John Piper’s Enormous Influence
I was struck this morning at the enormous influence that John Piper has throughout this entire country. I have visited probably 4 or 5 churches here in the Chattanooga area, and I remember three instances where the preacher explicitely quoted or credited John Piper with giving great clarity to a particular subject or text, and a fourth instance where the sermon happened to be about the exact same thing Piper’s radio program had been on for the past month or so, and what the pastor was saying was almost word-for-word what I had listened to previously on the radio program.
So, this morning at yet another church on Lookout Mountain (GA), the pastor mentioned someone again…John Piper. The reason I mention this is because it’s interesting to think about the HUGE influence that Piper has on pastors all over this country. He is so widely read and listened to and referenced in other pastors’ work, I believe, not only because his resources are so openly and readily available, but because what he says gets down to the heart of truth–the heart of what a passage is saying. Awhile ago, I heard someone, when talking about JP say something to the effect of, “What makes John Piper so unique is that he can take a text that you have seen and read all of your life, and stare it down until you get some new, deeper, changing truth in it” (my paraphrase). That is true.
