A Remarkable Achievement: The New “Ask Pastor John” Book

The Ask Pastor John Podcast is a quiet phenomenon, now over ten years old.

In that first decade (2013–2022), host Tony Reinke produced 1,881 episodes with John Piper. At around 10 minutes per episode, that adds up to over 313 hours of content, or 2.3 million words in its edited transcribed form.

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The podcast has been played 230 million times, or about 125,000 times per episode.

Now, Tony has put together an absolutely remarkable achievement: Ask Pastor John: 750 Bible Answers to Life’s Most Important Questions (Crossway, 2024).

It’s 534 pages. You may be tempted to think it’s the podcast in printed form. (If that was the case, the book would be over 4,600 pages!).

Or you may think it’s an anthology of the best of the best episodes.

But it’s neither of those.

Tony calls it “a guided tour, a narrated synthesis of our 750 most popular episodes, mostly on situational ethics. . . . This book is a core sample of John Piper’s mind and theology. ”

He explains further:

This book doesn’t replace the podcast, it complements it as an easily browsable companion guide, a summary of our most popular episodes, particularly focused on the situational dilemmas we will face. It’s a CliffsNotes version of our most popular episodes to aid meditation, retainment, and recall.

Books can be easily stacked on shelves. Even magazines can be kept in a box or basket. But podcasts are strictly digital things—ephemeral audio files meant to stream, play, and then disappear like a soundwave in the air. But APJ was designed, from the start, to endure as a permanent audio archive.

What you hold in your hands is a guided tour—a topically arranged encyclopedia to a podcast archive. I don’t intend for that to make immediate sense, because I think this book inaugurates a new genre.

Basically, my prayer is that by making dozens of the major podcast themes browsable in print this book will make the archive more useful to you at the very moment when you need it. This book doesn’t have an index; it is the index. An index to serve you as you serve others.

Tony notes, “even though we maintain a huge digital archive—fully transcribed and searchable—many people cannot easily find those episodes when they need them.”

Tony also wants to celebrate John Piper’s investment in this podcast. (For every 10-minute episode, Piper spends about an hour in preparation.) Tony writes:

His answers are not simply the product of a concordance. John Piper is a renowned New Testament scholar, world-class preacher, and veteran pastor with over three decades of church leadership practice added to his personal experience in marriage, parenting, and grandparenting.

He watches his life and doctrine more closely than anyone else I’ve known (1 Tim. 4:16).

And he was born to answer Bible questions. He has a keen eye for the crux, skilled in rapidly pinpointing the core problem in a given dilemma, a gift I’ve seen operate in tense meetings, complex email chains, and now in hundreds of APJ responses.

While there’s always much more to say on a topic, he can isolate the main thing that needs to be said in a ten-minute episode.

His willingness to invest hundreds of hours of preparation into his responses, personal piety, earnestness, devotion to Scripture, skill in pinpointing core issues, and deep experience are the ingredients to the secret sauce of the podcast’s popularity now, and of its potential to endure for decades ahead.

Again, I’m in awe of the synthesis that Tony has produced. Perhaps you want to take that commendation with a grain of salt, given my role at Crossway. So I’ll let others seek to persuade you of the value and the achievement:

“My first thought on seeing these pages was that perhaps not since Richard Baxter penned his massive Christian Directory has a book like Ask Pastor John been offered to Christians. From the vast number of questions to which John Piper has responded over a decade of podcasting, these pages contain 750 of the most listened-to answers. And while Piper’s ministry is separated from Baxter’s by more than three centuries, a common thread binds them together—the deep-seated conviction that the God-breathed Scriptures make us ‘wise for salvation’ in the fullest sense because, in providing teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness, they are sufficient to equip us ‘for every good work’ (2 Tim. 3:15–17). The value of these pages is as evident as it is manifold. At one level, theological, pastoral, and ethical questions are assessed, analyzed, and consistently answered by bringing them to the touchstone of Scripture. But in addition, this is done with a rigorous and determined attention to both the wording and the interior logic of God’s word with a desire to help us to think God’s thoughts after him. And this in turn serves all of us as a pattern to learn and apply in our own Bible reading, and as a model that encourages us to live according to Scripture. In addition, the step-by-step care with which John Piper seeks to handle Scripture helps us—as he would wish—to discern how what he says applies in our own lives, and, indeed, where it might not. And so as a theologian he guides our understanding, and as a pastor he encourages us to grow in discernment so that we are not simply becoming automatons but are learning to think through and apply God’s word by ourselves, for ourselves, and to ourselves. We owe a debt of grateful thanks to John Piper for the labor of love and devotion of time and pastoral care this book reflects, and to his long-time colleague Tony Reinke, who—from an archive of over two million words!—has expertly selected and edited these pages. Here is one of those rare contemporary books that can be described as ‘should be in every Christian home,’ and to which we can turn again and again for guidance from God’s word, encouragement in Christ, and challenge to walk according to the Spirit.”
—Sinclair B. Ferguson, Chancellor’s Professor of Systematic Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary; author, The Whole Christ and Worthy

“I don’t know what is more remarkable, that the Ask Pastor John podcast has nearly two thousand episodes and over 230 million listens or that Tony Reinke has distilled all that content in order to give us a guided tour of 220 hours of audio recordings. Have you ever wished you could sit down with John Piper (or any wise, seasoned pastor) and ask him all your practical, nitty-gritty questions about life, ministry, parenting, sex, Bible reading, divorce, abuse, dating, gambling, eating, drinking, movies, demons, depression, poetry, and selfie sticks? Then this is the book for you. Even if you don’t agree with Piper on every jot and tittle of application, you will find that he is always thoughtful, always careful, always pastoral, and always tied to the Bible. Read the book straight through, a little each day, or use these five hundred pages as an encyclopedia on situational ethics and practical theology. Either way, I can’t imagine any Christian who wouldn’t be helped (and fascinated) by the hundreds of topics covered in this amazing resource.”
—Kevin DeYoung, Senior Pastor, Christ Covenant Church, Matthews, North Carolina; Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte

“Throw a hard question at John Piper and he will isolate the main challenge and address it with a sage answer, drawn from the Bible, delivered in a kind tone that lacks even a hint of hubris. He willingly answers all sorts of dilemmas, from hard Bible verses to the daily struggles of the Christian life to culturally charged questions that border on the embarrassing to the bizarre. For years I have been an avid listener because each episode draws me deeper into God’s word. Pastor John has spoken so wisely on such a wide array of topics that I am always ferreting through past episodes to learn more. But that vast archive can be daunting. With many years of experience as the host, Tony Reinke has pulled together the 750 most popular episodes from their first decade together into a single guide touching on dozens of themes. This book is an index to the podcast archive, drawing together multiple episodes on single topics, making it easy for me to find the audio I need, when I need it. As a podcast listener, I couldn’t be more pleased. I’m thankful to Reinke for compiling this encyclopedia and—now for over a decade—drawing out, documenting, and helping us all more richly benefit from America’s most beloved theologian!”
—Joni Eareckson Tada, Founder and CEO, Joni and Friends International Disability Center

“This book is a remarkable achievement, cataloging John Piper’s answers to hundreds of challenges and dilemmas in the Christian life. A modern-day Table Talk, reminiscent of Martin Luther, this book is like sitting across a table from a Bible-saturated pastor addressing issues that are timely and issues that are timeless. You likely won’t agree with every answer. I didn’t. But what I appreciate about this book is how, even when I disagreed, Pastor John pointed me back to the Scriptures and pressed my nose deeper into those pages where, through studying and savoring, I find the unerring words of life. I am thankful for this encyclopedia of wisdom and insight. It increases my love for God and his word.”
—Trevin Wax, Vice President of Research and Resource Development, North American Mission Board; Visiting Professor, Cedarville University; author, The Thrill of Orthodoxy; Rethink Your Self; and This Is Our Time

“For years, the Ask Pastor John podcast has served me as a go-to reservoir for pastoral encouragement and practical help. There is nothing else like it. If you’re serious about your joy in Jesus, turn these pages and find accessible, God-centered answers to life’s biggest questions. The book is brilliantly organized; few will sufficiently appreciate what Reinke has pulled off here.”
—Matt Smethurst, Lead Pastor, River City Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia; author, Before You Open Your Bible and Before You Share Your Faith

Here is the table of contents: