His relationship with Redeemer and the Fairhope community reaches back many years. He first served as pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church from 2006 to 2013. Those years were filled with preaching, teaching, worship, pastoral care, congregational growth, and lasting friendships. In 2026, after thirteen years of service at the International Center of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, Pastor Johnson accepted the call to return to Redeemer. For Pastor Johnson and his family, returning to Fairhope was more than beginning a new chapter of ministry. It was also a joyful homecoming.
From 2013 to 2026, Pastor Johnson served as Director of LCMS Disaster Response. In that role, he helped lead the church’s response to disasters throughout the United States and around the world. He worked with congregations, LCMS districts, pastors, deaconesses, volunteers, and international church partners to provide both immediate assistance and long-term care following hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, wildfires, and other catastrophes.
Those years of walking beside people during some of the most difficult moments of their lives strengthened Pastor Johnson’s commitment to the theology of the cross. The Christian Church does not offer shallow answers to suffering or promise that faithful Christians will be spared hardship. Instead, the Church proclaims Jesus Christ, who entered our suffering, carried our sins to the cross, and rose victorious from the grave. Christian hope rests not in visible success or human strength, but in the promises of the crucified and risen Christ.
Before his first call to Redeemer, Pastor Johnson served as a missionary, church planter, and theological educator in Latin America, including ministry in Guatemala and Venezuela. His work included teaching in Spanish, helping establish Lutheran congregations, and preparing church workers to proclaim the Gospel in their own communities. Those experiences gave him a lasting love for missions, evangelism, theological education, and the work of strengthening local congregations.
Pastor Johnson has also served as a chaplain in the United States Army Reserve since 2002. He currently holds the rank of lieutenant colonel and has served as a senior chaplain and division chaplain. His military service included a deployment to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Across his military ministry, he has cared for soldiers and their families through deployments, separations, grief, moral injury, vocational challenges, and the ordinary pressures of military life.
Pastor Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Vanguard University. He received both his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he also completed advanced doctoral studies in missiology. His doctoral work focused particularly on pastoral care following tragedy. He has written and edited resources concerning Christian mercy, disaster response, prayer, suffering, and the theology of the cross.
Although his ministry has included national leadership, international travel, theological education, and military service, Pastor Johnson’s heart has always remained in parish ministry. He believes a pastor should know his people, listen to them, pray with them, visit them, teach them, encourage them, and walk beside them through every season of life. He especially values Christ-centered preaching, the proper distinction between Law and Gospel, reverent Lutheran worship, faithful catechesis, strong congregational singing, and the personal care of souls.
At the center of Pastor Johnson’s ministry is the conviction that the Church lives by receiving Christ’s gifts. In the Divine Service, Christ comes among His people through His Word, Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper. The Church does not need to be sustained by gimmicks, trends, or constant reinvention. Christ remains present with His people, forgiving sinners, strengthening faith, comforting the suffering, and sending His baptized people into their daily vocations to love and serve their neighbors.
Pastor Johnson is married to Deaconess Mireya Johnson, an LCMS deaconess and theological educator. They have two sons, Miguel and Felix. The Johnson family values worship, Christian education, music, hospitality, and the shared life of the congregation.
Pastor Johnson is grateful to be back at Redeemer and in the Fairhope community. He looks forward to getting to know each member personally and to serving the congregation for many years. Whether someone needs prayer, pastoral counsel, instruction in the Christian faith, a hospital or home visit, or simply someone to listen, Pastor Johnson considers it a privilege to walk alongside the people of Redeemer with the forgiveness, peace, and hope of Jesus Christ.