Fiery Preacher Leaving Pulpit, but this Won't be his Last Word

John Piper will not be in the pulpit, promising God's judgment against sinners, for much longer.

After more than 30 years as senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, the fiery preacher of hardline biblical values is retooling his priorities.

But he won't go quietly into retirement. At 66, he still has the passion to write books, preach and tour the country with his Desiring God ministry, just not so much for the day-to-day duties of running a megachurch with close to 5,000 weekly attendees.

"I have ... a limited amount of energy, and I want it to go toward reading, writing, preaching but not organizational efforts at meetings," Piper said in a recent interview.

A prominent theologian and author of dozens of books, Piper is considered one of the most influential voices in conservative evangelicalism. His voice has energized some and appalled others.

When the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed in 2007, killing 13 people, Piper called it a sign of God's wrath over sin. When a tornado damaged the steeple of Central Lutheran Church in 2009, he said it was "a gentle but firm warning" to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America convention, which was voting nearby to allow openly gay clergy to be pastors.

Yet Piper disappointed some of his allies this year when he refused to endorse the proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in Minnesota. He preached against gay marriage but did not join other religious leaders in explicitly urging members of his church to vote for the amendment, which was defeated in November.

"I'm not a crusader when it comes to parties or legislation or politicians," Piper said in defense of his actions.

"Usually evangelicals work like this. You have the very conservative, Republican types. And you have the more socially oriented, Democratic types. And they both worship the same God, read the same Bible and vote for different people. And what I want to do is on every issue ... say, 'We're not Republicans. And we're not Democrats. We're Bible people. We're Christ's people."    Continue at Star Tribune