About Matt Johnson

Here’s the info that would be helpful for you to know about me…

I grew up in a small conservative town in central Illinois. I went to a conservative bible college. I married my college sweetheart. We’ve served in ministry at nearly every capacity in the church world, both paid and unpaid. I’ve preached in a single room country church and to thousands in a growing megachurch. I’ve led teams of three and teams of hundreds. I’ve got the t-shirts (LOTS of them) to prove it.

After 17 years of church work and vocational ministry, I resigned from a senior staff role at a local mega-church in early 2019.  It brought a completely unexpected sense of freedom. It also brought significant space to re-evaluate my faith, my church experience, and the American church at large. I began a yearlong-plus journey (that continues today…) of deconstructing my faith, breaking down the traditions and assumptions of religion I’d developed over the years, and striving to rebuild something healthy in it’s place.

Through it all, Jesus is becoming more and more clear, and that’s a beautiful sight to behold!

The writings on this site come from the compilation of my life captured in the two paragraphs above. It’s the overflow of experience, faith, and theology that have been birthed out of my joys and pains.

Other random information worth sharing…

I’m an enneagram 8w9.
I’m a Cubs fan.
Coffee or Bourbon is always a good choice.
I’m captured by good story telling.
My kids are awesome but I haven’t met many others I like all that much. 
I make a killer guacamole.
I may have a slight shoe issue.
Guatemala has a part of my heart.

Thanks for taking the time to learn a little more about who I am.  I hope my writing is encouraging and challenging to you as you grow along your faith journey.

-Matt