On July 14, 2025, John MacArthur, a seasoned pastor who served faithfully for nearly 56 years at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, breathed his last and fell asleep in Christ. His life is now hidden with Christ in God, awaiting that final day of resurrection (Col. 3:3–4). We can only imagine what that eternal fellowship in the presence of Christ must be like. Scripture is not exhaustive in its revelation of the interim period between our final breath and Christ’s return, but according to God’s sovereign and wise will, He has revealed enough for us to find comfort and hope in Him.
In addition to being a faithful pastor, MacArthur was also a skilled expositor of the Word. He reached millions in North America and around the world through his teaching ministry, Grace to You. As a young boy in middle school, I remember listening to his sermons on WDCX 99.5 FM. I had grown up in the church—my parents often shifting between Baptist and Pentecostal denominations at the time—but it wasn’t until I listened to MacArthur’s teaching that I first began to understand the gospel. I remember being so captivated by how he exposited the Word of God that I went online to the Grace to You website, downloaded as many MP3s as I could fit onto my player, and spent every morning and afternoon, to and from school, listening to his sermons. I remember the deep sorrow I felt because of my growing awareness of my sin and sinful nature. I remember the hope and joy that came not only from understanding the gospel but from living it. The grace, mercy, and love of God were all things I learned by MacArthur’s biblical teaching. I had received minimal discipleship in the churches I grew up in—churches in the Greater Toronto Area which were ethnically Hispanic and Portuguese—but the Lord, in His wise providence, used MacArthur’s teaching to disciple me in my youth.
I have grown quite a bit since then. I’m a husband, a father of four children, the director of the Cántaro Institute, and the founding pastor of Sevilla Chapel in St. Catharines—and today, I do not agree with everything MacArthur taught. I do not share his views on eschatology; I am neither a dispensationalist nor a historic premillennialist. But there are far more things I agree with than disagree. I stand with MacArthur on many core, primary doctrines: the authority and inerrancy of Scripture, justification by faith alone, the centrality of Christ, and the necessity of a regenerate church membership.
MacArthur tilled the ground of my heart for the Word to take root. And while I know full well that this was the work of God—the work of the Holy Spirit—MacArthur was a faithful servant, used by God for the glory of His name. I appreciated his humility, his servant-heartedness, and his perseverance as a pastor and Bible teacher, no matter the cultural shifts and upheavals in the West. MacArthur remained faithful, even during the COVID pandemic. He inspired others to stand for God’s authority—to live under, and not merely claim to believe in, the Lordship of Christ. He upheld Sola Scriptura. He admirably remained friends with the late R. C. Sproul despite their theological disagreements—such as over the nature of the two sacraments—and he loved both the church and his family.
Ask yourself this: how many have wrongfully sacrificed their families for the sake of “ministry”? MacArthur understood that his first ministry was to his family, and by being faithful at home, he was equipped to be faithful in his broader calling. His perseverance is a marvel—but the credit does not belong to him. It belongs to the Lord, who called him and empowered him by His Holy Spirit. MacArthur lived his life to the glory of God. There have been many celebrated and venerated Bible teachers in the West, but very few with a track record like his—faithful both in public and in private, a man who ran the race of faith to the very end.
Though MacArthur is now with the Lord, his ministry continues to impact millions. Beyond his recorded teachings, he leaves behind a vast legacy of written works. I remember the first two books I picked up by MacArthur: Anxiety Attacked: Applying Scripture to the Cares of the Soul and The Battle for the Beginning: The Bible on Creation and the Fall of Adam. The latter was instrumental in moving me toward creation apologetics and eventually led to my involvement on the board of Answers in Genesis Canada.
I may not agree with everything MacArthur believed and taught—and that’s okay. We agree on the essentials, the primary doctrines. And more than that, MacArthur’s ministry shaped and positioned me directionally in the ministry I am in today. My vision and work at the Cántaro Institute owes much to MacArthur’s example and influence, despite our fringe disagreements. I know many others would say the same—especially those who have studied, or will study, at The Master’s Seminary, which he founded in 1986, and at the MacArthur Center for Expository Preaching, founded in 2021.
MacArthur lived his life to the glory of God. May we learn from him, and imitate him as he sought to imitate Christ—as the apostle Paul once exhorted the church (1 Cor. 11:1)—until the day we too hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:21).
Soli Deo Gloria.