Growing up in the household of Pastor John Piper meant an intense immersion in Scripture, an experience Barnabas Piper says he didn’t fully appreciate until adulthood. In a Jan. 30 conversation on “The Ryley Heppner Podcast,” Barnabas Piper reflected on both the blessings and the challenges of being raised by one of evangelicalism’s most influential pastors.
“I’m at a place now where, there are complicated dynamics to a degree, but I largely can look at [my dad] and go, he was a man called by God to do a particular kind of ministry in a particular time, and he’s done it faithfully,” Piper said. “He just turned 80. He’s going as strong as an 80-year-old can. He is remaining faithful.”
“He intends to finish strong as opposed to, you know, collecting seashells,” said Piper, referencing a famous sermon of his father’s.
“And I look at that and I go, there’s so much about that to be thankful for. There’s so much about that that’s admirable,” Piper said. “There’s so much about that that is testimony to God’s faithfulness because so many other pastors have fallen along the way or lost sight of what they’ve been called to do.”
Barnabas Piper Reflects on His Upbringing
Barnabas Piper is an assistant pastor at Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee. He co-hosts “The Happy Rant” podcast with Ted Kluck and Ronnie Martin and is the author of several books, including “The Pastor’s Kid: What It’s Like and How to Help.”
Barnabas Piper is the fourth child of John and Noël Piper. His father, John Piper, is an influential evangelical pastor who founded the ministry Desiring God and served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis for more than three decades. John Piper is the author of numerous books, including “Don’t Waste Your Life” and “Desiring God,” and addresses questions related to Christian life and theology on the “Ask Pastor John” podcast.
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“What was it like growing up as John Piper’s son?” Heppner asked Barnabas Piper to start off the discussion. Heppner was curious about anything that was unique compared to other Christian families.
“I think as anybody gets older, they look back on their upbringing and kind of notice the idiosyncrasies of their household,” Piper said. He explained that in his 20s, he experienced “cynicism” and “bitterness” toward how he was brought up but that in his 30s and 40s (Piper is 42) he has grown “in understanding and appreciation” for how he was raised.
One of the unique aspects of Piper’s childhood was “the singular emphasis on Scripture in our household,” which he described as “a two-edged sword.”
This emphasis on God’s Word “has been a great benefit in terms of biblical understanding.” Piper’s oldest child is 20 and his youngest is a toddler, “so I’m thoroughly in the thick of all sorts of parenting,” he said, which requires him to rely “more and more on just the wisdom of Scripture.”
Barnabas Piper reflects on the blessings and the challenges of being raised by one of evangelicalism’s most influential pastors, John Piper.Click to Post
