What’s the Truth about John MacArthur & His Ministries?

Guest Bios

Show Transcript

What’s the truth about John MacArthur, his ministries, and the Master’s University and Seminary?

On this episode of The Roys Report, a former vice president at John MacArthur's seminary reveals stunning details about the culture of fear, nepotism, and celebrity surrounding the famous pastor.

From 1991—2015, Dennis Swanson worked at The Master’s University and Seminary (TMUS)—first as the director innovation and then as the vice president of operations, the library, and accreditation. 

Swanson worked with MacArthur's son-in-law, Kory Welch, who's been paid millions in contracts by MacArthur's ministries. Swanson says Welch was barely competent. 

Swanson also was involved in the writing and editing of the John MacArthur Study Bible, which he says John MacArthur didn’t write. Swanson also wrote a chapter in John MacArthur’s book on counseling. Yet Swanson's name doesn’t appear anywhere in the book. 

But that’s the tip of the iceberg of what Swanson saw and experienced. He says a woman he supervised lost her job simply because she was a woman. Swanson says he lost his job simply because he and other administrators were successful in making The Master’s Seminary less about MacArthur and more about a quality education.

This is an insightful conversation and extremely relevant to the issues recently raised about MacArthur and his leadership.

This Weeks Guests

Dr. Dennis M. Swanson

Dr. Dennis M. Swanson, until recently was the Dean of Libraries at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Formerly was the VP of The Master's Seminary Library, Accreditation, and Operations for 24 years. He also oversaw the production of The Master's Seminary Journal and The Master’s Mantle. An experienced writer and editor, besides many journal articles, he was a contributor to the Eerdman’s Bible Dictionary, edited by David Noel Freedman. He also was a pastor, and a regular interim pastor, working in 20 different churches. His doctoral project was “Titus: A Model for the Interim Pastoral Ministry.”  Before entering  an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department and a senior traffic accident investigator.  He holds degrees from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, San Jose State University, The Master’s Seminary, The Master’s College, and El Camino College.

Transcript

SPEAKERSJULIE ROYS, DENNIS SWANSON

JULIE ROYS 00:04What’s really going on with John MacArthur, his ministries, and the Master’s University and Seminary? Today, a former high ranking administrator at the Master’s Seminary gives us an inside look. Welcome to The Roys Report, a podcast dedicated to reporting the truth and restoring the church. I’m Julie Roys. And joining me today is Dennis Swanson, former Vice President at John MacArthur’s Master’s Seminary. For more than 20 years, Dennis worked as an administrator there and during his time, he oversaw operations, the library and accreditation. He also was involved in editing the John MacArthur Study Bible, which he says John MacArthur didn’t write. He also wrote a chapter in John MacArthur’s book on counseling. Yet Dennis’s name doesn’t appear anywhere in the book. But that’s the tip of the iceberg of what Dennis saw and experienced. He says a woman he supervised lost her job simply because she was a woman. He says he lost his job because he and other administrators were successful in making the Master’s Seminary less about MacArthur and more about a quality education. Dan is also has insight into the alleged 40 hours a week the MacArthur claims he worked at the school for many years. And Dennis says the culture of fear and intimidation reported by the accrediting body that put the Master’s University and Seminary on probation is