On July 20, 1969, the world held its breath and watched as Michael Collins, Edwin Aldrin, and Neil Armstrong brought a 230,000-mile trip through space to a dramatic climax. In a blizzard of blowing white dust, they had come to rest on the surface of the moon.

The impact of Apollo 11 and Neil Armstrong’s “giant leap” has been felt by every generation since. NASA brought science into the living room, demonstrating that with teamwork and God-given ingenuity, what seemed improbable or impossible was actually within reach.

That’s why it seems appropriate that 1969—a year of important launches, improbable missions, and unpredictable outcomes—was the year Grace to You began.

The launch of Grace to You came with little fanfare. Just a few months before Apollo 11 landed, John MacArthur arrived at a small church on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Spawning a media ministry that would stretch to every corner of the globe was out of the question—the young pastor’s priority was simply to teach God’s Word.

But one man in the congregation immediately saw an opportunity and acted. Realizing some members were too ill to attend services, that church member began recording John’s lessons. That first tape contained a message titled “How to Play Church” and was the first resource produced by what would become Grace to You.

In the early years, the fledgling ministry captured John’s lessons on large reel-to-reel recorders and all the labor was carried out by part-time volunteers. By 1973, cassettes were circulating throughout the church and beyond. To meet the demand, one of the volunteers, Rick Draa, was hired full time.

In 1977, seemingly by accident, a few Grace to You tapes found their way on the air in Baltimore, Maryland, and “Grace to You” radio was born. Christian radio was blossoming into a powerful, personal conduit for feeding people’s hunger for God’s Word and we were riding the crest of the wave. For some, our half-hour of teaching was a supplement to their strong local church. For others, it was a lifeline.

Radio not only allowed us daily access to millions of people, but it fueled demand for other resources. As John began writing, Grace to You became the launch pad for developing, editing, and distributing his books and study guides.

As our audio and print resources broadened, so did our need for space and staff. Thanks to a loyal family of customers and supporters, Grace to You became an independent, self-funded, nonprofit company in the early 1980s and subsequently bought its own building. Our staff would soon encompass an amazing variety of fields, including recording engineers, technicians, writers, editors, graphic artists, secretaries, accounting personnel, and our customer service team. We also continued to rely on a volunteer staff, as we do today.

The rest is history. God eventually allowed our resources to go beyond U.S. borders—we began planting offices throughout the English-speaking world. Today you’ll find us in Canada, India, and Europe.

Not only have we been able to cross geographical borders, but we’ve traversed several technological frontiers. Gone are reel-to-reel tapes and razor-blade editing—since the late 1990s our broadcast has been recorded, edited, and delivered to radio stations using computer technology. This website and our Bible and Sermon apps offer an endless supply of articles, videos, and study materials. We offer all of John’s messages in MP3 format, as well as “Grace to You” via podcast.

Our current level of ministry would have seemed impossible in 1969. In human terms, it was. What we’ve seen happen in over forty years of ministry is no monument to John MacArthur, our staff, or our ingenuity, but to God’s faithfulness to bless His Word. It is God who has brought about what we could not. By His power, we’re ready to tackle the many impossibilities that await us in the future. After all, if we can send a man to the moon . . .

John MacArthur is the pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, as well as an author, conference speaker, chancellor of The Master’s University and Seminary, and featured teacher with the Grace to You media ministry.

After graduating from Talbot Theological Seminary, John came to Grace Community Church in 1969. The emphasis of his pulpit ministry is the careful study and verse-by-verse exposition of the Bible, with special attention devoted to the historical and grammatical background behind each passage. Under John’s leadership, Grace Community Church’s two morning worship services fill the three-thousand-seat auditorium to capacity. Several thousand members participate every week in dozens of fellowship groups and training programs, most led by lay leaders and each dedicated to equipping members for ministry on local, national, and international levels.

In 1985, John became president of The Master’s College (formerly Los Angeles Baptist College; since 2016, The Master’s University). Located in Santa Clarita, California, it is a distinctly Christian, accredited, liberal arts institution offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs. In 1986, John founded The Master’s Seminary, a graduate school dedicated to training men for full-time pastoral and missionary work.

John is also chairman and featured teacher with Grace to You. Founded in 1969, Grace to You is the nonprofit organization responsible for developing, producing, and distributing John’s books, audio resources, and the Grace to You radio and television programs. Grace to You radio airs more than a thousand times daily throughout the English-speaking world, reaching major population centers with biblical truth. It also airs over a thousand times a day in Spanish, reaching twenty-seven countries across Europe and Latin America. Grace to You television airs weekly on DirecTV in the United States, and is available for free on the Internet worldwide. John’s 3,300-plus sermons, spanning more than five decades of ministry, are available for free download on this website.

John has written hundreds of study guides and books, including The Gospel According to Jesus, Our Sufficiency in Christ, Strange Fire, Ashamed of the Gospel, The Murder of Jesus, The Prodigal Son, Twelve Ordinary Men, The Truth War, The Jesus You Can’t Ignore, Slave, One Perfect Life, The Gospel According to Paul, Parables, and One Faithful Life. John’s books have been translated into more than two dozen languages. The MacArthur Study Bible, the cornerstone resource of his ministry, is available in English (NKJ, NAS, and ESV), Spanish, Russian, German, French, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, and Chinese.

In 2015 The MacArthur New Testament Commentary was completed. In thirty-four volumes, John takes you detail by detail, verse by verse, through the entire New Testament.

John and his wife, Patricia, live in Southern California and have four married children: Matt, Marcy, Mark, and Melinda. They also enjoy the enthusiastic company of their fifteen grandchildren.