Dr. MacArthur summoned donations so that we can see our endowment becoming what it needs to be.
His gift to the next generation is truly a complete package: a campus, resources, convictional people, and most importantly, a vibrant and faithful ministry.
The presidency of this beloved institution required much of Dr. MacArthur, and he bore it with dignity and grace. It is of note that Dr. MacArthur was one of the longest standing university presidents in American history, a testimony to his unwavering and enduring faithfulness. It is even more of note that he did all of this for free. Dr. MacArthur never drew a salary in all his years of dedicated service. His work was completely voluntary, done out of love for the people of the institution, the institution itself, and the Master of this institution.
MacArthur’s 25th anniversary at TMU was commemorated at a special reception, with guests including Joni Eareckson Tada.
Fidelity to the Word of God not only drove Pastor John’s faithfulness in the broad sweep of ministry, but in individual relationships. I know that truth quite personally.
I was one of those students he talked with on stage at multiple graduations. He congratulated me when I became a faculty member, and he gave me opportunity upon opportunity, from preaching to writing to translating the Legacy Standard Bible to partnering on a commentary to being the John F. MacArthur Endowed Fellow to becoming president of TMUS. From visiting him in Colorado to many dinners before elders’ meetings to his office at church, school, or home, to numerous phone calls and texts, we chatted about everything from Scripture, to leadership, to translation and book projects.
The Lord afforded me quite a few opportunities to be with Pastor John. And in all those times, the zeal Dr. MacArthur had for Christ and Scripture in the pulpit was manifest in private. He constantly subjected every leadership decision, from athletics to Shepherds Conference, to eternal truth — identifying the biblical issue in those matters and answering them from Scripture. He was never too proud to learn, taking notes with a fountain pen of what we had learned from the Scripture to feed his own hunger to love the Savior.
He knew God’s Word. I often asked him about translation issues for the Legacy Standard Bible and would often call him while he was in the car. Even while driving, he would rattle off the relevant texts for a biblical word, understand the issues, and make an insightful decision. Such facility is indicative of one who for decades was immersed in the Word.
MacArthur loved spending time on campus with TMU’s students, and he was known to be highly approachable.
Pastor John certainly loved those who served around him. In every meeting, he expressed his joy in being with us, his delight in the ministry, and his thankfulness to the Lord for what He was doing in our lives. He often declared he would defend us and found every way to support us and our families.
He shepherded me when my mother passed away, even though he himself was in a hospital bed. He later preached a message from John 10 about how the sheep hear the Shepherd’s voice. I was so moved that I thanked Dr. MacArthur for the message, and he responded, “I was thinking of you when I preached that.”
Dr. MacArthur was a devoted father, husband, grandfather, great-grandfather, Bible translator, global expositor, president, and chancellor. But he was also a pastor, and in that role he was truly a shepherd.
More than all of this, Dr. MacArthur in private had an unshakeable love for his heavenly Lord. In times of challenging administrative circumstances, most leaders drift into thinking about administrative, communication, logistical, or procedural issues surrounding a matter. Dr. MacArthur had no such thought. He once instinctively said, “I must do this for our heavenly Lord.” He thought firstly of his Savior and what would most honor Him. His Lord had captured his heart so that he could only think that way.
MacArthur (pictured here at the NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho) had a passion for athletics and believed in their value for Christian growth.
Dr. MacArthur’s fidelity to the Word of God and the God of the Word drove his entire life, from the great to the small. And the Lord honored such intense and deep faithfulness, entrusting to this servant an international ministry that resources the entire life of the church.
Indeed, “Sometimes,” as Pastor John said, “you do not know the significance of a man of God until he is gone.”
But Dr. MacArthur’s quote did not stop there. Having uttered those words, he looked at me and said, “but the most faithful men of God do not merely leave behind an institution, but a movement.”
If the first part of Pastor John’s quote was true of him, then the latter half of this quote is even more so. The Lord honored Dr. MacArthur’s mission of unleashing God’s truth one verse at a time and his faithful manner of life by entrusting him with a significant ministry.
Presently, over 20 million people listen to Grace to You every month. Half a million children use the church curriculum produced by the ministry. People look to the MacArthur family of ministries to guide education from kindergarten to 12th grade, as we now have home-schooling, hybrid, and full private school modalities and are even producing our own home-schooling curriculum. People recognize The Master’s University as a beacon for faithful training of the next generation of the church in vocation and worldview. Increasingly, The Master’s Seminary is becoming the central hub for pastoral training across the world, even as The Master’s Academy International becomes a crucial infrastructure for the global church.
MacArthur was a regular fixture in TMU’s chapel throughout the years, modeling sound Bible exposition.
Given such extensive resourcing and such extensive reach, what God has entrusted through the fidelity of His servant Dr. John MacArthur is nothing short of a movement. Churches worldwide depend upon the faithfulness of these ministries to support the entire spiritual life and work of God’s people.
Finding ourselves with such a stewardship, we have but one response: As our chancellor charged us, we double down on every conviction that has been handed down to us.
To the best of our ability, we have taken every measure to ensure every hire and every admitted student is for Christ and Scripture. Every department is codifying the convictions they must have to carry on the mission of the institution. We are regularly teaching through the doctrinal statement to our faculty and staff, so that the truth is not only fresh on everyone’s mind but that they also cherish these precious doctrines in their hearts.
MacArthur (shown speaking at Commencement) served as president of TMU for 34 years, transitioning to his role as chancellor in 2019.
We are not shrinking back, but pressing forward. We are raising up our people to protect the mission of the institution, even as we are pulling together every resource to preserve this mission. And all of this is so that we would perform the mission, setting up every generation after us for faithfulness until our Master returns. We are convinced that this is our role in the plan of God for this season, set up in divine providence through Dr. MacArthur.
In his final epistle, the Apostle Paul had a singular charge: that the ministry Christ had entrusted him would continue. The apostle articulated the key doctrines of this ministry (2 Tim. 1-3), established the key people and places for Timothy to work with (2 Tim. 4:9-21), and then charged Timothy to fulfill his ministry (2 Tim. 4:5).
Following in Paul’s footsteps, Dr. MacArthur fought the good fight, finished the race, kept the faith, and entrusted to us the ministry entrusted to him. I am earnestly praying that by God’s good grace and for His glory, we come together to do our all to fulfill our ministry and champion this movement of Christ and Scripture.
