Phil Johnson Announces Retirement from Grace To You

Phil Johnson, Executive Director of Grace to You, founder and former curator of The Spurgeon Archive, longtime friend and partner of the late John MacArthur, and one of our favorite people ever, announced on Facebook that he is officially retiring after 43 years.

Describing it as a ‘bittersweet’ announcement, he shared:

I’ve had a wonderful career at Grace to You for the past 43 years. My plan in the mid-1990s was to retire from GTY at age 66 or 66, move back to the Midwest, and pastor a small church, perhaps in Oklahoma or Texas.

But then, starting in the first decade of the new millennium, I became a grandfather, and now I have seven grandchildren in California. There’s no way I’m moving back to Oklahoma now. So I’ve stayed on at GTY longer than I once planned to do.

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. 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 reflects that he is “profoundly grateful for the amazing privilege I had to work alongside John MacArthur for more than 4 decades.” and that he loves Grace to You with all his heart.

In a follow-up post, he clarified rumors that he was being forced out, writing:

1. Yes, I will still be the announcer on the daily Grace to You broadcasts. I’m retiring from the 9-to-5+ task of being CEO, not severing my tie with the ministry. Being the announcer requires about 1 hour of my time every other week.

2. No, I am not leaving my role as co-pastor of the GraceLife Fellowship at Grace Community Church. I’ll still be teaching, perhaps more than before. I’ve always filled that role freely, as a layman. I’m not an employee of the church.

3. It is my privilege to serve both GTY and GCC as a volunteer. I join the ranks of hundreds of GTY volunteers (mostly septuagenarians, like me, or older) who serve simply because they love the ministry.

4. It is true that the timing of this move was suggested to me by GTY board members who encouraged me to retire. They cited my cancer diagnosis, my age, and the inevitable shift in responsibilities that has come in the wake of John MacArthur’s death. But I was in no way “threatened,” fired, or given ultimatums. No such coercion was necessary.

5. I understand the rationale for those board members’ suggestion, and the timing is right for me. I am legally obliged to withdraw the required minimum distributions from my tax-deferred retirement account annually, starting this year. I’m secure enough financially that I don’t need to keep working 40+ hours a week in addition to everything else I do.

6. The small but noisy nest of social-media gossip mongers and busybodies who claim to have inside information about me or the ministries I serve ALWAYS get the actual facts wrong. In other words, they are serial liars, pretending to know more than they do. I don’t understand why they are so keen to discredit anything or anyone who was affiliated with John MacArthur, but it’s an evil agenda. Ignore them.

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