About Me – Bill Johnson:

– Pastor, Counselor, Therapist, Dreamer, Spiritual Reminderer, Aspiring Author, Traveler, Mystic,
Teacher, Speaker, Preacher, and Lover of all things spiritual – 

I have been a Youth Pastor, Senior Pastor, Psychotherapist and am currently a Chaplain at a hospital in the Twin Cities.  I’m also a mystic, a spiritual reminderer, and an anam cara – “soul friend”.  But what I love most is being a Pastor who helps people to come alive more fully in faith, love and life and to be FREE in order to live a full life now.  

Some of my favorite things:  The East Side of St. Paul.  Traveling.  British Labs.  Irreverent humor.  Classic Rock.  Playing guitar.  First Covenant Church.  Playing racquetball.  Learning.  Reading.  Poetry.  Fitness.  Hafiz.  North Park Seminary.  Running with my dog.  Cooking.  Jesus.  Naperville Covenant Church.  Watching reruns of the Simpson’s (which I think is pretty good TV.)  Talking theology.  The Spinal Tap movie.  Monticello Covenant Church.  Laughing.  Lemoncello.  Frederick Buechner.  The Covenant.  All kinds of music.  And collecting poems, quotes, stories and prayers that touch my heart – which is what this website is about – hoarding all good spiritual things that help me go deeper in life and in my faith.

Some things I think about:  Trying to be here now in my life and live all of my days – each and every one of them, before I die.  I believe that the Christian faith isn’t primarily about life after death as it is about life before death.  Some of my favorite quotes are: “I’ve had a wonderful life, I just wish I would have realized it sooner.”  “This ain’t no dress rehearsal.”  And “The glory of God is a human being fully alive.”  (You can see my whole list of over 365 of my favorite quotes here.)

By the way:  I’m known on the East Side of St. Paul as Billy and to many as “Billy White Shoes Johnson” – not necessarily because of my athletic prowess but for a Football player in the 70’s who did a funky dance after touchdowns.  On the other side of the river in the Twin Cities and everywhere else I’m simply known as Bill.  But a name of endearment is still:  “Billy.”  And to “stir the pot” I may seem be a bit too progressive for evangelicals and a bit too evangelical for progressives.