John Ortberg

John Ortberg
Born (1957-05-05) May 5, 1957 (age 67)
Rockford, Illinois
OccupationTheologian, author, minister
NationalityAmerican
SubjectLeadership, theology
SpouseNancy
ChildrenLaura Turner, Daniel M. Lavery, John Ortberg III
Website
johnortberg.com

John Carl Ortberg Jr. (born May 5, 1957) is an American evangelical Christian author, speaker, and the former senior pastor of Menlo Church[1] in Menlo Park, California, an ECO Presbyterian church with more than 4,000 members. Ortberg has published many books, including the 2008 ECPA Christian Book Award winner When the Game is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box,[2] and the 2002 Christianity Today Book Award winner If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat.[3] Another of his publications, The Life You've Always Wanted, has sold more than 500,000 copies as of 2008.[4] On August 13, 2012, Ortberg's book Who Is This Man? debuted at #3 on the New Release chart[5] at Amazon.com.[6]

Ortberg resigned from his position as pastor of Menlo Church in Summer 2020 after it was revealed that he had allowed one of his sons, John Ortberg III, to continue volunteering in working with minors at the church after the son had disclosed having experienced unwanted thoughts of attraction to minors.[7][8][9][10] The allegations had arisen in late 2019, initially without identifying Ortberg's son as the volunteer in question.

  1. ^ "Pastors and Ministers". Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. Archived from the original on March 24, 2009. Retrieved January 9, 2009.
  2. ^ "2008 Christian Book Awards Winners - Christian Life category". Retrieved October 20, 2009.
  3. ^ Staub, Dick (May 1, 2003). "The Dick Staub Interview: John Ortberg's Freak Show". Christianity Today. Retrieved January 9, 2009.
  4. ^ "Gold / Platinum / Diamond Book Awards Winners". Archived from the original on February 10, 2010. Retrieved October 20, 2009.
  5. ^ https://www.amazon.com/gp/new-releases/books/ref=sv_b_2#1 [not specific enough to verify][failed verification]
  6. ^ https://news.yahoo.com/man-john-ortberg-debuts-3rd-releases-top-20-152011676.html [dead link]
  7. ^ Smietana, Bob (February 3, 2020). "John Ortberg Investigated After Church Volunteer Confessed Attraction to Minors". Christianity Today. Religion News Service. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
  8. ^ Kelliher, Fiona (July 29, 2020). "Bay Area megachurch pastor resigns amid scandal fallout". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved July 30, 2020. A Bay Area megachurch pastor has resigned amid growing fallout over his handling of a volunteer's professed sexual attraction to minors – and the recent public revelation that the volunteer was his son. Christian author John Ortberg will no longer serve as pastor of the 4,000-member Menlo Church, the church said Wednesday, a decision that came after mounting calls for his resignation and a secondary investigation into the volunteer's behavior with children.
  9. ^ Kuruvilla, Carol (January 14, 2020). "A Megachurch Reels After Learning Pastor Let His Professed Pedophile Son Work With Kids". HuffPost. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  10. ^ "Elder Board Statement, Jan 21, 2020 (John Ortberg Update)" (PDF). Menlo.church. Retrieved April 28, 2022.