John Fullerton "Jack" MacArthur Sr. (March 30, 1914 – June 15, 2005) was an American pastor who was the founder and senior pastor at Calvary Bible Church in Burbank, California. He was the founder and host of the "Voice of Calvary" radio and television ministries, conference speaker, author, church planter, and father of pastor John F. MacArthur.
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MacArthur was born in Calgary, Alberta, to a Canadian Anglican minister, Harry MacArthur, and Olivia Fullerton MacArthur. His mother's father was Thomas Fullerton, a Presbyterian minister on Prince Edward Island who originally came from Scotland where his father (John Fullerton) had also been a Presbyterian minister.
After marrying on June 25, 1937,[3] MacArthur and his wife Irene (née Dockendorf) raised four children, including their oldest, pastor John MacArthur.[4] John later wrote about his father: "It was my father's preaching that made the greatest impact. You don't grow up a pastor's son without hearing a few thousand sermons - some more than once...[but] what I found as I watched - and what has most profoundly influenced me - was that my father's life rang true...in a word, what he taught me was the value of integrity."[5]
After MacArthur finished seminary, he first accepted the pastorate at Manchester Baptist Church in Los Angeles. MacArthur also traveled as an evangelist, preaching at many city and union campaigns throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe.
Later, he served as director of evangelism for the Charles F. Fuller Foundation and as a field evangelist for the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago.[6] He became pastor at Fountain Avenue Baptist Church on January 4, 1948 and served for four years.[2] From 1952 to 1954, he was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Downey.
In November 1954, MacArthur and his staff left that church to establish the independent, nondenominational Harry MacArthur Memorial Bible Church of Glendale, which was named for his father;[7] it was later renamed Calvary Bible Church after moving to Burbank, where he served as senior pastor for 50 years.[3][8]
While still pastoring in Southern California, he and Dr. J. Edwin Orr founded an outreach ministry to people in the film and television industry in the early 1940s"[9] where Roy Rogers and Dale Evans came to Christ under his preaching in 1948, and eventually, lifelong friends. In 1942, the fruit of this endeavor was the "Voice of Calvary" radio program (which he hosted until his passing). Between 1956 and 1983, the program was also adapted for television.[4] MacArthur supported the ministry of John M. Perkins, so Perkins named the ministry Voice of Calvary, a nod to MacArthur's radio program.[8]
"Pastor John MacArthur to Resume Evangelism," Los Angeles Times, January 4, 1952, A18.
John MacArthur: Servant of the Word and Flock, Iain H. Murray, Banner of Truth, 2011, pgs. 8-9.
"Noted Evangelist to Address Youth Session," Los Angeles Sentinel, October 10, 1957, B7.
"New Church Will Have First Service Tomorrow," Los Angeles Times, November 20, 1954, A22.
