# John MacArthur - Retiring Soon?



## bookslover (Jun 9, 2017)

So far this year, MacArthur has only preached in the morning services at his church, while leaving the evening services to others. So, I'm naturally wondering if MacArthur, who will be 78 this month, is beginning to think about retiring.

Has anyone seen or heard any explanation as to why he's only preaching once per week lately?


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## Stephen L Smith (Jun 9, 2017)

I am guessing it is his age. The transition will be difficult for the church. When Charles Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones retired from their churches, both churches went downhill doctrinally. I trust the transition will work better for Grace Community Church.


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## TrustGzus (Jun 9, 2017)

I'm guessing. I can't fathom him retiring. I'm supposing at 78 he simply is needing to lighten the schedule. He sounds really good still. Him and Sproul are the same age. Sproul sounds like he's aged and obviously health issues he's had in recent years are publicly known. MacArthur still sounds very strong.


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## Dachaser (Jun 9, 2017)

Stephen L Smith said:


> I am guessing it is his age. The transition will be difficult for the church. When Charles Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones retired from their churches, both churches went downhill doctrinally. I trust the transition will work better for Grace Community Church.


When Warren Wresby was retiring from his church, he had one of his own members state to him that they didn't know what she would do spiritually without him, and his retort was that was proof he had overstayed, as the church was built upon Jesus, not him....

Reactions: Like 2


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## TrustGzus (Jun 9, 2017)

Dachaser said:


> When Warren Wresby was retiring from his church, he had one of his own members state to him that they didn't know what she would do spiritually without him, and his retort was that was proof he had overstayed, as the church was built upon Jesus, not him....


Warren Wiersbe?

Reactions: Like 2


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## Dachaser (Jun 9, 2017)

TrustGzus said:


> Warren Wiersbe?


Thanks, could not remember correctly his last name, but thought the story fit the OP....


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## Josh Williamson (Jun 9, 2017)

I have a friend that works at Grace. He has said there is a succession plan in place, so perhaps the reduced preaching is that plan starting to work.


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## Stephen L Smith (Jun 9, 2017)

It would be nice if the church rejected its Dispensationalism and became covenantal.

Reactions: Amen 1


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## bookslover (Jun 10, 2017)

Stephen L Smith said:


> I am guessing it is his age. The transition will be difficult for the church. When Charles Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones retired from their churches, both churches went downhill doctrinally. I trust the transition will work better for Grace Community Church.



Spurgeon didn't retire. He died. But I take your point.


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## bookslover (Jun 10, 2017)

I don't see MacArthur staying so long that he ends up pulling the pulpit down on himself in the middle of a sermon (which actually happened in one case I know of). He's too smart for that. I think he's smart enough to retire while his health is still good. His father, by the way, lived to be 91 and, as a retired pastor himself, taught a Sunday School class up until just a few months before he died. I can see MacArthur doing something like that.

MacArthur represents the fifth consecutive generation of ministers in his family. Neither of his two sons is in the ministry, so I guess those consecutive generations of ministers ends with him.

If I had to guess, I can see MacArthur retiring in 2019. He will have pastored the church for 50 years by February of that year, and he will turn 80 in June of that year. Sounds like a good time to go out. Just a guess, of course.


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## Stephen L Smith (Jun 10, 2017)

bookslover said:


> If I had to guess, I can see MacArthur retiring in 2019. He will have pastored the church for 50 years by February of that year, and he will turn 80 in June of that year. Sounds like a good time to go out. Just a guess, of course.


It is possible the church will "covenant" together to give him a "dispensation" from preaching


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## Bill The Baptist (Jun 10, 2017)

Josh Williamson said:


> I have a friend that works at Grace. He has said there is a succession plan in place, so perhaps the reduced preaching is that plan starting to work.



Phil Johnson perhaps?


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## Dachaser (Jun 10, 2017)

Stephen L Smith said:


> It would be nice if the church rejected its Dispensationalism and became covenantal.


That will require his seminary to adopt that also, and do not see it happening any time soon...


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## Dachaser (Jun 10, 2017)

Who co wrote the new Systematic theology under Dr MacArthur, would he step into the pulpit?


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## bookslover (Jun 11, 2017)

Dachaser said:


> Who co wrote the new Systematic theology under Dr MacArthur, would he step into the pulpit?



Richard L. Mayhue was MacArthur's co-editor on that project. Mayhue is retired, so he won't be the one.


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## Dachaser (Jun 12, 2017)

bookslover said:


> Richard L. Mayhue was MacArthur's co-editor on that project. Mayhue is retired, so he won't be the one.


The before mentioned Phil Johnson has been quite involved with his ministry, so he could well be the one to assume over pastoring....


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## Backwoods Presbyterian (Jun 12, 2017)

I was at a conference where Phil Johnson was speaking and someone during a Q/A asked him that question (this was in 2015) and he responded that he was not involved in "that side" of Grace Community so to speak and was kind of the Iain Murray to John MacArthur's MLJ, if that makes sense.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Pilgrim (Jun 12, 2017)

Bill The Baptist said:


> Phil Johnson perhaps?



At least in recent years, MacArthur has also been in the habit of taking a couple of months off in the summer. I think it is usually in July and August. I started watching their services here and there 2-3 years ago, mostly in the evening. While he did preach some in the evenings, other men may have preached close to half the time. 

Based on recent posts on his FB, Phil Johnson is 64 years old. (I hadn't thought he was that old. But he just celebrated his 39th wedding anniversary, so it does make sense.) He's also never been a pastor other than pastoring his fellowship or whatever they call it there. (Those groups also have preaching that is recorded, etc.) He runs the radio ministry, Grace to You. (Before that, he ran Chuck Swindoll's radio ministry for a few years.) If I recall correctly he never even preached from the pulpit there until about 10 years ago. (I seem to remember him saying that when preaching a message at the Shepherd's Conference in 2009.) I think he has said that he hopes that he does not outlive MacArthur. People used to speculate that it might be Steve Lawson, but I'm guessing he is also probably about 60 as well. I suspect they would probably go with someone younger and someone that is already known to the congregation. I'm sure it would depend on if they want a relatively short term transitional pastor (10 years or so) or a "Young MacArthur" who will hopefully be there for a generation.

MacArthur is only the third pastor that church has had. The first two both died within a year or two, then MacArthur arrived in 1969.

As far as going covenantal, unless they get a word from Abraham, Moses and maybe even Jesus himself, (which would involve them abandoning cessationism!) that just isn't going to happen. For lack of a better term, they've got a whole "machine" there that goes the other direction. The Masters Seminary is probably the main one putting meat on the table from a dispensational standpoint these days. They've also got several dozen elders there that are all presumably in full agreement with their statement of faith. I'd be shocked if his successor isn't a graduate of The Masters Seminary. I've wondered if it won't be one of the young men who preaches there fairly regularly, but I could certainly be wrong. There have been assoc. pastors there in the past who have been very familiar to the congregation.


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## Pilgrim (Jun 12, 2017)

Stephen L Smith said:


> I am guessing it is his age. The transition will be difficult for the church. When Charles Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones retired from their churches, both churches went downhill doctrinally. I trust the transition will work better for Grace Community Church.



As I recall it, MLJ took his cancer diagnosis as a "sign" to quit in 1968 and work on his commentaries, etc. and I don't think there was a succession plan in place. If I recall correctly it was fairly sudden when he was in the middle of the Romans series.

I don't have the biography anymore, but my recollection is that he didn't feel it was his place to get involved in those kinds of decisions after that. Westminster Chapel's doctrinal basis was also not nearly as detailed as Grace Community Church's or a church that subscribes to a Reformed confession. (If I'm not mistaken, MLJ's predecessor, G. Campbell Morgan, was basically an Arminian.) Murray does note MLJ's disappointment in some of R.T. Kendall's emphases, (the Calvin vs the Calvinists controversy is one that comes to mind) and that was before Kendall went full blown charismatic. (See the article "Westminster Chapel turned around" on the Banner of Truth website, if it is still there.)


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## Pilgrim (Jun 12, 2017)

Dachaser said:


> Thanks, could not remember correctly his last name, but thought the story fit the OP....



The Moody Church is also in the midst of a transition following the retirement of Erwin Lutzer, who succeeded Wiersbe around 1980. I think he announced it a couple of years ago but said he would stay until a successor is in place. He finally stepped down last year to become Pastor Emeritus and they still haven't found a successor. They have Ed Stetzer as the interim currently.

(A friend of mine and I have found it interesting that at least one radio network removed John MacArthur's radio program for him being a "hyper-Calvinist" (which for them means a five pointer) but Lutzer is also a five pointer. I think the difference may be that Lutzer hasn't tended to place a big emphasis on that in his preaching ministry. 

Another large church that had issues is First Baptist Church, Dallas with W.A. Criswell hanging on for much longer than expected (and perhaps longer than desired for some) and them apparently having somewhat of a rocky road until the arrival of the current pastor. 

In many churches, large or small, there are always going to be people who say "Well, that's not how old Brother so and so would have done it" and then seek to undermine the new pastor whether or not he is in error. 

I trust that most of us are familiar with the saga of Coral Ridge following Dr. Kennedy's death, and I'm not just referring to the circumstances surrounding his successor's departure.

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## Bill The Baptist (Jun 12, 2017)

Pilgrim said:


> At least in recent years, MacArthur has also been in the habit of taking a couple of months off in the summer. I think it is usually in July and August. I started watching their services here and there 2-3 years ago, mostly in the evening. While he did preach some in the evenings, other men may have preached close to half the time.
> 
> Based on recent posts on his FB, Phil Johnson is 64 years old. (I hadn't thought he was that old. But he just celebrated his 39th wedding anniversary, so it does make sense.) He's also never been a pastor other than pastoring his fellowship or whatever they call it there. (Those groups also have preaching that is recorded, etc.) He runs the radio ministry, Grace to You. (Before that, he ran Chuck Swindoll's radio ministry for a few years.) If I recall correctly he never even preached from the pulpit there until about 10 years ago. (I seem to remember him saying that when preaching a message at the Shepherd's Conference in 2009.) I think he has said that he hopes that he does not outlive MacArthur. People used to speculate that it might be Steve Lawson, but I'm guessing he is also probably about 60 as well. I suspect they would probably go with someone younger and someone that is already known to the congregation. I'm sure it would depend on if they want a relatively short term transitional pastor (10 years or so) or a "Young MacArthur" who will hopefully be there for a generation.
> 
> ...



It is very likely they will want to go younger. On the other hand, research suggests that whoever follows a pastor with an extraordinarily long tenure will tend to have a short tenure, so maybe Johnson would be a good bridge.


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## Pilgrim (Jun 12, 2017)

Bill The Baptist said:


> It is very likely they will want to go younger. On the other hand, research suggests that whoever follows a pastor with an extraordinarily long tenure will tend to have a short tenure, so maybe Johnson would be a good bridge.



Based on what's been said before, I think there is 0.0000000000000001% chance that it would be Johnson, but quite possibly it could be someone around that age or perhaps a little younger than that. With the seminary, and even before that, they've had a good many men serve at the church through the years who might be candidates, some of whom have been serving as senior pastors elsewhere for years. 

MacArthur had never been a pastor prior to coming there, but it wasn't nearly as big then as it is now either. He's also the head of Masters University and The Masters Seminary, so changes would come at those institutions as well.

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## bookslover (Jun 12, 2017)

Pilgrim said:


> I think he [Phil Johnson] has said that he hopes that he does not outlive MacArthur.



Since Johnson is 14 years younger than MacArthur, he's probably not going to get his wish, all things considered. Sounds like he thinks a little _too_ highly of ol' Johnny!


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## Warren (Jun 15, 2017)

I hope he's ok, health wise. For that matter, in other wises too. I haven't listened to him in a long time, but he must be faithful as ever. If he is tiring in his age, or maybe just gearing the church for his inevitable departure later, I hope the church there is good and prepared and God blesses his legacy with a committed church.


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## Dachaser (Jun 16, 2017)

Warren said:


> I hope he's ok, health wise. For that matter, in other wises too. I haven't listened to him in a long time, but he must be faithful as ever. If he is tiring in his age, or maybe just gearing the church for his inevitable departure later, I hope the church there is good and prepared and God blesses his legacy with a committed church.


I have learned much from him through the years since being saved....


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## Stephen L Smith (Jun 22, 2017)

I have been much blessd by the expositary preaching of Steve Lawson - he was recently in New Zealand and Australia. He has a maturity, an exegetical precision, and pastoral application that is very helpful.I think he would be a very good replacement for John MacArthur.


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## arapahoepark (Jun 22, 2017)

Stephen L Smith said:


> I have been much blessd by the expositary preaching of Steve Lawson - he was recently in New Zealand and Australia. He has a maturity, an exegetical precision, and pastoral application that is very helpful.I think he would be a very good replacement for John MacArthur.


Indeed. However, he is fairly old as well.


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## Stephen L Smith (Jun 23, 2017)

arapahoepark said:


> Indeed. However, he is fairly old as well.


He looks about 20 years younger that MacArthur so he could give 20 years faithful service to Grace Community Church.


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## TrustGzus (Jun 23, 2017)

He's 12 years younger.


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