A Moment in Time That Would Change the World
Chances are, you’ve never heard of the small town of Eutaw, Alabama, located in the swamps of Greene County. But Eutaw is a very special place. On a personal note, Eutaw is only 40 minutes from where I was raised. Some of my fondest memories from my youth were spent hunting and fishing with friends in the woods and rivers on the outskirts of Eutaw.
Eutaw is a special place for another reason. It’s where an 18-year-old John MacArthur surrendered his life to the ministry over 65 years ago. He was on a road trip with friends, travelling down Interstate 20/59, when suddenly the driver rolled their car at 75 mph. MacArthur was thrown out of the passenger seat, onto the road. He skidded across the asphalt for nearly 125 yards, tearing the flesh from his hands, back, and legs. Miraculously, not a bone was broken.
Although MacArthur had felt the calling of God on his life, he wasn’t sold on the idea. He had aspirations of being a collegiate and possibly a professional athlete. However, this moment in time changed all of that, as the injured MacArthur stood up on the side of the interstate in Eutaw, Alabama, and said, “Lord, whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it…I’ll serve you any way you want me to. If it’s a small ministry, give me the grace to do it and be satisfied. If it’s a larger ministry, give me the humility to do it.” (Link). The skies didn’t open. There was no choir of angels. There was no theophany. But MacArthur could never have imagined how the Lord would honor and answer that prayer.
MacArthur’s Ministry At A Glance
MacArthur became the Pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, in 1969 and served there for over 56 years, until his death on July 14, 2025. Though a relatively small church in 1969, the church now reports over 3,000 in attendance each week.
In 1977, MacArthur and GCC launched the “Grace to You” radio broadcast, which currently airs over 1,000 times a day worldwide. The Spanish version is available in 23 countries in Europe and Latin America (Link). Thousands of these sermons have now been archived on the Grace to You app.
MacArthur became president of The Master’s College, formerly Los Angeles Baptist College, in 1985. A year later, he founded The Master’s Seminary, a graduate school designed to train men for ministry and missionary service. (IBID).
MacArthur has authored over 400 books and study guides, including The MacArthur Study Bible, which is available in nine languages and has sold over 1 million copies. (IBID).
During the Covid outbreak (2020-21), MacArthur and GCC defied both local and state authorities under threat of heavy fines and possible arrests in order to continue meeting for worship. Eventually, the church won an $800,000 lawsuit against said authorities due to their unconstitutional mandates. MacArthur accomplished all of this while being out of his beloved Fresca, due to supply shortages.
MacArthur was also a devoted husband to Patricia for over 60 years. They have four children, fifteen grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.
The Spurgeon of Our Generation
I firmly believe that in a hundred years, people will talk about MacArthur with the same reverence that we have for Spurgeon today. I certainly didn’t invent the Spurgeon-Macarthur comparison, but I think it deserves some attention. I’m sure that if we all got together and brainstormed, we could come up with several comparisons between these giants of the faith, but for the sake of brevity, I will discuss only two reasons why the comparison should hold weight.
First, MacArthur and Spurgeon are the most published preachers of the last 350 years, and it’s not even close (here’s looking at you, John Owen). We mentioned MacArthur's publishing prowess in the previous section. In the same vein, “Spurgeon's sermons sold 25,000 copies every week. They were translated into more than 20 languages.” There are more than 3,600 of Spurgeon’s sermons in print. “The New Park Street Pulpit and The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit—the collected sermons of Spurgeon during his ministry with that congregation—fill 63 volumes. The sermons' 20-25 million words are equivalent to the 27 volumes of the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. The series stands as the largest set of books by a single author in the history of Christianity. At least 3 of Spurgeon's works (including the multi-volume Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit series) have sold more than 1,000,000 copies. One of these, All of Grace, was the first book ever published by Moody Press (formerly the Bible Institute Colportage Association) and is still its all-time bestseller.” (Link).
Spurgeon is quoted every week in pulpits all across the world. The main reason for this (other than the fact that the guy was a quote factory) is that we have so much material to quote from. The same can certainly be said of MacArthur, which brings me to my next point.
The second reason for the validity of the MacArthur-Spurgeon comparison is somewhat complex. Let me just say that time has a way of elevating a man’s character and minimizing his controversy. I'm sure that the reader is familiar with the term, "the good ole days." The ironic thing about the good ole days is that nobody ever recognizes them in the present. They are always a thing of the past. I think the reason for this is that we are always aware of the struggles of the present, but God and time have a way of filtering the struggles of the past, leaving us with fond memories of the good times. I think this principle applies to good men as well as good days.
It’s hard to find anyone in our day who doesn’t respect Spurgeon. I’ve even heard preachers bash Calvinism in a sermon, and in that same sermon quote Spurgeon in a reverent way (oh the irony). Almost everyone loves Charles Spurgeon. However, such was not the case during his lifetime.
In his early days of ministry, Spurgeon was battling against the Hyper-Calvinists, who used their large platforms to accuse him of preaching a false “duty-faith” by inviting sinners to come to Christ (Link). In the latter days of his ministry, Spurgeon was fighting against Arminianism and a tsunami of easy-believism (Link). Spurgeon separated himself from the Baptist Union due to their theological liberalism and ecumenism (Link). Spurgeon even took shots from his own for defending men like D.L. Moody and Ira Sankey and their controversial methods of evangelism (Link). Many times during his life, Spurgeon was like a man with no country. However, his controversy has faded, and his character has been immortalized.
MacArthur was also no stranger to controversy. He was too Calvinistic for the Aminians, not Calvinistic enough for the Hyper-Calvinists, too dispy for the reformed, too reformed for the dispys, too conservative for the “young, restless and reformed” movement, too liberal for the fringe fundamentalists, too complementarian for the egalitarians, too cessationist for the charismatics, too credo for the Presbys, too anti-government for the Romans 13 crowd, too Romans 13 for the rabidly pro-America crowd, too Lordship for the cheap gracers, too anti-vaxxer for the Branch Covidians, and let’s not forget about those who want to hang thief beef by ignoring over 60 years of sermons and books and use a 30 second clip out of context to claim that MacArthur didn’t believe in the necessity of the blood of Christ for salvation. You get the idea.
Time wouldn’t allow us to examine his numerous controversial interviews on national news outlets, such as Larry King Live, concerning hot-button social issues, which, in a world full of Joel Osteens, was a breath of fresh air (Please do yourself a favor and watch this short clip). Love him or hate him, John MacArthur was nobody's lap dog. He was a man of principle, and men of principle live long after the voices of their detractors are faded and forgotten.
MacArthur’s Impact On My Life
Due to this stigma of controversy, I was warned to safeguard myself from John MacArthur and his teachings by some of my mentors. However, about 10 years ago, I was going through a really difficult personal trial that was beginning to affect my ministry. In God’s providence, I stumbled across a sermon series from MacArthur that dealt with exactly what I was going through.
The Lord used MacArthur’s teaching not only to help me go another mile but to change my life and ministry. MacArthur had a significant impact on my love and practice of expositional preaching and teaching. He also taught me that the power in preaching is found in the God-breathed Scriptures, not the rhetoric and charisma of the preacher. This has been one of my greatest anchors since the Lord called my family and me to reach the Latter-Day Saints in Utah in 2020.
He has also greatly helped me in the study of the Scriptures. For many years, there has rarely been a week that went by when I don’t read after MacArthur as part of my sermon prep. When young preachers ask me about the most crucial books for them to have in their library, my immediate answer is that John MacArthur’s commentary on the New Testament should be at the top of the list. The reason for this is that I know of no other contemporary author/pastor who can so clearly and directly just tell you what the Bible says.
I never had the privilege of meeting John MacArthur, but in 2019, I was able to attend his church while on a medical trip for my wife (Cedars-Sinai). To my disappointment, MacArthur was on a sabbatical. However, one of the security team members was kind enough to take me to see MacArthur’s office after the service. This man also told me that MacArthur had reserved one of his bookshelves to stock copies of his various books for visitors like me who attend when he isn’t there. I was able to select a book from that shelf as a gift. So I now have a copy of The Gospel According to God from the office of John MacArthur. For these reasons (and so many others), I will forever be grateful for the ministry and example of John MacArthur. What a vessel of the Lord in this generation. He brought such stability and light that will be greatly missed.
Conclusion
It’s been nearly 70 years since the Lord called John MacArthur to the ministry on the shoulder of that Alabama Interstate. I doubt that in his injured state, MacArthur paid too much attention to his surroundings. But had he looked to the trees, there is no way that he could have known that decades later, a young man would be hunting in those very woods, who not only knew his name, but had been significantly impacted by his sermons and books, and that this young man would be only one of millions worldwide.
I think this story is indicative of the kind of reach and influence that MacArthur had. And if in the coming decades the Spurgeon comparison becomes a reality, and MacArthur is quoted so reverently and universally, separated from his controversy, then I would like to start the trend by leaving the reader with one of my favorite JMac quotes. “If the truth offends, then let it offend. People have been living their whole lives in offense to God; let them be offended for a while.”
"His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” Matthew 25:23
