When Mindy Caliguire first suggested him as a speaker, my immediate response was, “Who is David Johnson?” Seriously. I had never heard of him.
Part of that is my fault for not walking in some circles I should have been. But another reason I have not heard of him is that unlike many churches of their size, Church of the Open Door has not screamed from the pinnacle of their steeple their strategies, successes, or their story.
So I dug into David’s story. He is the senior pastor at Church of the Open Door in Maple Grove, Minnesota. The church has grown from 150 people in 1980 to a mega church. But that really has not been the goal nor is it the point of David’s ministry and the church’s strategies.
Dig into their story for yourself and you will see – the church is all about helping people grow in Christ. For the past fifteen years spiritual formation has been explicitly in the crosshairs for them - as a staff, as a church body, and as individuals. Not that they have done it perfectly, but they have done it with great intentionality.
Look at their web site. What are their core values? The first value listed is this: We are a church community that seeks to know and love God–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit–and respond obediently to His leading in healing, serving and growing together in Christ’s love until Christ is formed in us individually and corporately.
Want to get connected? Here’s their philosophy: God has a place for all of us as members of a community. He wants us to belong to a community where we can know, accept and challenge each other to grow.
Looking for a small group? Here’s their vision: Groups offer a way to participate in a relational community of faith to mature and grow as a disciple of Christ.
It has not always been this way at Church of the Open Door. In the early 90’s they realized people were coming in, finding grace, but not really growing. They were not always moving toward maturity. And so they made a radical shift in their focus – at took some huge hits in the process – to become the church they are today.
My eyes are opened to why David should address the topic “Real Transformation for Real People.” I understand now why David and his church have been quietly contributing to national spiritual formation events for the better part of this decade. And I cannot wait to hear him speak at the conference this fall.
And I am thrilled that David will help group leaders with important questions. Is real growth possible? Can we be and live like Jesus in the 21st century? More importantly, can the people in my small group really grow and change? This session will help us rethink spiritual formation – what it is and what it is not – and show us why this growth is not only possible, it’s necessary.
