Welcome to the Pursuit, a series documenting the experiences of a Colson Fellow-in-Training as they seek to walk wisely in this time and place. Each segment will provide an insider’s look at what a prospective participant can actually expect should they choose to embark on the journey themselves.
In this segment, we sat down with Ryan Johnson, a pastor and father from Huntsville, AL. The Colson Fellows program is designed for busy men and women from all walks of life in mind. Here's a glimpse inside. Enjoy!
As told to the Colson Center Communications Staff
Where are you from? Huntsville, Alabama.
What is your occupation? I’m a Senior Pastor.
What season of life are you in? I’m in my early forties, married, and a father of seven (four biological children, two adopted children, and one foster child). When I went through the Colson Fellows program a few years ago, four of our kids were under 12. I read Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus with my 12-year-old daughter at the time. It was a wonderful way to study and connect with her.
What led to your interest in the Colson Fellows program? I listened to WORLD Magazine’s podcast, The World and Everything in It, which turned me onto Breakpoint. After completing seminary, I was already immersed in worldview formation and seeking out another educational opportunity when I found the Colson Fellows program.
What Colson Fellows cohort are you in? I participated in an online cohort in 2017-18.
How did you approach the workload for the Colson Fellows program? Do you have advice for other participants? Including the coursework in my daily reading made it manageable. I averaged about 1-2 books per month.
You have to make it a priority. As a pastor, I found the program to be both accessible and challenging in ways that I needed to be challenged. It was great in terms of consistency and application of the issues we discussed. I always wanted to be informed and supportive of my kids, both my own and my congregation’s kids. We always found the discussions to be engaging and vibrant. I don’t know why I didn’t learn some of these things in seminary.
What was your favorite book or topic to study? Amy Sherman’s book Kingdom Calling had an extraordinary impact on my life and the mobilization of my church. It taught me that it takes a whole Bible to make a whole disciple. So, I set out to preach through the whole Bible in a year to help my church live out our calling and purpose in God’s story. Because of our worldview formation, we want to become agents of restoration for God.
To that extent, my family set out to do foster care as directed in James 1, to look after widows and orphans. We got our first placement in 2020 and now have two adopted children and are looking to adopt a third child, for a total of seven kids between the ages of 1 and 19 years old. Not only that, but the worldview formation was such an encouragement to me that I went on to get my doctorate in Apologetics and Spiritual Formation. For my doctorial project, I developed worldview and apologetics training for my daughter and her group of friends as she went off to college.
Where has the Colson Fellows program most impacted you? What transformation did it bring about in your life? As a pastor, seminary may prepare you to do ministry in your local church in terms of preaching, teaching, and discipling, but I think there needs to be another level of training to teach your church to live within the world. That’s what the Colson Fellows program did for me. I was already engaged in worldview thinking and led worldview weekends. But as a pastor, I wanted to integrate that fully into our church to teach my congregation to live in the world faithfully and not just share a Gospel presentation. It’s about being able to tell a story about what God is doing in the world.
What did you do for your personal mission plan as a commissioned Colson Fellow? I wanted to rally our congregation and mobilize our church to meet the great needs around us. In just over two years, with the help of another Colson Fellow, we opened Community Care Village on 27 acres of land. It’s a network of nonprofits that includes an Independent Care Facility for older adults, a Men’s Addiction Center, Foster Care Closet, Community Garden, and more.
We need to be training the Church to embrace and leverage their gifts for the Kingdom of God. If I had never done the Colson Fellows program and read that book by Amy Sherman, the passion and momentum that I learned through the greater Gospel story wouldn’t have started within me. God has opened doors for my church that would have never been opened. All this has been in just the last two years. It’s been unreal. It really did start with the Colson Fellows program and meeting with Max Croft (another Colson Fellow). We’re getting to partner together to see God do all of this.
What would you say to someone considering the program? I couldn’t recommend this program more. I’ve led a Church Affiliate for a couple of years and still encourage people to do the program. It lit a spark for me.