The MacArthur Center Podcast

The first episode of season four of The MacArthur Center podcast—titled Influence—answers a crucial question: What is leadership? Countless books have been written on the topic, but few really understand how someone becomes an effective leader.

For more than 55 years, John MacArthur has led a church, a media ministry, a university and seminary through extraordinary change. What qualities have made him an effective leader? How did he grow into his role as a leader?

Get answers in this episode as we look at the nature of leadership, what Scripture says about the topic, and how pastors can have profound influence for the sake of the gospel.

Since June of 2024, the last time we released an episode, John MacArthur's been in and out of the hospital, dealing with one medical crisis after another. By God's grace, and thanks to the subject of this episode, technology, his health is improving and he is still faithfully pastoring Grace Community Church. As Pastor John recovered at home the weeks before this episode, he spoke to us about the gift of medical technology that preserved his life, and he described how technology has always been part of his ministry. He also offers a series of profound lessons on how every pastor, and every Christian, can extract the most blessing from the technology imbedded in God's creation.

Over the past century, the charismatic movement swept the globe, promising a deeper connection with God, spiritual blessing at every turn, and lots of cash for anyone with enough faith. How did this movement begin? And how has it changed over the decades? This episode answers those questions as it tells the story of one of the movement’s founders and most famous leaders. Then, we’ll tell another story about a woman who rejected the movement and found salvation outside it. Finally, we’ll look at why John MacArthur’s been such a critic of the all the charismatic chaos—even though friends he will one day see in heaven are part of it. John will show us the fatal flaw at the center of the movement and what the true gospel teaches us about faith, revelation from God, and true satisfaction.
 
SHOW NOTES:
Aimee Semple McPherson opening Angelus Temple: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PQZcCXFCMU
Aimee Semple McPherson: A Biographical Documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msMJNVC9ABg&t=27s
Aimee Semple McPherson  enters Vaudeville 1933: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UBcZmDARtQ
Kathryn Kuhlman healing an ear clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bRo9WlvP7Q
Kathryn Kuhlman's program "I Believe in Miracles": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlOpQPRES9Y&list=PLeFnuFC8ZqJvm98Pta_hI-Asx_xqSF9v6
Joni Eareckson Tada's testimony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVXJ8GyLgt0
 
John MacArthur Sermons cited in this episode:
https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/TM13-1
https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/80-329/jesus-plus-nothing-equals-everything

Of all the theological categories in the Bible, eschatology—the study of things pertaining to the end—may be the most neglected. Otherwise sound and biblical teachers often avoid the topic either because they don’t think the Bible is clear about how the world will end or they don’t think it matters. Through his decades of ministry, John MacArthur has never shied away from teaching the entire Bible, including the prophetic parts. This episode explores what MacArthur actually believes about things to come. We’ll join host Austin Duncan at the porch of the Gloria hotel in Jerusalem where he asks several Bible scholars about Israel's role in the end times. We’ll also see what an Irish theologian named Darby, Kirk Cameron, and the word leaky have to do with the end of the world and your final days. See why Christians can, and must, live with hope. 
 
SHOW NOTES
Crawford Gibben on the “Saints & Scholars Podcast” hosted by Andrew Curry https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/saintsandscholars/episodes/What-will-we-do-with-John-Nelson-Darby-evco49/a-a5aqe4m
 
John MacArthur sermons referenced in this episode:
https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/53-9/the-coming-man-of-sin-part-3
https://www.gty.org/library/questions/QA010/with-regard-to-dispensationalism-where-exactly-do-you-stand
https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/70-16/bible-questions-and-answers-part-44
https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/1324/will-the-church-go-through-the-tribulation-part-1
“Why Every Self-Respecting Calvinist is a Premillenialist” https://www.gracechurch.org/sermons/332
https://www.gracechurch.org/sermons/20910

Over his 55 years as a pastor—and counting—John MacArthur has ministered to thousands of young people. Today, his ministry continues to provide profound value for teenagers and twenty-somethings. Why is that? What does he understand about reaching the next generation? We'll answer that question in this episode. We'll also take a look at the rampant anxiety and depression among teenagers, and how the church can help teens in crisis. We'll try to understand why churches seem desperate to make everything so juvenile. Finally, we're going to talk about a "weed in the church." At least that's what critics call youth groups. All that and much more in this episode "John MacArthur is my Youth Pastor." 
 
SHOW NOTES
Ezra Klein interview with Jean Twenge on teen depression: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tra4aUg6f8U
Dr. Twenge’s book, "iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy—and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood and What That Means for the Rest of Us”https://www.amazon.com/iGen-Super-Connected-Rebellious-Happy-Adulthood/dp/1501151983
Thomas Bergler, author of “The Juvenilization of American Christianity”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytIaAlFJaqU
Thomas Bergler's book, "The Juvenilization of American Christianityhttps://www.amazon.com/Juvenilization-American-Christianity-Thomas-Bergler/dp/0802866840
Austin T. Duncan’s Shepherds Conference session on the Family Integrated Movement, “Family Matters: Does the Bible Demand Family Integrated Ministry?”:  https://www.gracechurch.org/sermons/5981
Andreas Kostenberger’s, “God, Marriage, Family: Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation (2nd Volume” chapter 13 has a valuable analysis of the Family Integrated Movement: https://www.amazon.com/God-Marriage-Family-Second-Rebuilding/dp/1433503646

John MacArthur sermons referenced in this episode:
https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/80-13/the-masters-college-presidential-inauguration
https://www.gracechurch.org/sermons/15943
https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/55-5/the-elements-of-a-strong-spiritual-life-part-1