John MacArthur is currently the pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church, as well as an author, conference speaker, president of The Master’s College and Seminary, and featured teacher with the Grace to You media ministry. MacArthur received his education from Talbot Theological Seminary and the emphasis of his pulpit ministry is the careful study and verse-by-verse exposition of the Bible, with special attention devoted to the historical and grammatical background behind each passage. In 1986, MacArthur founded The Master’s Seminary, which is a graduate school dedicated to training men for full-time pastoral roles and missionary work.[1]

As the fifth successive generation of pastors in his family, at the heart of MacArthur’s vision and mission is the training and equipping of the next generation of pastors, teachers, leaders, and missionaries. By identifying the extent to which society has fallen prey to a consumer driven paradigm, MacArthur sets out to recover, reaffirm, and restore a biblical approach to ministry. MacArthur points out, “To understand one’s role as a minister, one needs to understand the role of the church.”[2] Only by answering the questions as to why the church exists, and what purpose it serves today, can one truly quantify the specific and relevant tasks of any given pastor. To explain this point, MacArthur looks to the historical roles of pastors and compares the calling to that of a shepherd. As a shepherd, the pastor’s primary task is feeding and protecting the flock and this comes in the form of teaching them the Word of God.[3] Without sound teaching and biblical doctrine, the flock will starve and when they do not understand the Word of God, they cannot apply its truth to their daily lives. Upon establishing the theological and historical roles of the pastor, MacArthur shifts the focus to the character and calling of the pastor. He demonstrates in order for a pastor to remain faithful to his or her calling, intimacy with God must continually be the focal point, since Bible knowledge will only get the pastor to a certain point. To truly be effective in their calling, the pastor must also maintain a moral life centered on godliness. MacArthur demonstrates, “[While] the focal point of any ministry is godliness, ministry is, and always must be an overflow of a godly life.”[4] Next, MacArthur speaks to personal practices, which must be evident and demonstrates the pastor’s home is often the best indicator of character. He explains, “Sexual sin defiles the flock of God… [and] if you want to know whether a man lives an exemplary life, whether he is consistent, whether he can teach and model the truth, and whether he can lead people to salvation, to holiness, and to serve God, then look at the most intimate relationships in his home life and see if he can do it there.”[5] Lastly, as pastors, MacArthur illustrates the importance of living a life of integrity and above reproach, so when problems and misunderstandings arise, the pastors are equipped to handle them and this ability is rooted in godly character. MacArthur demonstrates, “Spiritual leadership without character is only religious activity, possibly religious business or, even worse, hypocrisy.”[6] Pastors are held to a higher standard, so pastors must live a life modeled after Christ, which means they must be able to love the sheep, to feed the sheep, to rescue the sheep, to attend and comfort the sheep, to guide the sheep, to guard and protect the sheep, and to watch over the sheep.[7]