Book for the Month: February 2014

9780891079507_p0_v2_s260x420 The Pillars of Christian Character

In this book one of Christianity’s most respected Bible teachers and pastors examines the foundational attitudes, or “pillars,” of Christian character as outlined in God’s Word.

Pillars such as genuine faith, obedience, humility, selfless love, forgiveness, self-discipline, gratitude, and worship.


About the author

The son of Jack MacArthur and fifth cousin of U.S. General Douglas MacArthur, John MacArthur attended Bob Jones University before transferring to Los Angeles Pacific College (now Azusa Pacific University). He later obtained his Masters of Divinity from Biola University’s Talbot Theological Seminary, in La Mirada, California. He graduated with honors. From 1964 to 1966, he served as an associate pastor at Calvary Bible Church, in Burbank, California and, from 1966 to 1969, as a faculty representative for Talbot Theological Seminary. Then, in 1969, he became the third pastor in the then-short history of the nondenominational Grace Community Church of Sun Valley, California.

His daily radio program, Grace to You, which is now broadcast throughout much of the world, began as an audio recording ministry to provide cassettes of his sermons to listeners. They were first broadcast in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1977.

In 1985, MacArthur became the president of The Master’s College (formerly Los Angeles Baptist College), an accredited, four-year, liberal arts Christian college;  and, in 1986, he founded The Master’s Seminary. MacArthur also received an honorary doctorate from Talbot Theological Seminary and an honorary doctorate from Grace Graduate School.

Nearly 43 years after beginning in the pulpit of Grace Community, MacArthur completed one his own life goals of preaching through the entire New Testament on June 5, 2011,  at the end of his projected target window, stated the previous January, to finish “some time in the summer.” During the same interview, MacArthur projected he would complete his commentary series within another five years, some 35 years after beginning.

MacArthur is married to Patricia and they have four children and fifteen grandchildren.