Stan Johnson

Pastor · Teacher · Shepherd to Shepherds

Stan simply enjoys pastors. After four decades of study in Scripture, Reformed theology, and New Testament Greek, his present calling is to care for and encourage those who care for others — especially pastors serving in difficult or under-resourced places.

He was raised near Salinas, California — Steinbeck country — and holds degrees from UC Berkeley, Princeton Theological Seminary, the University of Notre Dame, and Louisville Theological Seminary. Over the years he has pastored congregations in California, Indiana, and Massachusetts, and has written both scholarly work and fiction, including The Great Opening and The Sent One.

Stan lives in Zionsville, Indiana, with his wife Mary. They have three grown children and seven grandchildren: Calvin, Ian, Mary, Max, Reid, Alec, and Eli.

Shepherd to Shepherds

Stan describes his calling in three words: relate, teach, write. Through one-on-one meetings, spiritual direction, and the teaching of Scripture, Shepherd to Shepherds comes alongside pastors who are often isolated, overworked, and serving with very little. Pastors who have been well shepherded, and who continue to receive care, are able to shepherd their flocks well.

Where Stan serves

Stan's primary focus is the training and encouragement of pastors in Romania and Uganda — two very different countries whose pastors share the same scarcity of resources, training, and rest.

Romania

Of roughly 19 million Romanians, only 1–2% attend weekly worship.
The legacies of the communist era leave many resistant, if not hostile, to the Gospel.
About 3% are Reformed or Protestant; their congregations are small and struggling.
Even within Europe, Romania sits near the bottom of the socio-economic ladder.
Pastors have very limited opportunities for further training and few resources in their own language.

Uganda

Northern Uganda still carries the wounds of civil war and the horror of child soldiers.
Of roughly 35 million people, 2.5 million are orphans — about 7% of the country.
Nearly half the population is under fifteen; the average laborer earns about $1 a day.
Clean water is a luxury; malaria, yellow fever, and Ebola are ever-present concerns.
Many pastors in the north are seldom compensated for their labors.

Stan has also taught in Malawi, Bangladesh, and the Philippines, and in pulpits and classrooms across the United States.

Resources

Stan's working resources are simple in form: a Scriptural passage in English, the same passage in the Nestle-Aland Greek text, inductive questions to open it up, and his own seven-hundred-fifty-word meditation. They are meant for personal devotion, teaching, preaching, or small-group study — something between an inductive Bible study, a Greek-English interlinear, and a devotional commentary.

“Twenty years ago, if I had had what Stan has placed in your hands, I would have had all I needed.”
— Prof. Julius Swinda