John MacArthur entered heaven on Monday at the age of 86.

It’s difficult to know exactly what to say about him, as members of our fellowship hold widely differing views regarding him. In many aspects of his ministry, MacArthur was a fundamentalist—though he resisted that label.

A fifth-generation preacher, his family’s gospel ministry traces back to Canada and Scotland. He became pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, in February 1969, and served there for 55 years, growing the congregation from 400 to a megachurch of around 8,000.

MacArthur had numerous ties to Baptist fundamentalism. He attended Bob Jones University in the late 1950s and early 1960s and was a classmate and personal friend of many fundamentalist Baptist leaders from that generation. Later, he became president of Los Angeles Baptist College (then affiliated with the GARBC), transforming it into The Master’s College and Seminary and severing its Baptist ties to the joy and frustration of many in the GARBC. …

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