Speaker
08SR Speaker: Phil Johnson
Phil Johnson returns again to be our 08SR speaker. Phil is the Executive Director of Grace to You, the tape, radio, and now television ministry of John MacArthur. He also helps pastor an adult fellowship group called Grace Life at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, CA.
Phil is the foremost living expert on Spurgeon in the world (as we learned at last year’s retreat). He is a international conference speaker and is one of the keynote speakers at the upcoming Shepherds’ Conference.
Phil and his wife, Darlene, have three grown sons: Jeremiah, Jedidiah, and the Pecadillo.
- Here is Phil’s own bio page.
- Here are some of Phil’s audio sermons.
Phil Phun Phacts
- Phil once ran a marathon—-but that was 1977. You wouldn’t think it to look at him now.
- Twice Phil has eaten the Filipino delicacy known as balut, an embryonic duck, hard-boiled in the shell. Yummy.
- Phil is “always amused” by Hindi movies. Apparently he watches them regularly on YouTube. He linked to this one as an exceptional example.
- One of Phil’s great virtues is his perseverance, perhaps most obvious in his being an outspoken and faithful fan of the Chicago Cubs.
When Phil lived in Tulsa, OK, he was a Ranger, that is, a Nathan Hale High School Ranger. Here is proof.- Thanksgiving is Phil’s favorite holiday “because it is the one holiday annually that still hasn’t been hopelessly commercialized and secularized. It has a singular purpose, and it’s focused on God’s grace and goodness.” It might also be because the Johnsons eat homemade gourmet pizza for lunch instead of turkey.
- Some of Phil’s favorite holiday candies are Cricket Lick-its™–a lollipop with a real cricket inside, freeze-dried Tequila worms in your choice of BBQ, Mexican spice, or cheddar cheese, and Amber InsectNside™ Candy with a real scorpion inside. His only complaint? “It’s just too much sugar and too little scorpion for me.”
- Phil travels almost annually to England, India, and New Zealand where he preaches at conferences, retreats, and for local churches. Over the years he has traveled to more than thirty different countries.
- The Johnsons have a beagle named Wrigley (named after the ballpark of the lesser baseball team in Chicago) who “is offended only by the sight of male dogs dressed in effeminate clothing.” Taking cheap shots at his dog will get you on Phil’s bad side. [search for "Wrigley" at the above links]
- Between the years of 1997-2000, Phil lived through six different earthquakes on four continents: one in Pune, India; one in New Zealand; three in California; and one in Italy.
- Phil’s gall bladder ruptured on a flight from India to LA in 1997. The same flight almost made an emergency landing due to a bomb threat, and Phil was interrogated by the FBI after landing. Here is the Mug Shot to prove it. Afterward he went to the ER and his gall bladder was removed.
A Few of Phil’s Websites
PyroManiacs | This is Phil’s blog that has sent the blogosphere up in flames!- The Spurgeon Archive | The place to go for online Spurgeon resources.
- Phil’s Famous Annotated Bookmarks | One of the most comprehensive lists of Christian links with Phil’s inimitable comments.
- The Hall of Church History | Links to theology from a bunch of dead guys.