Grace Community Church names new senior pastor year after John MacArthur's death
Grace Community Church (GCC), the prominent California-based congregation formerly led by the late Pastor John MacArthur, has named Nathan Busenitz its new senior pastor.
GCC elders unanimously selected Busenitz as senior pastor last Thursday, one year after MacArthur’s memorial service, according to an announcement posted Saturday. The elders are entrusting Busenitz with the "responsibility of shepherding the flock (1 Peter 5:1–4) and upholding our church’s commitment to the faithful exposition of God’s Word (2 Timothy 4:2)."
"In the months since Pastor John’s homegoing, the elders have sought the Lord’s wisdom with prayer, patience, and careful deliberation," the statement reads. "Their unanimous decision reflects both their confidence in God’s providence and their conviction that Nathan has been uniquely prepared by God to serve our church in this next season."
MacArthur, who founded Grace to You ministries and served as GCC’s pastor-teacher for more than 50 years, died July 14, 2025, at age 86, shortly after being hospitalized for pneumonia. Shortly after MacArthur's death, Busenitz was named “staff pastor,” an interim role, while church leaders searched for a permanent replacement.
Busenitz served for several years as MacArthur’s personal assistant. He was a student at The Master’s University (TMU) and The Master’s Seminary (TMS), both led by MacArthur, and he later served as executive vice president at the university. He is married and has four children.
“Having grown up at Grace, Nathan is already known and beloved by our church family,” the church elders said. “Nathan’s giftedness for preaching and shepherding became evident in these ministries through his clear teaching and humble leadership.”
“As Nathan steps into his new role and transitions from leading the seminary, the elders ask the congregation to faithfully lift up him and his family in prayer. We enter this new season of ministry with gratitude to God for His faithfulness in the past and with joyful confidence in His plan for the future.”
According to his online biography on the GCC website, Busenitz began serving at TMU in 2000 and was a full-time pastoral staff member at Grace from 2003 to 2009.
He started teaching historical theology at TMS in 2008 and eventually co-pastored the Cornerstone fellowship group at Grace.
In 2013, Busenitz was among the speakers at MacArthur’s Strange Fire conference, which argued that the charismatic movement was fundamentally heretical.
Busenitz’s book Long Before Luther: Tracing the Heart of the Gospel From Christ to the Reformation was published in 2017, seeking to counter the claim that Reformed theology did not exist before the 1500s.
“If an evangelical understanding of the gospel is only 500 years old, we are in major trouble,” the book’s description reads. “However, if it can be demonstrated that Reformers were not inventing something new, but instead were recovering something old, then key tenets of the Protestant faith are greatly affirmed.”
