4 minute read
Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Steve Johnson
By Dr. Kimberly Eades
MEET DR. STEVE JOHNSON, a 1993 graduate of SNU. Steve’s path to SNU as a faculty member might seem straightforward, but in actuality it is the story of a long journey which led him back SNU.
Steve grew up in Edmond, OK not far from the SNU campus. He attended Waterloo Church of the Nazarene where his family was very involved. It was during a revival with Rev. Gary Hanes that Steve felt a call to ministry. He was 18 and had already started college, but was struggling to know what direction to go. He knew he wanted to teach but felt like a degree in Education was just not right. When he felt his call, everything clicked, and he ended up pursuing a degree in pastoral ministry.
He graduated from SNU in 1993 and went to Nazarene Theological Seminary where he earned an MDIV in 1997. While working on his graduate program, he was also serving as a pastor. It was during his time pastoring in Indiana that God revealed that He had a different plan for him. After receiving this “second” call, Steve and his family moved to Waco, TX where he served for 10 years and enrolled in Historical Theology from the University of Manchester where he would eventually earn his Ph.D.
After completing the doctoral program, Steve started doing adjunct teaching as he waited and prayed to see what his next step would be. It was during his time serving as pastor in Kansas City, that Steve realized what he had known years before, he wanted to teach. He applied and was accepted as a faculty member at SNU, and though a difficult move, he knew this was what God wanted. A culmination of a 20 year process led him right back to where it started, Southern Nazarene University and Oklahoma. As he moved into his office at SNU, it was not lost on him that he was following in the steps of many theological giants.
Although teaching is different from pastoring, one thing that hasn’t changed is his love of working with young pastors and people with calls to ministry. He stated, “I love the church. I love working with students who have a call to the church. I love theology.”
One of the ways that he has used his love of helping people with a call to ministry was by establishing Equip, a three day event at SNU during the summer where high school students with a call to ministry can be a part of learning more about what that call may mean. As Steve suggests, “(Ministry is) not just equipping senior pastors anymore. Calls to ministry are very diverse.” Today, those calls can be to open a coffee shop, start an urban farm, as well as a wide variety of pastoral positions. He wants to make sure that SNU is equipping students for whatever it is that God is calling them to do.
So as a professor in the School of Theology and Ministry department there are two goals that Steve has for his students. The first is to help students understand why theology matters. “I want our students to experience and leave with a passion for understanding that theology really does matter. That the pictures that we have in our head about who God is; the things that we believe about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and even the way we believe and practice in the church has everything to do with what kinds of theologians we are.”
The second goal is for SNU students to fall in love with the church. “The church is a beautiful place that God has created for us, to grow in grace and be nurtured. What we do in the church matters. Understanding what the church is can only be done through theology.”
