John Piper is the founder and lead teacher of Desiring God, chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary, and former pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, where he served for nearly 33 years. For over half a century, he has preached thousands of messages and written dozens of books to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.

In 1968, influenced by the writings of Jonathan Edwards and C.S. Lewis, John discovered the liberating truth of Christian Hedonism. Since then, he has devoted himself to celebrating and persuading others that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. His 1987 book, Desiring God: Meditations of Christian Hedonist, argues that the pursuit of pleasure in God is not optional but essential to the God-glorifying life. Many other books — including The Pleasures of God, Future Grace, Don’t Waste Your Life, God Is the Gospel, and Providence — trace the deep biblical roots of that insight and apply it to the breadth of Christian living.

John’s library of teaching includes decades of sermons and conference messages, thousands of answers to pastoral and theological questions in Ask Pastor John, and hundreds of Bible-study videos — especially through the letters of Paul — in Look at the Book.

The son of an itinerant evangelist, John was raised in Greenville, South Carolina, and studied English literature at Wheaton College (1964–1968), where he also met Noël Henry, whom he married in 1968. He then received a Bachelor of Divinity at Fuller Theological Seminary (1968–1971) and a doctorate from the University of Munich (1971–1974) before teaching biblical studies at Bethel College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, for six years. Then, in 1980, feeling an irresistible call to preach, John became the senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. Since 2013, he has served full time for the ministry of Desiring God.

John and Noël live in Minneapolis, and together they have five children and a growing number of grandchildren.