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Articles by Greg Johnson
Via Satellite Senior Managing Editor
Opinion Welcome to the 40th Anniversary Edition of Via Satellite where we celebrate an absolutely remarkable 40 years. It is hard to believe this magazine started in 1986 and 40 years […]
Episode 125: Friendship, Neighbor Love, and Religious Disagreement
How do friends who hold differing views of religion and faith maintain a friendship? How do friends handle central and fundamental disagreements about God and faith? On today’s episode, Tim speaks with two such friends - Andrew Reid, professor at Brigham Young University, and Greg Johnson, founder of Standing Together, a bridge-building ministry focused on LDS/Evangelical dialogues.
Episode 124: Fostering Interfaith Dialogue Between Faith-based Universities
Undergraduate students have a thirst for interfaith conversations. So this past spring professors and students from Brigham Young University traveled to Southern California to engage in meaningful conversations and build relationships with professors and students from Biola University.
We fall down, but we get up: Mental health, faith, hope, and resilience
A person walking across a field into sunlight. Photo by Warren Wong on Unsplash We fall down, but we get up: Mental health, faith, hope, and resilience Faith, resilience, mental health, and the post-resurrection experience are inextricably connected. Historically, these areas have been challenging to connect. However, today we have more insight into their application.
Mo Bailey never left a fellow veteran behind
Maurice Bailey never quit on life or other veterans. From the time he forged his father’s signature on a consent form to join the Army at age 17 until his death in 2010, Bailey was a passionate patriot and advocate for veterans of all eras. For the last two years of his life, Bailey lived every day like it could be his last following a devastating diagnosis. He had acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and his survival was estimated at 12 months on the outside.
¿Qué viene después del movimiento exgay? Lo mismo que vino antes.
«Mike, ¿sabes una cosa? Yo solía ser gay», dije. Mike dejó de mover su brocha cuando las palabras salieron torpemente de mi boca. Él estaba pintando el apartamento en la ciudad de St. Louis al que llamé hogar durante el verano de 1997 cuando inicié el programa de doctorado en Teología Histórica. Me había preguntado por mis estudios y empezamos a hablar de la fe. Mike me había explicado que sentía que nunca podría ir a la iglesia porque era gay.
The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill: Boca Raton’s Church Planting O.G.
Contrary to Mars Hill lore, Mark Driscoll didn’t plant his church alone. Though he prized the image of a solo, entrepreneurial pastor, Driscoll found early success thanks to two co-planters, a sending church, and a network of support. And three thousand miles away in Boca Raton, Florida, the concept of the Acts 29 church network was already taking shape as an offshoot of the Spanish River Church Planting Network.
The Single Person’s Catechism
I am a 38-year-old African American woman who had my first (and last) kiss days after turning 34. And I’m not alone. Over the years, friends have confided in me about the loneliness, sorrows, and doubt that plagued their singleness. By developing a catechism, I have been encouraged to meditate on God’s goodness—and his Word—throughout the happy and sad days.
In Prayer, We Are Fully Seen and Fully Known
Meg Baatz was first drawn toward God as a preteen. “I was really insecure and just full of shame and guilt, and searching for meaning,” she says, but she knew “Jesus was there just loving me exactly as I was.” Years later, while serving as a Bible study leader in a campus ministry, Baatz says her “faith and sexuality journey collided” as she became more conscious of feelings of attraction to other women.
David French and I Have Our First Argument
David French, a former attorney and political commentator, joins Russell Moore to give listeners a taste of their conversations over coffee. Moore and French share similar values when it comes to having difficult conversations without animosity. As leaders with their fingers on the pulse of American society, they discuss the Christian’s role in advocating for religious liberty. In this episode, Moore and French get to the bottom of what “David Frenchism” is.
Remembering the life of Dean Bayes 1937 - 2021
1937 - 2021 W. Dean Bayes 84 of Flatwoods passed away Thursday, October 7, 2021, at Trinity Station in Flatwoods. Dean was born February 8, 1937, in Ironton, Ohio to the late Ervin and Alka Salyer Bayes. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his loving wife Judith Adams Bayes; and two sisters Mildred Emogene (Beady) Phillips and Hermalee "Tootie" Salyers. Dean was a former employee of Johnson's Dairy, Modern Foods and Big Sandy Furniture.
Why LuLaRoe Belongs in the Faith and Work Conversation
When LuLaRoe leggings showed up in my small community a few years ago, a farmer in our church dubbed them “tight britches.” Colorful and comfortable, the style quickly became de rigueur for women and girls in our area. But the trend took off for a much simpler reason too: network marketing. Sometimes known as direct or multilevel marketing, network marketing leverages established social circles to sell directly to consumers through local representatives.
‘Developing Real Friends’ with KB Newton
Finding real friendships can be difficult and experiencing true community can feel impossible. So what does it look like to find a true friend? To be one? What does it mean to be truly known and accepted by another person? On this episode of Where Ya From?, Kristen “KB” Newton shares her story of struggling through relationships, and how that struggle led to founding HEARTConvos—an organization that helps people build authentic relationships through having hard conversations.
What Comes After the Ex-Gay Movement? The Same Thing That Came Before.
“You know, Mike, I used to be gay,” I said. Mike stopped moving his paintbrush as the words fell clumsily from my mouth. He was painting the St. Louis apartment I called home in the summer of 1997 as I began working toward my PhD in historical theology. He’d asked me about my schooling, and we got to talking about faith. Mike had explained to me how he felt he could never go to church because he was gay. “I know they say that’s not supposed to happen,” I went on, after dropping the bombshell.
The Harvest Is Plentiful, But the Workers Are Divided
Biblical scholars are like ants, carefully storing up tiny morsels for winter. Theologians are like spiders, weaving grand webs out of nothing but the stuff of their own being.” So the seminary dean remarked as I neared MDiv graduation. Little did I know that, soon enough, with advanced degrees in both New Testament and theology, my professional calling would focus on helping ants and spiders collaborate.
Where Billy Graham Is Remembered
A United States congressional committee is expected to approve the design for a Billy Graham statue this fall. The statue will stand at the Capitol in the National Statuary Hall (near founding fathers Samuel Adams and Roger Sherman), where each state legislature places two monuments to represent their achievements and ideals. Graham will stand for the best of North Carolina.
New & Noteworthy Fiction
Charis in the World of Wonders Marly Youmans (Ignatius Press) Set in Massachusetts Bay Colony during the 1690s, Charis in the World of Wonders plunges us into the mind, language, and worldview of a young woman struggling to survive yet finding grace in unexpected places. Youmans’s lush prose evokes a preindustrial, perilous, socially connected world in which the Divine has sovereign reign over outcomes both joyous and sorrowful.
Shame Is Often Toxic and Harmful. Sometimes, It’s Just What We Deserve.
As a schoolmaster at an English prep school in 1933, the poet W. H. Auden was sitting with three fellow teachers when, out of nowhere, he found himself overwhelmed by the sense that their existence somehow had infinite value. In a dramatic way, Auden was recognizing a truth that even most non-Christians affirm: Human beings possess an inherent dignity that can’t be reduced to dollars and cents. In a Christian understanding, human life has a pricelessness.
New and Noteworthy Books
Why Did Jesus Live a Perfect Life? The Necessity of Christ’s Obedience for Our Salvation Brandon D. Crowe (Baker Academic) Scripture portrays Christ as the Second Adam, whose unblemished record of righteousness undoes the curse introduced through the transgressions of the first.
It's Easter or nothing at all
God uses St. Paul to help us get all kinds of things right about faith. None of St. Paul’s teachings are more essential than what he tells us about Easter. He said: “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain.” (I Cor.
Signs of spring brings signs of hope
Winter is passing quickly. My wife and I were noticing how much longer the sun is shining these days, adding about two minutes of daylight each day since December 21 really adds up. Cardinals are shifting into their spring mating songs. Canada geese are beginning to pair up. The local skunk population has awakened to the fact that spring is soon here.
Finding a way forward when we see things differently
Part of being human is to sometimes be at odds with people around you. We see things differently. We all have our particular world views that we have inherited and are continually being shaped by the environments within which we each live. In other words, disagreeing with another person is normal and really to be expected and ought not be anything other than a good opportunity to sit down and work things out.
Accept the gift as Easter nears
There are plenty of us that have a hard time receiving a gift. We would rather do the giving than be the recipient of someone else’s generosity. Who among us, upon the opening of a gift, hasn’t said something like, “Oh, you went way overboard! You shouldn’t have given such a gift.” In almost every case that attitude is a good quality to have. But not when it comes to honest conversations about living a life of faith.
Does the Death Penalty Bring Justice for Victims and Their Families?
Last week the Trump administration carried out its 9th and 10th federal execution of 2020. On Wednesday night, the state executed a 40-year-old man, Brandon Bernard.
Refugee Ministries Hope to Rebuild Under Biden
Image: Ross D. Franklin / AP After President-elect Joe Biden reiterated his pledge to raise the refugee ceiling to 125,000, resettlement agencies are making plans to restore their efforts to “welcome the stranger.” Under the Trump administration, the refugee ceiling dropped by 80 percent, down to a record low of 15,000, and agencies drastically scaled back operations as they lost out on the funding that accompanies new refugees.
On the Front Lines, Some Pro-Life Activists Think Twice About Supporting Trump
A pro-life spokeswoman quit her job rather than endorse Donald Trump for another term in the White House. Trump has called himself the most pro-life president in history. But Stephanie Ranade Krider, executive director for Ohio Right to Life, decided she couldn’t support him and couldn’t keep working for the prominent pro-life group as it prepared to help him win re-election. She resigned June 30. The next morning, she woke up and felt like she could finally breathe again.
Celebrating freedom in the United States
Greg Johnson, Beaver Valley Lutheran Published 10:28 p.m. CT June 25, 2020 | Updated 10:32 p.m. CT June 25, 2020 Freedom needs a purpose. Freedom just for freedom’s sake, can lead to a reckless: “I can do whatever I want” raw individualism as surely as it can lead to a life of selfless charity.
Racial Healing in Charleston Meant More Than Hugs and Unity Marches
Editor’s note: Four years ago today, 21-year-old white supremacist Dylann Roof opened fire during a Wednesday evening gathering at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, a historically black congregation in Charleston, South Carolina. Nine members of the church, including its senior pastor, were killed.
And God Said to Pastors: Use More Sermon Puns and Plan More Parties
When I was a student at Regent College, I once impersonated J. I. Packer in a chapel service. I pretended he was C-3PO from Star Wars. He laughed, I laughed, people laughed. We laughed, I’d like to think, because the impression fit the man: Both J. I. and C-3PO are tall, lanky creatures, all joints and sockets. They’re both British, über-rational, uncommonly smart beings possessed of photographic memories that lead them on occasion to boast of this particular ability.
This Pastor Criticized Trump When Pence Visited His Church
Popular Southern Baptist pastor David Platt learned that President Donald Trump was on the way to his church in the middle of the service, as he prepared to take communion. When the president arrived, Platt put his arm around Trump and prayed: “We pray that he would look to you; that he would trust in you; that he would lean on you; that he would govern and make decisions in ways that are good for justice, good for righteousness, good for equity, every good path.
Sermons Alone Don’t Make You a Teaching Church
The woman was patient and gracious, but clearly concerned. “Why are we showing this movie, and why aren’t we presenting the gospel as part of the event?” This friend from our congregation was referring to what had recently become an annual tradition at our church to show the movie The Polar Express on a weekend before Christmas. Each year we welcomed hundreds of excited, pajama-clad children, their parents, and their grandparents into our auditorium for a family movie night.
The Day We Were Left Behind
1998This article is part of CT's digital archives. Subscribers have access to all current and past issues, dating back to 1956. On Sunday mornings, a great division takes place among American people as some go to church and most stay home. Those who stay home are not taking a week off; church is simply not part of their lives. As far as they are concerned, houses of worship are little more than pretty antiques, fussed over by wishful thinkers who do not know when to admit they are wrong and go home.
The Spiritual Roots of Addiction
Seth Haines was living an enviable life. A successful lawyer, family man, and elder in his church, Haines seemed to have it all. But when one of his children fell ill, he started to drink a little to numb the pain. Then he started drinking a lot. Soon his habit spiraled into a full-blown addiction. His new book, Coming Clean, is a raw account of his first 90 days of sobriety.
A Major New Study Asks: How Does Church Affect Marital Health?
Charlie and Marty Coe recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in front of a joyful crowd of family and friends, but things weren’t always so good in their marriage.
Partners in Preaching
Other than being preachers, Jennifer Morrow and Timothy Ross don't seem to have a lot in common. They minister in different contexts, different denominations. They live hundreds of miles apart. They're not even the same gender. Yet they've formed a long-term, fruitful preaching partnership. In the following piece, they describe their unlikely partnership and challenge other preachers not to do sermon prep alone.
The Contemplative Christian
It's hard to believe now, but Eugene Peterson says he used to feel like the uncontemplative pastor, caught up in the moment, fixated on the mission statement. The Sixties were a hard time for anyone to gain a footing, but starting out as a pastor near Baltimore, Peterson says he was consumed by distractions and at odds with advisors who spoke urgently of demographics, strategies, goals, and other words that don't appear in Scripture.
Why Jesus Couldn’t Do Miracles in His Hometown
Off the shores of the Philippines, a fisherman discovered a very large, misshapen pearl. It was not pretty. It looked more like an amoeba, with blobs and folds everywhere. He took the unusual find home and stowed it under his bed. When he moved ten years later, he had no use for it, so he gave it to the local tourism office. It turned out to be the world’s largest pearl, with an estimated worth of roughly $100 million.
India Is Not Protecting Its Christians
Image: Daniel Berehulak / Staff / Getty On Thursday, Indians will learn the results of their country’s massive national elections. For the past five years, the country has been governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Despite Modi’s popularity among much of the country’s Hindu population, his tenure in office has proved difficult for India’s religious minorities.
Monomaniacs for God
I ended the first essay in this series by saying that the deepest crisis of the American church, and of evangelical Christianity especially, is that we have forgotten God. I recognize that it seems absurd to say we have forgotten God when God is on our lips so much of the time. While the numbers are slightly down from previous decades, American Christians worship, pray, read their Bibles, and say in polls that religion is “very important” significantly more than do people in most other nations.
Jesus Gave Me What Boozing and Brawling Couldn’t
Six years ago—lost, broken, alone, and suicidal—I was the empty shell of a once-promising rugby player, shuffling around an exercise yard in a London prison. I was a man of extreme violence who had done seven stretches behind bars. One morning around that time, I watched a flock of birds take off from a ledge outside my cell. Right then, I knew God was real—and that he had reached down to rescue me from the pit of hell. A Ticking Time Bomb As a child, there was violence everywhere I turned.
Your Preaching Is Unique
Subscribe to Christianity Today and get 2 special issues from CT Pastors each year plus instant access to the digital archives. CT Pastors (Weekly)Each weekly CT Pastors issue equips you with the best wisdom and practical tools for church ministry. Building Church Leaders (Weekly)Each issue contains new articles and insights on leadership training, updates on what’s been added to BuildingChurchLeaders.com, and other practical help to build faithful and effective leaders in your church.
Worship God at All Times. If Necessary, Use Music.
Image: Illustration by John Hendrix To be human is to worship. That much is clear in the Scriptures (Ps. 150:6), declared in our creeds, and evident from history. But while the impulse to worship seems innate, what we mean by the word worship varies. Attempts to define it usually begin with the etymology of the English word worship, which is commonly understood to mean “to ascribe worth to” someone.
Lessons from Evangelicalism’s PR Guru
Image: Ryan Gibson I’ve spent my entire professional life at the intersection of two fields increasingly held in low esteem by much of society: public relations and Christianity. In January, nearly two years removed from cancer treatment, I announced my decision to close the PR firm that bears my name, after occupying a front-row seat for so much evangelical history.
Giving Until It Hurts
The nurse hands my husband a bag for personal belongings and a bundle that includes a hospital gown, nonskid socks, and a heavy blanket. As Mike undresses, the weightiness of the moment is almost palpable. I do not allow myself to think of our four kids still sleeping right now at my parents’ house, an hour away from us here in the University of California, San Francisco hospital surgical wing.
How Poetry Quiets the ‘Pandemonium of Blab’
If I could, I would give this review a flashing, neon title. I would aim on it a bright and roving spotlight. I would print it up like a recruitment poster, pointing finger and all, because I WANT YOU, yes you, to read this book. You’re not that interested in art? Poetry isn’t really your thing? Your stack of books to read is already too high? Make those apologies, and I will only press my point harder.
Fixing Our Privacy Settings
Image: Matt Chase Alexa is my savior. The digital voice assistant from Amazon hears me shoulder my way into the kitchen back door, arms loaded with bags and keys jangling from a pinkie. “Alexa, turn on the lights!” I command with a little desperation. Thanks, Alexa, I think as the lights blink on and I avoid a stumble with my gallon of milk. I don’t say it aloud—it’s a little crazy to thank your digital assistant, right? Plus there’s that little question of who might be listening.
Moms Who Miscarry Benefit from Going to Church, Research Shows
You may never know the woman next to you in church had a miscarriage. Pregnancy loss happens to as many as one in five pregnant women before the 12th week. Yet researchers have found the topic remains a social taboo, often considered almost a nonevent because of the lack of status accorded to a developing child in the early stages in the womb.
Of Dads and Men
Not many things can bring all of America together these days, but one thing that did was the charming video of Marc Daniels, the dad who danced onstage with his two-year-old daughter—all while holding his baby in his arms—when she got stage fright at her recital. It’s no wonder the video quickly went viral. In the midst of our current cultural confusion on the subject of masculinity, “Ballerina Dad” was the hero we needed.
Memorial Day: For What Shall We Live?
Memorial Day likely conjures up memories for all of us. Mine start from when I was too young to know what the day meant. When I was a young boy, it was a family time, a holiday from school or other obligations, and a time for picnics, multi-generational baseball games in an open field, and reunions with seldom-seen relatives. Over the years I have gained a much greater appreciation for this day and what it means.
Carrying On After Jesus Is ‘Gone’
For those following a liturgical church calendar, Pentecost is generally viewed as the climactic moment of Eastertide. In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit came with stunning fanfare on the little band of believers huddled down praying in that Upper Room. The commotion drew the attention of locals, and in one day, three thousand people came to believe in Jesus.
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