Hey, want to spend an evening with John Piper?

I got that question the other day at a particularly low point for me. Unknown to the asker, we had been dealing with some very heavy issues in our home which came on the heels of several very challenging weeks of dealing with heavy issues in our church. God is so kind to send unexpected care even when we haven’t asked for it much less realized we needed it.

Of course I would love to spend an evening with John Piper!

His ministry has had a long and profound impact on me, my family, and many of our friends. So much so, that we decided to list Desiring God as one of our key influencers on our beliefs page.

I received my first John Piper book, The Pleasures of God: Meditations on God's Delight in Being God, free when I joined a weekly men’s group that met to collectively read through and discuss various Christian books of impact. Kind of a read and share what you’ve learned opportunity. That was around 1993.

At that time I was not familiar with Dr. Piper or his message of most glorifying God by being most satisfied in him, which was coined in his earlier (1986) book Desiring God. Like most things in my life, it seems, I’m usually a little late to the game but always glad and grateful to finally arrive!

Up until that point in my Christian experience, I had never heard such things - such clearly articulated thoughts collected and expressed by someone who was deeply considering what brings pleasure to the happiest being ever in existence, God himself. That book, itself, was a written demonstration of what soon became a near catchphrase in many reformed Christian circles, but for us, it became our lens for viewing every aspect of life: God-centeredness. I was previously unaware of how man-centered I was — hmmm, rather, how warren-centered I was. Ouch.

Thank you Dr. Piper for setting us on a journey that continues to this day and has been helped along by many, many others with the same perspective. Dr. R.C. Sproul, Dr. John MacArthur, Martyn Lloyd-Jones and many others not so famous in this life but likely quite well known in the heavenlies. Thank you all.

With that context, I hope you can better understand how excited we were to get to personally meet and spend even a little bit of time in an intimate setting with one of our key influencers. That evening will not soon be forgotten. It was deeply encouraging, and instructional for us as we gathered with 50 plus people packed into the home of a local supporter of Desiring God.

When we walked in we were greeted by a few of his staff members. Over their shoulder we noticed Dr. Piper casually chatting with those already arrived. Casually, no celebrity conduct, nothing apparently special going on here to the unaware observer. John would not have been picked out as the featured attendee. Humble, kind, generous, and available — what an example for any in public ministry.

Just before he was to address the group, our host brought us over to meet Dr. Piper. He warmly greeted us as we introduced ourselves to him. We very briefly shared who we were and what we were doing with Parent Reform. He was affirming and asked for the URL of our website, and then repeated it back slowly to be sure he had it right. He seemed to be earnestly interested in us and what was on our hearts.

I knew there would be a Q and A component to the evening and so I had been thinking about what I might ask if given the chance. For whatever reason, at that moment, I decided to ask if I could pose my question then, before the Q and A — he said, “of course!’

If you could ask John Piper a question in a private conversation, what would it be? Well, for me, I had been thinking, what question could I pose that would provide us some useful insights to help us as we seek to scale up our ministry to parents and families.

And so I asked, “Dr Piper, there are many extraordinary aspects to your life and ministry. To me, perhaps the most extraordinary is that you have managed to remain relevant and interesting to so many, for so long. To what do you attribute that and what advice would you offer us to that end?”

He looked intently into our faces, paused but for a few seconds and replied with what seemed like a prepared, structured answer that felt personal, as if he were offering his most sincere help to long-time friends.

Paraphrasing here, he said, “…people, especially young people, want to see authenticity — humble authenticity. They can see right through facades and pretense and will quickly reject it. Next, the message you offer has to be a message directed to the heart of the hearer.”

He also shared that there seems to be a temptation for internet accessible ministries to attempt to be flashy and sophisticated in order to reach their young audiences by impressing them. He warned us away from that.

Instead, he said we should consider adopting Desiring God’s objective of “undistracted excellence in all we do”. “Undistracted excellence”, perfect. Now there was a self-describing description, if ever there was one. Clear, simple, helpful — excellent.

And at that point, one of the coordinators interrupted our chat with an announcement that it was time to begin, he looked at us and said, well since you two are at the front of the room, please take those empty seats on the couch directly in front of where Dr. Piper will be speaking from.

We then settled in for about 45 minutes of hearing from the heart of Desiring God Ministry’s leader. He began with a greeting and a prayer. Then he shared some personal thoughts and biblical reflections on a few current ministry matters that he illuminated with a brief but very insightful mini-devotional from 2 Timothy. I am always blessed when I hear Dr. Piper speak, how much more so when delivered from 8 feet away!

We then heard an overview of the stunning breadth and reach of Desiring God Ministry. How can such a lean organization produce so much content, with such excellence, on a global scale, and all offered for free? Clearly, the result of the culmination of a life of faithful, arduous labor underpinned by the prayers and financial support of God’s people.

And then, all too soon, it was time for Dr. Piper to leave us. On his way out, he paused for well wishes and a few photos. Standing nearby with my phone in hand someone asked, would you like for me to take a photo of you guys with Dr. Piper? Well, of course we would. Moments later he was out the door.



What a special evening of encouragement! Meeting John Piper in person, speaking to him face to face, if only briefly, about things of shared significance and personal importance. Thank you, heavenly father, for the work you have done and are doing through desiringGod! May you bless them still more in the days to come!


P.S. We would encourage our readers to regularly visit Desiring God and use it not only as a study resource but also as a well from which you draw personal encouragement to desire God more. Also, may we suggest you consider supporting the ministry of desiringGod through prayer and finances (after first supporting your local church). They are making no small plans, may God grant them success in achieving their goals for the glory of his name.