Christian or Christ-Follower?

by Gregory A. Johnson

I feel compelled to bring clarity to the confusion existing that is hindering Jesus' purpose for the church and its witness in our day. In the post-Christian culture we now live in, many are confused about being a Christian and being a  Christ-follower. There is a vast difference between the two.

There are Christians who do not follow Christ, and there are Christians who choose to follow Christ. Sadly, non-Christ-following Christians can do much damage to people inside and outside the church through their words and actions. 

In all my years of ministry, it has always been a joy to pastor Christ-following Christians. Still, I have discovered non-Christ-following Christians to be abusive in their words and actions, making it difficult, if not impossible, for the church to reach and make a difference in its community. 

How to Receive Endurance, Encouragement, and Hope

by Gregory A. Johnson

Amid this worldwide pandemic, please know that God’s promises given to you in Scripture are true and everlasting. Trusting His Word will get us through every day. You can count on it!

Please allow me to share a short devotion with you that I have written and feel led to share with you:

HOW TO RECEIVE ENDURANCE, ENCOURAGEMENT, AND HOPE 

We live at a time when many exist in a seemingly endless state of hopelessness. The news is filled with stories of wars and rumors of wars, terrorism, anarchy, famine, drought, unemployment, economic recession, depression, disease, sickness, and an epidemic of both financial and spiritual bankruptcy. Uncertainty abounds.

In over the thirty years I have served in the ministry, I have noticed a rapid decline in the hunger for Scripture. Many go to church, but few read, study, and memorize the Bible. Some only receive bless-me-and-make-me-feel-good sermons on Sundays that may encourage them for a brief season, but such light teaching does not build endurance. When a crisis hits, they lose hope.

Racism and Hate Are Antichrist

by Gregory A. Johnson

Racism and hatred are alive and well, but not for those who are citizens of the Kingdom. No, you see, the citizens of the Kingdom love God with everything they have, and they love other people as they love themselves. They are willing to give their life for others as Christ did. They are willing to go to jail protesting unjust laws that do not treat people equally, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did.

What would Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. say to us today? I think that he would say to us the same things he said in his day. Listen to what he had to say:

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction of evil—hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars—must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation (King 1963).

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true (King 1963).

How God Prepares Us for Service

by Gregory A. Johnson

We are ALL called to serve God by following Jesus and making a difference in our day for Him. Many confuse attending church with answering that call. Please know that attending church is not fully following Christ, although many who follow Christ attend church. Church will not make us a Christ-follower. To be willing and ready to follow Christ, we have to recognize who He is and what we are not. He is holy; we are not. As we recognize who Jesus is and what we are not, we realize that He must do a work in our lives in order for us to follow and serve Him.

Isaiah had a fresh revelation of God and His holiness that revealed to him his unholy state (Isaiah 6:1-8). Recognizing that God needed to do a work in him before he could serve God, Isaiah cried out, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5). God answered Isaiah’s cry for help and sent seraphim from His very presence to cleanse Isaiah. After God cleansed Isaiah, he was willing and ready to go and do whatever God required, in total obedience and service to the Almighty.

The Kingdom Revealed

by Gregory A. Johnson

What is the Kingdom of God? What does building the Kingdom mean? How does one work in the Kingdom? If you were asked those questions today, how would you answer?

I'm sure that some people would answer that the church is the Kingdom, and building the Kingdom involves growing church attendance and membership. Many would define working in the Kingdom as volunteering expendable time to church activity, mostly taking place within the walls of a building and the confines of a service. Those answers may involve good things to do, but is all of that correct?

True Leadership from the Greatest Leader

by Gregory A. Johnson

Books abound on the subject of leadership. Volumes have been written. Seminars, lectures, and course studies are everywhere, including the church.

Everyone wants to be a great leader, whether it is in the home, workplace, schoolhouse, marketplace, or church house. People look for success in current leaders and in leaders throughout history, yet there seems to be a huge vacuum of true leadership today. Where in the world are all the true leaders?

Gender Equality

by Gregory A. Johnson

In Jesus' day and the days of the early Pauline church, women were not recognized or treated much better than animals. There are still parts of this world where women are not allowed to get an education, vote, or even drive a car.

The apostle Paul taught that women were to be silent in the church and could not hold some leadership positions. In the early Pauline church, women would sit on one side of the church and men on the other. I love the apostle Paul, and I believe his writings are inspired of God. He is one of my heroes of the faith, but I must take my understanding of his teachings within the boundaries of the teachings and actions of Jesus. If I do that, I can properly interpret the Scriptures. If I don't do that, my theology will become unbalanced and the result will not look like the Kingdom according to Jesus.

A Glorious Church Service

by Gregory A. Johnson

Church in a renovated carriage house

Instead of the church in Mississippi, God led us to pastor a group of folk in central Kentucky. We were so happy to find the will of God and move from West Virginia to Kentucky to pastor. The church there did not have a lot of people, it didn't have a parsonage, and it was not debt-free like the church in Mississippi, but God called us there, and they were fine people. They had church in an old carriage house on the property of an old southern mansion that sat on a hill overlooking the city. The mansion had burned down, but the church bought the ten acres and renovated the old carriage house to have church in until they could afford to build a sanctuary on the property.

The property had history. The old two-level carriage house still had iron jail bars on the windows of the basement. It was where slaves were housed at night during the terrible days of slavery in America, when African Americans were treated, valued, and traded as animals. The slaves would work long, hard days on the property farming tobacco and taking care of the livestock. At night they would be locked in the dark, damp, and musty smelling basement with the horses and carriages housed comfortably in the nicer level above them.

The Most Segregated Day of the Week

by Gregory A. Johnson

A great display of racial segregation can still be found in America, and it's in an unlikely place—the church on Sunday mornings. Sunday is the most segregated day of the week. Here in America, we have churches for every race—African American, European American, Native American, Latino, Japanese, Korean, Hmong, Chinese, etc. I understand the language and cultural barriers that exist, but should our churches not have representatives from all races within the community that they reside?

In 1996, I received a call from a church board in Mississippi and was invited to come to speak on a Sunday morning as a candidate for a vacant senior pastor position. Becky, our two young children, and I traveled to Mississippi to spend a weekend meeting with the board, speaking to the church, and seeking the will of God. We were put up in the nicely furnished and fairly new parsonage that was adjacent to the large debt-free church, which sat on a nice piece of property.

Females Preach the First Easter Sunday Message

by Gregory A. Johnson

The most important day on the Christian calendar is Easter. The most important day of the Christian week is Sunday. Jesus died on Friday evening, and He was buried in a borrowed tomb before the start of the Jewish Sabbath at sunset. On that Sunday morning, Jesus arose triumphant over death, hell, and the grave. Easter Sunday is celebrated once per year, but on every Sunday Christian churches meet around the world to celebrate an empty tomb. He has risen!

All day Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, the women mourned the loss of Jesus. They went to bed that night in sorrow, not realizing that the next morning joy would replace it.

At dawn on Sunday morning, the women went to the tomb to minister to the body of Jesus. After seeing Jesus die a horrible and violent death, they were still fearful, but their loyalty to Jesus got them up that morning. They were determined to go to the tomb where they had seen Jesus' body placed. Their main concern that morning was how they were going to move the heavy stone, so that they could spread spices on the body; they would have no help from the men. The men were hiding while being full of fear and sorrow.

The Kingdom According to Jesus Book Trailer

There is Hope in a Prison of Despair

by Gregory A. Johnson


There are two words that, when used together, form an imperative that is easier said than done. It seems to be automatic when times are good, and all is going well in one’s life. It’s more difficult when the walls of security and well-being are crumbling around you, despair setting in like a cold-damp fog on a pitch-dark night, holding you captive in its harrowing prison. The two words: Trust God.

He was a giant in the faith, planting churches in cities where the Gospel of Christ was fresh and new. His relationship with Christ was intense, strong, and personal. He walked with Christ, followed Christ, and continued the point-of-need ministry of Christ. His prayers were both fervent and effectual. He preached with power and anointing; miracles oftentimes confirming the message of Christ.

Victoriously, he came through physical and spiritual attacks alongside hunger, abandonment, illness, imprisonment, and poverty. Nevertheless, while on a missionary trip in Asia, discouragement and depression led him to despair life itself. He was mentally weakened and fragile, welcoming dying instead of living. With all desire and ambition gone, death seemed to be the remedy.

Close Your Church Office on Martin Luther King Day!

by Gregory A. Johnson

The senior pastor walks into the room to conduct yet another weekly staff meeting that amounts to the same questions being asked week after week; they were just worded in different ways. The basis of the questions is this: What can we do to get more people to attend our weekly service.

Many of the staff grow tired of these questions and the staff meetings. Dreading to attend, and trying to find ways to avoid them, the staff often made light of the meetings in private. It is very obvious to those close to him that the only thing driving the senior pastor is numbers; he doesn't have a heart for people. It is all about the attendance numbers he reports to the denomination's headquarters. This is how he measures the success of himself, his staff, and the church.