Biography of John Piper
John Piper Biography
John Piper Biography – John Piper is an American Reformed Baptist preacher, pastor, and author, and he is the chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was born on 11 January 1946.
He was a teacher of biblical studies at Bethel University between 1947 to 1980. He then became a pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church (Converge) in Minneapolis from 1980 to 2013.
John Piper founded desiringGod.org after his book Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and his also the senior teacher.
Early Life
He was born to the family of Bill and Ruth Piper on January 11, 1946, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. For more than 60 years, Piper’s father was a traveling evangelist. The family moved to Greenville before he became a year old. He spent his youth at Greenville and graduated from Wade Hampton High School in 1964.
He gave his life to Christ at a very young age of six (6). John Piper graduated from Wheaton College in 1968 with a major in literature and a minor in philosophy.
In 1966 during the fall, he was infected with mononucleosis, and during this season he listened to Pastor Harold John Ockenga on WETN. He accounted his call to the ministry of God’s word to that experience “I can remember listening there on my bed to his messages on the radio and feeling inside my heart simply explode with longing to be able to handle the word of God the way he was handling it in the pulpit at Edman Chapel. Before those three weeks were over, I had resolved to drop organic chemistry… That was, I believe, my call to the ministry of the word.”
His formative years theologically came under the tutelage of Daniel Payton Fuller, at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California between 1968 to 1971. This period had an intense influence on Piper. Three things were noticeable from the encounters and influence he had during this period and they are; diligent attention to explanative detain in Bible study, a total conviction of the encompassing sovereignty of God, and Christian Hedonism according to him.
At the University of Munich, Germany he received a Doctor of Theology in New Testament studies between 1971 to 1974. His dissertation (Love Your Enemies) was published by Cambridge University Press and Baker Book House. After his doctorate, he was a teacher of biblical studies at Bethel University in Saint Paul, Minnesota between 1974 and 1980.
Ministry
He became a pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in 1980 where he served until March 31, 2013, as the pastor of preaching and vision. After releasing his book Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist in 1968, he became part of evangelical Christianity. In the year 1994, he founded Desiring God Ministries, with the purpose of “spread[ing] a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.” The ministries have been delivering all of his resources for the past years especially books online without cost.
From May 1, 2010, to January 9, 2011, he took a leave of absence for eight months. By June 2011, he announced he would be stepping down from his pastoral position. Jason Meyer was voted in to be his successor on May 20, 2012.
He preached his last sermon as a pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church on March 31, 2013, and he wrote to the congregation that he and his family would be moving to Tennessee for a year so that the new leadership would plan without any influence. He is still a member of the church without an official role in the church leadership but is designated pastor emeritus.
Though he sold millions of books all the royalties from the book’s sales are donated to various charities.
Books
He has written quite a number of books and some of them are but not limited to the following. John Piper List of Books PDF:
- Love Your Enemies: Jesus’ Love Command in the Synoptic Gospels and the Early Christian Paraenesis.
- The Justification of God: An Exegetical and Theological Study of Romans 9:1–23.
- Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist.
- The Supremacy of God in Preaching.
- The Pleasures of God.
- Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.
- Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions.
- Future Grace: The Purifying Power of Living By Faith In Future Grace.
- A Hunger for God: Desiring God Through Fasting and Prayer.
- A Godward Life: Savoring the Supremacy of God in All of Life.
- God’s Passion for His Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards.
- The Innkeeper.
- A Godward Life, Book Two: Savoring the Supremacy of God in All of Life.
- The Legacy of Sovereign Joy: God’s Triumphant Grace in the Lives of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin.
- The Hidden Smile of God: The Fruit of Affliction in the Lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd.
- Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ.
- The Dangerous Duty of Delight: Daring to Make God the Object of Your Desire.
- What’s the Difference?: Manhood and Womanhood Defined According to the Bible.
- The Misery of Job and the Mercy of God.
- Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry.
- The Roots of Endurance: Invincible Perseverance in the Lives of John Newton, Charles Simeon, and William Wilberforce.
- Counted Righteous in Christ: Should We Abandon the Imputation of Christ’s Righteousness?.
- Beyond the Bounds(co-editor).
- Don’t Waste Your Life.
- Pierced By the Word: Thirty-One Meditations for Your Soul.
- The Prodigal’s Sister.
Relationship & Marital Status
He got married to Noël Henry in 1968 and the couple have five children plus an adopted daughter.
Recognition
He was named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in English in 2018 by Baylor University.
Check also:
Download Books On Justification And Righteousness PDF
Download Books On Passion For God PDF
Download PDF Ebooks On Spiritual Growth
Download PDF Ebooks On Personal Development
Download Ebooks On The Gospel PDF
Download PDF Books On Marriage, Courtship, and Relationship
