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The Rev. John MacArthur, an influential and exacting evangelical preacher, died Monday at the age of 86.

He led Grace Community Church in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Sun Valley for more than five decades. His ministry announced his death on social media. On Sunday, Tom Patton, one of the church’s pastors, told the congregation MacArthur had been hospitalized with pneumonia.

MacArthur made news during the coronavirus pandemic for flouting Los Angeles County鈥檚 health orders by holding indoor services for hundreds of congregants and refusing to enforce masking and physical-distancing requirements.

Well before then, his influence had spread far beyond Southern California, where he grew up and took the helm of his nondenominational congregation at age 29.

His Grace to You broadcast ministry circulated his theologically conservative teachings while his many books, including the popular MacArthur Study Bible, were translated into dozens of languages.

Dressed in a suit and tie, he eschewed pop culture references and emotional appeals from the pulpit, even as they became mainstays of modern evangelicalism.

His followers lauded him for his expository preaching, in which he walked them through Scripture line by line. He wanted his sermons to be timeless explanations of the Bible as he interpreted it.

鈥淗e could get more out of a Bible verse than anyone I鈥檝e ever known,鈥� evangelical leader Franklin Graham wrote on social media. He called MacArthur one of 鈥淎merica鈥檚 great Bible teachers.鈥�

He was 鈥渁 lion in the pulpit,鈥� wrote the Rev. Al Mohler, a Southern Baptist leader, for the evangelical World magazine. 鈥淗e was a preacher God used to make other preachers better preachers.鈥�

MacArthur was unafraid to stir controversy for the sake of his beliefs, even deriding fellow evangelicals for what he saw as incorrect teachings and theology, including the growing charismatic wing of Christianity.

He was an outspoken proponent of complementarianism 鈥� the belief that men and women have different roles and women should not be pastors. He publicly rebuked two influential evangelical women: the popular Bible teacher Beth Moore and the Rev. Paula White-Cain, a spiritual advisor to President Donald Trump.

During a packed, indoor Sunday morning service at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, MacArthur told applauding congregants that they were not meeting to be rebellious, but because 鈥渙ur Lord has commanded us to come together and worship him.鈥�

The county and the church traded lawsuits, with the latter arguing the COVID-19 mandates violated their constitutional right to religious freedom. In August 2021, the county鈥檚 board of supervisors voted to pay $800,000 to Grace Community Church to settle the lawsuit 鈥� an outcome MacArthur hailed as a 鈥渕onumental victory.鈥�

The church has also weathered allegations related to its handling of abuse allegations and its treatment of women leaving abusive marriages.

MacArthur hailed from a long line of pastors, including his father. As part of his ministry, he helped train future church leaders through the Master鈥檚 University and the Master鈥檚 Seminary, both in Southern California.

He is survived by his wife, Patricia, and his four adult children, Matt, Marcy, Mark and Melinda, along with 15 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

MacArthur had suffered from health problems in recent years, including heart and lung procedures.

He spoke about his ill health in a video message to a church leadership conference earlier this year.

鈥淚 realize I鈥檓 on the last lap,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat takes on a new meaning when you know you鈥檙e on the short end of the candle. I am all thanks and praise to God for everything he鈥檚 allowed me to be a part of and everything he鈥檚 accomplished by his Word in these years of ministry.鈥�

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Associated Press writer Deepa Bharath in Los Angeles contributed.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP鈥檚 with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.