The Reformed Resurgence: John Piper and Bethlehem Baptist Church

An Uncharacteristic Megachurch

Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis is neither fashionable like Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church in Orange County, California, nor sprawling like Bill Hybels’s Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago. Embedded downtown near the Metrodome, Bethlehem lacks that most characteristic megachurch feature: ample parking. The Saturday evening service I visited felt surprisingly casual. Then again, Minnesota’s Scandinavian culture eschews formality and downplays controversy—two reasons I’ve always been surprised an intense, controversial Southerner like John Piper settled here. It would be an understatement to describe Piper as animated in the pulpit. His gestures match his theology. Piper lifts the gaze of his audience toward a mighty, transcendent God. Read the rest HERE