Less than a year after Pastor John MacArthur's death, the longtime head of his Grace to You ministry has announced he is retiring after more than four decades, citing an incurable cancer diagnosis and the need for a new generation of leadership.
Phil Johnson, executive director of Grace to You (GTY), said Wednesday that he will retire effective July 1 after 43 years with the California-based ministry.
"I've had a wonderful career at Grace to You for the past 43 years," Johnson wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday. "I turned 73 on June 11. I have Multiple Myeloma, which is not curable and has diminished my energy level. I am busy enough with preaching engagements that sometimes involve travel."
Johnson said the ministry is entering a pivotal season following MacArthur's death and believes it is time for new leadership.
"And at this pivotal time in the ministry's history, GTY needs to be in the hands of leadership that will steer the ministry into the next generations of technology and strategy," he wrote. "So I'm retiring."
"I'm profoundly grateful for the amazing privilege I had to work alongside John MacArthur for more than 4 decades. I love Grace to You with all my heart, and nothing will ever change that."
Johnson did not announce a successor.
Grace to You, founded by MacArthur and affiliated with the California-based Grace Community Church, says its mission is to spread biblical teaching by "unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time" through radio, digital media and publishing.
MacArthur led the megachurch for more than half a century until his death last year. The Grace to You website contains an archive of MacArthur’s sermons dating back to 1969. Another project of Grace to You, the Study Bible, features “25,000 explanatory notes” from MacArthur on “virtually every passage based on the [English Standard Version] text” in addition to “more than 140 two-color maps, charts, timelines, and illustrations.”
According to Grace Community Church’s official website, Johnson’s work isn't limited to the Grace to You ministry. Johnson has also edited most of MacArthur’s books and delivered sermons in his capacity as an ordained elder and pastor at Grace Community Church. He has founded multiple websites, including The Spurgeon Archive, The Hall of Church History and the Pyromaniacs.
Johnson first revealed his Multiple Myeloma diagnosis in an X thread two years ago, which provided an update on his health following his hospitalization that spring. “My ‘catastrophic’ kidney malfunction turned out to be a sort of blessing in disguise,” he asserted at the time.
“In the hundreds of blood tests and a bone-marrow biopsy doctors ordered, they discovered I had Multiple Myeloma, a kind of blood cancer that lets the proteins in my blood attack other organs,” he explained. After discussing how he was prescribed a treatment, Johnson clarified that “Multiple Myeloma is not curable” while predicting that “This treatment should make it go into remission.”
Phil Johnson announces retirement from Grace to You | Church & Ministries
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