corrected proofs had already been sent to the printer.' They
xii JoHN MacArrHur: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK
Truth Endures: Landmark Sermons by John MacArthur. This book
was at the printers when my sketch arrived towards the end of 2008. Johnson and Taylor wrote, 'It came unexpectedly after
corrected proofs had already been sent to the printer.' They 'stopped the presses' and included my sixty pages of 'biographi-
cal sketch'. While I appreciated this kindness and honour, I was conscious that I had left too much unsaid, and that led to the book now in the reader's hands. It includes most of that original
piece with a good deal more. My hope is to pass on to others
the encouragement that I have found myself in the record of John MacArthur's life and ministry.
This is still little more than a 'sketch': a full portrait must await
a later date and come from another hand. It is not the time for
a full biography while a person's life is still in progress. John's
ambition is to minister the Word of God to the end of his life;
in his phrase, 'to die with his boots on'. His father was spared
to serve until he passed ninety years of age; whether our friend
lives to that age or not, he believes it is a duty to keep 'growing'
as long as life lasts: 'People sometimes point out to me that what
I've said on one tape doesn't agree with what I said on a later
tape. My response to them 1s that I am growing. I did not know
everything then, and I do not know everything now.' So, as he
said on another occasion, 'You'll never be able to evaluate the
ministry of John MacArthur until all the evidence is in.'
While I have not written these pages in conjunction with
John, the aid of a number of people in his congregation has
been indispensable. Especial thanks are due to Rick Holland,
Phil Johnson, and Don Green. Mr Johnson's knowledge of
unpublished source material is unique; I could not have writ-
ten without it, and it is my hope that he will himself one day
Foreword xiii
write on the ministry in which he has so largely shared. Staff
members, Pat Rotisky and Catherine Curry, have been a great
help to me, and numbers of others at Grace Community Church
have encouraged us in various ways. The days which my wife
and I have spent at the church, and at Grace to You, will ever
be treasured memories. In a congregation where the blessing of God 1s known there will ever be affection between the people,
and others find a ready welcome. So it has been for us at Sun
Valley.
I am indebted to John MacArthur for the liberty to quote
him as extensively as I do; and to Mrs Patricia MacArthur for
her valued measure of input and for allowing the use of fam-
ily photographs. Banner staff have given their customary best
support in the production of this title, and my friends, Ian S.
Barter and John R. de Witt, gave helpful comment on my draft.
Jean, as ever, has kept everything running happily in our home,
while I only looked after the computer.
TAIN H. Murray
Edinburgh,
August 2010
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Introduction
Wuat Is AN EVANGELICAL LEADER?
rized by John MacArthur is an old edition of John
Foxe's Acts and Monuments of these latter and perilous
days (1563), the book which first printed the story
of William Tyndale, translator of the English Bible and mar-
tyred in 1536. Tyndale's enemy, Thomas More, complained
of him that he was 'both nowhere and everywhere': 'nowhere'
because few knew his actual location; 'everywhere' because
his testimony was reaching all parts of the English-speaking
nations. John MacArthur would never think of it, but the words
suggest something of a parallel to me. Through hundreds of
radio stations his voice is heard over a thousand times daily
around the world; his books are to be found in thirty-five lan-
guages; yet the local scene where he spends the great part of his
life is little known by most who read him or hear him broadcast.
He is also 'nowhere and everywhere'.
The element of personal obscurity is of no concern to
MacArthur. He stands in that genuine evangelical tradition