In Focus

by Christopher Martin

When Ray Johnston '75 moved from Chicago to Northern California in 1992, he planned on making a career change. After eight years as a pastor and four years as a college professor, Johnston anticipated working full time as a leadership develop- ment consultant — a role that placed him in high demand as a conference and seminar speaker throughout the country. He knew this change would let him focus on the aspects of ministry that he enjoys most.

"I wanted to travel, speak, write, and train people to do ministry," Johnston said. In other words, not preach.

Ironically, preaching occupies most of his time now. In his seventh year as the senior pastor of Bayside Covenant Church in Granite Bay, California, Johnston has helped the church grow from a single meeting on Easter Sunday 1995 to a congregation of more than 5,000, complete with men's, women's, and youth ministries, radio programming, and more than 200 small-group ministries.

This passion for affecting lives in the name of Christ dates back to his early years in ministry. After graduating from the then Azusa Pacific College (APC), Johnston received a master's degree from Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, and began his professional ministry as a senior pastor in the neighboring community of Duarte.

The Duarte situation challenged Johnston's approach to ministry, as he began placing an emphasis not on entertaining students, but rather on training disciples of Christ. "If our goal is to entertain students, we will reap apathetic spectators," Johnston said. "But if we train and equip students, we will develop servants."

Two years later, Johnston accepted a youth pastor position in Marin County. "At that time, Marin County was among the most unchurched counties in the country," Johnston said. "People used to say that you could find more Christians in Moscow than in Marin County."