John Piper is a globally recognized pastor, teacher, and author who has played a significant role in bringing reformed theology into today’s evangelical landscape. His humble demeanor, attention to exegetical detail, and unwavering conviction that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him” has made him one of our time’s most celebrated and controversial theologians.
What Happened in John Piper’s Early Life?
1946: John Stephen Piper was born to Bill and Ruth Piper on January 11, 1946. While John was still an infant, the family relocated from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Greenville, South Carolina. John’s father was an itinerant evangelist away from home three-fourths of the year. His mother did a masterful job raising John and his older sister while their father was away, and when he returned home, she was wise enough to step back and let him assume his God-given Daddy role. This loving example of complementarianism shaped John’s ideals and would later become instrumental in his teachings and writings about Biblical roles in the family.
1964-68: John attended Wheaton College in 1964 with aspirations to become a doctor or veterinarian. But God orchestrated three encounters for the young man that would ultimately lead him to a lifelong love, a wellspring of inspiration, and an irresistible calling.
The first and most important of these pivotal encounters was with a woman named Noël Henry. “Noël was the most important thing that happened at Wheaton. I fell in love like a ton of bricks in the summer of 1966,” says John in his testimony nearly two decades later. He and Noël wed two years after they met and have now been married for 55 years and blessed with five children and 14 grandchildren.
John’s second divine appointment at Wheaton was with his literature teacher, Clyde Kilby, a C.S. Lewis scholar who brought to life Lewis’s work in a way that sparked a passion in John for the beauty of poetry and nature. That passion is still seen today in his writing, preaching, and joy-filled expressions of love for the Creator.
In 1966, a serious case of mononucleosis left John bedridden in the college’s health center for three weeks. This facilitated his third encounter. While listening to a message series by Harold John Ockenga on his college radio station, John’s heart burned to understand Scripture better so that he, like Ockenga, could make God’s Word known to others. Upon release from the clinic, John abandoned his pre-med major and enrolled in seminary.
What Led John Piper to Become a Pastor?
1968-71: At Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, God led John to his next set of divine appointments. There he met Dr. Daniel Fuller, whom he describes as the most significant living theological teacher in his life.
Under Dr. Fuller’s mentorship and instruction, he discovered the writings of Jonathan Edwards, whom John now views as the most significant dead theological teacher in his life. Dr. Fuller also taught him how to read and study God’s word in a way that revolutionized John’s spiritual life and illuminated the joy that can be found in God’s glory. This revelation had such a profound impact on his theology that it shaped everything John would preach, teach, and write thereafter.
One semester into his seminary training, newly married John and Noël found their first church home at Lake Avenue Congregational Church. John was stunned when he first heard Pastor Ray Ortlund Sr. preach. Never had he witnessed a pastor so full of love for the church or one who manifested such joy in his calling. During his first three years at Lake Avenue, John learned to worship in Spirit and truth, and through Ortlund’s discipleship, he gained a genuine love for the church and a hunger to minister to God’s people.
He spent the next several years teaching Bible classes for youth and young married couples at Lake Avenue while he completed his seminary studies. Through his students’ and church leaders’ affirmation and encouragement, John became fully aware that he possessed the gift of teaching. Wanting to make the most of that gift, he pursued a doctorate.
1971-74: From 1971 to 1974, the Pipers lived in West Germany while John completed his doctoral work in New Testament Studies at the University of Munich. God used his time in Munich to solidify John’s faith and ground him in his understanding of Scripture and its larger implications for life. His dissertation, Love Your Enemies, explores the Holy Spirit’s role in a born-again believer’s life, emphasizing how God calls and molds His people for use on earth to fit them for eternity. The dissertation was published by Cambridge University Press and Baker Book House in 1974 and was later republished by Crossway in 2012, with a new preface by John.
1974-79: After John received his doctorate in 1974, he and Noel returned to the U.S., and he accepted a position at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, to teach Biblical studies. But before heading west to assume his post, the couple decided to return to Greenville, South Carolina, for a visit with family. That was the last time John ever saw his mother. Later that year, she died in a bus accident while visiting Israel. Deeply saddened by the loss, John wrote a tribute to his mother in his booklet, What’s the Difference? which was later used as the first chapter in a book he co-authored with Wayne Grudem about biblical manhood and womanhood.
For six years, John taught Bible and Greek at Bethel College. During that time, the Holy Spirit continued to transform and shape his understanding of who God is through Scripture. During a four-month sabbatical in 1979, he felt compelled to seek God, pray, and study Romans 9. For years, John had struggled to understand the passage’s message about God’s identity. His seeking period ended with a spiritual breakthrough that brought together everything he had learned in seminary, Germany, and Scripture about God’s sovereign freedom as Creator. Through the revelation, John sensed God calling him to pastoral ministry.
How Did John Piper’s Ministry Grow?
1980-2012: John joyfully accepted his calling to preach, and in 1980 God opened the doors for him to accept the position as senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
John faithfully served the people of Bethlehem Baptist for over three decades. He taught them how to read the Bible supernaturally and helped them understand the necessity of experiencing God’s glory as the foundation of our knowledge of God and the source and sum of lasting joy. He described this conviction as Christian hedonism. In 1996, he wrote a paradigm-shattering book, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist, to help readers find their ultimate enjoyment in God—for His glory.
During John’s 33 years pastoring Bethlehem Baptist, the church grew from a single service of 500 to three sites and eight services of over 5,000. His message’s substance stayed the same as God added to the church’s numbers. Week in and week out, John labored under God’s authority to unfold the truths already found in Scripture.
Current: When John retired from the pastorate in 2012, he didn’t step away from the pulpit so that he and Noel could collect seashells. To this day, he has a tremendous ongoing legacy that extends well beyond his preaching. John is a council member of the Gospel Coalition, chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary, and the lead teacher for Desiring God Ministries—the global web ministry he founded in 1996, which provides over 14,000 Bible-saturated ministry resources to over three million monthly users, free of charge.
John has written over 50 books, selling millions of copies. He donates all of his book royalties to charity. His latest book, Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Second Coming of Christ, is a passion project John contemplated writing for years. He finally made the time to write the book after creating an episode of Desiring God’s new podcast-style visual teaching videos called Look at the Book.
For more information about John Piper’s books, work, and ministry, visit DesiringGod.org.
10 Excellent Quotes by John Piper
1. “God’s ultimate goal in the world (his glory) and our deepest desire (to be happy) are one and the same, because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” — “Christian Hedonism: A Topical Survey”
2. “Following Jesus is more than tagging along behind him. It means following him for who he is. Being so taken with him that you join yourself to Him.” — “I Am the Light of the World”
3. “The beauty and the power of the cross of Christ is seen and enjoyed in the blood-bought experience of obedience to Christ’s commands.” — “Two Dangers in ‘Gospel-Centered’ Preaching”
4. “We are willing to be God-centered, it seems, as long as God is man-centered.” — God is the Gospel: Meditations on God’s Love as the Gift of Himself
5. “It’s only when we know what makes God glad that we’ll know the greatness of His glory. Therefore, we must comprehend the pleasures of God.” — The Pleasures of God Study Guide: Meditations on God’s Delight in Being God
6. “The distinguishing mark of saving faith is not perfection . . . The mark of faith is that I fight. I fight anything that dims my sight of Jesus as my glorious Savior.” — “How to Deal with the Guilt of Sexual Failure for the Glory of Christ and His Global Cause”
7. “God made man small and the universe big to say something about himself.” — Don’t Waste Your Life
8. “Living on high alert for deception does not mean living with a spirit of alarm. Love, not alarm, is the best protection against deception.” — Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Second Coming of Christ
9. “The word mediates the glory, and the glory confirms the word.” — A Peculiar Glory: How the Christian Scriptures Reveal Their Complete Truthfulness
10. “We are willing to be God-centered, it seems, as long as God is man-centered.” — God Is the Gospel
Photo Credit: Micah Chiang/Wikimedia Commons
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