The Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary family mourns the passing of Dr. John Hartog II, who went to be with his Savior on August 18, 2024.
John Hartog II was born November 15, 1936, in Orange City, Iowa, to John and Gertrude Hartog. When he was a teenager he dropped out of high school, but later went on to earn multiple degrees, two of which were doctorates. It was while he was a student at Dallas Theological Seminary that he met Martha Núñez. With a grin, Dr. Hartog often told the story about the church building being locked when they arrived for the ceremony (he in his suit and she in her wedding gown), that he broke into the building by climbing a pole to the roof, and that his bride entered through a window he had opened from the inside. From that day on they were partners in ministry and in life.
Throughout his life, Dr. Hartog served the Lord in a variety of ministry positions in churches and higher education institutions. He willingly served wherever the Lord led him, which involved working at Faith from 1968-1970, 1977-1984, and 1989 until he retired from teaching in 2018. The positions he filled at Faith throughout those years include Professor of New Testament Studies and Biblical Languages, Head Librarian, Chair of the General Education Division, Director of Operations (Business Office), and Director of the Master of Arts in Religion program.
While serving at Faith, Dr. Hartog was burdened to plant a church in Grimes, Iowa. So in addition to his teaching, he began leading a home Bible study in September 1995. People in the Grimes area, along with students from Faith, were part of that Bible study that, just a few months later, began meeting for Sunday services in a local school building. In 1998, they began construction of a church building, and Dr. Hartog continued serving as the pastor of Maranatha Baptist Church in Grimes until 2005. That church has continued to grow and is currently pursuing expanding their facilities.
Dr. Hartog has also authored a number of books, including adult Sunday school material for Regular Baptist Press, Pastor And Deacons: Biblical Qualifications, Scriptural Roles, And Right Relationships, and his autobiography/memoir It’s a Crazy, Wonderful Life!: 101 Brief Accounts of the Crazy, Unusual, Happy, Strange, Delightful, Sometimes Dangerous Things that Happened on the Way to My Grave. In addition to his books, he has also authored numerous articles, many of which appeared in the Faith Pulpit publication put out by our seminary.
In one of his Faith Pulpit articles titled “Don’t Worry” that was published in February 1999, Dr. Hartog wrote that Christians “do not need to be anxious about what lies ahead because of who we are and who God is.” He encouraged Christians to not worry but “to trust in God and to do the work He calls us to fulfill.” He ended the article by saying, “We can face the future with confidence knowing that we are entering it with an all knowing, all caring, all loving God.” For Dr. Hartog, those were not just words; that was how he lived his life.
Dr. Keith Kobelia, who currently serves as the Chair of the Biblical Studies Program at FBBC, had Dr. Hartog as both a professor and a pastor. He says, “As a professor, I appreciated Dr. Hartog’s biblical knowledge, gracious spirit, and boundless energy. Dr. Hartog was one of the first people to encourage me to consider a teaching ministry. It was an honor to teach many of his classes after he retired. As my pastor, I appreciated the many opportunities and encouragement he gave me in the early days of Maranatha Baptist Church in Grimes. (He even participated in our wedding.) I am greatly indebted to Dr. Hartog’s faithful and kind ministry.”
Dr. John Hartog II was a faithful servant of God, devoted husband, and loving father and grandfather. He will be greatly missed on earth, but we rejoice that he is with his Savior. Dr. Hartog is survived by his wife, Martha, and sons John III and Paul and their families. The Hartog family covets your prayers in these days ahead.
