Ep 886 ｜ Donor-Conceived, Lesbian-Raised & Born Again ｜ Guest： Ross Johnston
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
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Summary
Ross Johnston was conceived via artificial insemination in 1994, was raised in a lesbian household, and then at the age of 16, he became a Christian and everything changed. Now he s on a mission to share the gospel with as many people as possible, not just in the country, but specifically in the state of California. Today he s here to tell us his story, how God finally satisfied the longing that he had for a dad, and why he cares so much about saving California through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Transcript
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Ross Johnston was conceived via artificial insemination in 1994, was raised in a lesbian secular household, and then at the age of 16, he became a Christian and everything changed.
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Now he's on a mission to share the gospel with as many people as possible, not just in the country, but specifically in the state of California.
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Today he's here to tell us his story, how God finally satisfied the longing that he had for a dad, and why he cares so much about saving California through the power of the Holy Spirit.
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This episode is brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers. Go to goodranchers.com. Use promo code ALI at checkout. That's goodranchers.com, code ALI.
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Ross, thanks so much for joining us. First, can you tell us who you are and what you do?
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Yeah, so my name is Ross Johnston. I'm currently living in SoCal, everybody's favorite place to be.
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And what I do right now is actually co-lead a ministry called California Will Be Saved.
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And so what we do is, if you can imagine the most influential cities in California, we take a full sound system.
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We do live worship, live music, preach the gospel, and then we baptize people right there on the ocean and plug them into local churches.
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So that's what I'm doing full time at the moment.
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Okay, we got to back up then. We got to back up to hear how you came to do what you do now.
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Tell us about the household that you were raised in. Were you raised in this kind of revivalist Christian home?
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Yeah, it honestly starts from day one because I was born by artificial insemination.
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And the reason why I was born that way is my mom was and is living in a lesbian lifestyle.
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And so I grew up in a two-mom household. That was quote-unquote normal for me.
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And so my whole life, as I was from zero to 16 years old, every time we had a friend over or we had a party or birthday party, whatever the case may be,
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it was typically somebody from that community. And so it's a very interesting backdrop because I definitely was not raised in a revival or Christian atmosphere.
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Yet God pursued me. He found me. He saved me. And so here I am today.
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Okay, let's dig into the details of that. We talk about that a lot on this show, just the formation of the family,
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but also the reproductive industry, something like sperm donation.
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And what was the first moment that you realized, oh, my family's a little different, that I've got two moms and my friends seem to have a dad.
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Yeah, well, honestly, it wasn't too different to me because it was how I was raised.
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But then as I got older and started thinking, started asking questions and came to the Lord at 16 years old,
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I was like, okay, I actually have to figure out like, what is different about my life?
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Why do I have two moms as opposed to most people who I see have a one mom, one father?
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So it really wasn't until you were about 16 that you started really even thinking about that.
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Because you said that a lot of people that came to your house, they were homosexual themselves.
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Yeah, it was kind of normal. Like there wasn't really any questions to be asked because I didn't even know what questions to ask.
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Right. But then when you give your life to Jesus and you start learning about him and the Holy Spirit enters into your heart and you're like, wow, this is not the language I like to say.
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This is not the design of God. This is not how God created the family to operate.
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And so when I started having that revelation, I was like, wow, there is something different about my upbringing than many other people.
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And so that's what led me to start asking questions like, well, mom, like, tell me more about our family.
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You know, tell me more about, do you know my dad?
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And as those questions start to kind of come to the surface, you start figuring out really quickly, okay, this is a much different story than maybe I even knew was possible or existed.
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So you don't remember when you're five or six years old ever having those questions or ever aching for a dad?
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Or was it just like, this is just what my life is?
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And you never even questioned it until you were a teenager.
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So that's a really great question because though it was normal for me or what was normal to me, inside of me was a different story, right?
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Because on the outside, it's like, okay, this is where I'm growing up.
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But inside, I'm like, I didn't know what the language was or what the expression was, but I was longing, like you said, for a father.
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I was longing for somebody who would provide, who would protect.
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But once again, when the woman's role is trying to step into the man's role, there's going to be differences there.
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There's going to be what I would say almost really challenging areas that my mom couldn't fulfill, even though she tried her best.
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And so deep down in my heart, as I got older, especially when I came to the Lord, I was like, wow, that's why I felt lonely.
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That's why I felt hopeless because I never had a true father who actually was able to father me as I was being raised up.
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And tell us then, well, first, before I actually ask about your conversion or your coming to the Lord, what kind of religious environment were you raised in with two moms?
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So I actually had never been to church my entire life.
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I mean, I had, I like to say like this, I had zero grid for Jesus.
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So when I first went to church, like everything was completely brand new to me.
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Do you remember your mom's having any like animosity towards religion or Christianity or no?
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You know, it's honestly a really interesting story because when I was, so from the time I was zero to 16 years old, my mom was with a certain partner.
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And in that timeframe, that partner of hers would actually, she would say the name of Jesus or, you know, mention church or things like that.
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But there was no, what I would say, personal engagement of our hearts towards the Lord.
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And so it's almost like I had this like little voice, tiny, small voice of somebody who wasn't necessarily walking with the Lord, but still using his name.
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And so then when I came to the Lord, it like shifted my whole perspective because I said, whoa, this Jesus that I at least heard the name of, now I actually know who he is.
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And that's what really shifted everything in my life.
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So I noticed that you say mom, you don't say moms, the two women that you were raised by zero to 16.
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Do you consider the woman who laughed at 16, your, your mom too?
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And, you know, even before I was a Christian and the reason why I use this specific language is because it's so important for people to understand.
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We're not just talking about like one person's life, especially when we see our culture now and how there's, this is running through our entire nation.
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And I like to say, Hey, if you don't walk in the design of God, you can't walk in the blessing of God.
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Well, we're only created to have one mom when we're here on the earth.
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And so I never called her mom, even before I knew the Lord, because that was not the design of God.
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Maybe I can try to make it into something it's not.
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But for me, my whole experience, I've always called my biological mom, mom.
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And she never pushed you to call her partner mom, too.
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I never recall my mom ever trying to, you know, and I've actually had that.
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And I was like, man, I can't remember a time where my mom was like, Hey, you must call her mom.
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But I do know that my mom, she was really gracious to me growing up and she really cared for me well.
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And so I think she was like, Hey, I'm not going to force my son to do something if he doesn't want to do it.
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And I'm honestly really grateful that my mom at least had the ability to like say, Hey, I want to give you grace.
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I'm going to make you're going to you're allowed to kind of choose what you want to do in this situation,
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even though she was living in a specific lifestyle.
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It's interesting kind of what you said about God writing his design on all of our hearts naturally,
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that even your mom, even though she was living outside of God's design,
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it's like she knew that the natural and right thing was for a child to have one mom.
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And I think I want, I don't know if it's rare, but I do think, as you said, it's good that she didn't force that on you.
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She didn't force at least that confusion on you to say, no, you have two moms, even though that's a biological impossibility.
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And so, yeah, I wonder if that kind of allowed you or set you up for greater clarity later on,
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because she didn't force that confusion on you early.
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Well, one thing that I've really found, you know, especially if we look in the last 10 or 20 years of our culture,
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it seems like this LGBTQ agenda, it's really coming to the surface.
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There's always people that have lived that lifestyle, but it seems to be more prevalent.
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Whereas with my mom, she never actually forced it upon me, which is really like,
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she never forced me in the sense of like, hey, you must believe this.
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Now, obviously, when I became a Christian, there's some conversations we had to have.
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And I was so new in the faith that I really didn't know what to say.
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You know, his word says that this is not the lifestyle of a believer.
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But the amazing thing is, is even till this day, my mom and I, we engage in conversation.
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but I'm believing that you would personally engage with Jesus in your heart.
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And when her partner left when you were 16, so this is around the time that you became a Christian.
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Even though you didn't consider her a mom, I imagine that that was a hurtful shift in your life
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Yeah, it was a really challenging week because in that week when they were splitting up,
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obviously before any relationship splits up, there's going to be tension
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and there's going to be just strife in the house.
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And as a kid, you can discern that whether you know it or not.
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Then add on top of that, it's my first time ever going to church.
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I walk into the church building and for the first time in my life,
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And so I go home, I have this tension kind of happening at the house,
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which seems for a 15, 16 year old, it's really challenging.
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And so it was like these two worlds, these two tensions kind of colliding in that week.
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And so it was a really challenging moment because as much as I love my mom,
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Hey, do you want to come to church with me and my grandma?
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I was actually genuinely curious, but I was sitting back there and the worship was playing.
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Like I said, this is the first time I'd ever heard live worship music.
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So as soon as I heard live worship music and I, and like I said, at the time, I didn't
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know what this was, but it was the presence of God.
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Yeah, that was kind of, that was like my original reaction as my friend actually asked me, she
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I said, I'm not really sure what I think, but I know what I feel and I feel full of hope.
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So I go home that night and you know, anytime you go to Sunday service, for the most part,
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the pastor gives what we would call an altar call.
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And the pastor says, Hey, you know, do you want to give your life to Jesus?
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So I go home that night and I'm thinking, if I'm going to give my life to something, this needs
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You know, I don't want to just be a good person who reads a good book and goes to a good church.
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Like God, if you really are real, like this pastor said, Jesus, if you are the Messiah,
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And sure enough, day after day in my room, I would just sense the presence of God over
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So do you remember in those first church services, hearing the gospel?
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Like, do you have like tangible memories of that?
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Like I can't remember, like, you know, some people, they have these crazy encounters of
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They have these moments that are like, Whoa, like I really, I heard my name or this or something.
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And for the first time, I actually felt that I had language for that through the gospel.
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And so the gospel was the language for what my heart was longing for my entire life.
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And so when I heard it, when I sensed it, when I felt it, I was like, this is it right
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So it was an affirmation of what you already knew that you needed, but you couldn't yet
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So the message that you were a sinner bound for hell, that I think sometimes is an impediment
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for people who don't think that they need a savior or who think that they're generally
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For someone like you who didn't have that kind of theological background, I imagine that
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you weren't taught, hey, you're a sinner in need of a savior growing up.
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And were you kind of like, yeah, I already know I'm messed up.
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Well, like I said, growing up, I always felt this sense of like nobody actually knew me,
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Even though my mom was, she cared for me and she took care of me in my soul, in my heart,
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It was what I would like to call like an orphan spirit, right?
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Or I remember specifically when I would go to friends' houses, we had enough food on the
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We had a house, we had everything we needed, but I'd always try to eat as much as I could,
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Or I'd always try to make sure that I took care of Ross first, get as much as I could
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And so when I heard the gospel, it confronted that orphan spirit that no, you're not alone.
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And not only do you have a father, he cares about you.
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He wants to provide for you and he wants to protect you.
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So it was almost like the gospel, though sin is obviously a critical component of the gospel
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and understanding that we are separated from God.
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It was like, I was so overjoyed to know that there's actually a God and I have a father that
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Like I was just all in because for the first time in my life, I actually had that heart
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Isn't it interesting that you lacked a sense of belonging, even though you did have a home,
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you were not an orphan, you had a mother who loved you, and yet you still kind of felt
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like you were just wading through the world, right?
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Without any direction and without someone who was really intently watching over you.
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I even remember, this is going to sound funny, but it'll make sense.
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The first person, like the first girlfriend I ever had in high school, when we broke up,
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And I know most people have had that story, but the reason why-
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What, like secondhand serenade or something like that?
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I don't know if we're the same age, but that's what we would have listened to, emo songs like
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But I remember the reason why that story comes to mind is because I was trying so hard to
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I was trying so hard to connect with like an emotion, right?
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It was the fact that I was longing for a deep heart connection.
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And so it's a funny story, but it proves the fact of like, hey, when we don't walk once
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again, in that design of God, when we don't know our father and we don't have a natural
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father in our life, who's there for us, our hearts ache.
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And until we find the language of Jesus, of the gospel, man, we're just going to kind of
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be on this, like, we're going to live this life with such a tainted view.
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And we're just going to make decisions that just lead us deeper and deeper into that hole.
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So for every Christian who is converted from unbelief to belief, there is a sanctification
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So we don't understand everything that God has for us or everything that God reveals in
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But there's a lot of things that we still have to work out.
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Now, I imagine, just knowing your background, that one of the most difficult things was
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Now, you had that inherent sense of, okay, something's off.
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But for these people, this mother that you've loved to hear, this is not God's design, what
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Well, when I first got saved, I really didn't even have that language, right?
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So I don't even remember what I told my mom, to be honest.
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But as I've gotten older, you know, she sees my content.
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I'm very upfront in my content and I honor my mom, right?
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I'm so grateful and thankful for everything you've done for me.
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However, when you only have a mom, you can't do everything that God designed because you
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And so for me, where I'm at right now is I'm like, Lord, you, in our culture, we have
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And the thing that I really struggled with the most was actually not the marriage component.
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It was a component of sexual confusion and even addiction.
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Because when you're around that spirit, there's different expressions, right?
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We see all these different expressions, but it's the same spirit behind it all.
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And so for me, that was actually my biggest struggle was I was like, okay, I'm not struggling
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personally with being attracted to men, but I am struggling in this area of lust.
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And so for me, that was a challenge that I really had to overcome when I became a believer.
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Now that you are able to look back in retrospect, you're able to kind of put words to the longing
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and the orphan spirit that you said that you had.
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Do you now see some examples of the consequences of not having a father growing up before you
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Like the lack of even just like a masculine presence.
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Like what are some of those things that you see now looking back?
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I mean, it's going to sound funny, but it's just the reality.
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Like I, in high school, I had no clue how to approach a woman.
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Like if I was interested in, like I had no clue because I never had a father to say, Hey,
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Hey, if you're feeling this, there's one way to do it.
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So for so long in my life, I listened to culture, whatever music said, whatever the movie said,
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Oh, that is what it actually means to pursue a woman.
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Oh, that's what it actually means to be successful.
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And then once again, when you come to the Lord and the Holy spirit comes in you, you're
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confronted because everything you thought was truth is no longer truth.
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And so that was one of the biggest things I remember.
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Like I, it's like, I had a light bulb moment, like, Whoa, everything that I put my hope,
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my trust, my faith in is actually not the truth.
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And so that's been one of the, one of those things where I was like, wow, this is, this
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is truly what God has called me into is to stand and confront these issues of our day
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and say, Hey, you might be feeling a certain way.
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You might have a certain experience, but here's the truth that God has for you.
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What's your response to the prevailing message of the day?
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There'll even be some YouTube comments saying, um, you know what?
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You shouldn't try to change your mom or it's totally, it's totally acceptable to be a so-called
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Um, you understand where that person is coming from and why it's very personal for a lot of
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I mean, on a practical level, if we look at thousands of years of the church, we know deep
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We know deep down, like, God, this is what your word says.
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And this is what's been practiced for thousands of years by the church.
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So anytime there's a Christian or somebody who would profess being a believer who is
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okay with gay marriage or living in a lesbian lifestyle, it's like, I want to actually have
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a real conversation with you because that expression is probably not the root issue.
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There's a moment, something that somebody has said, whatever the case may be.
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So my heart is like, do you actually want to have a real conversation with me?
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Or do you just want to toss names and words back and forth?
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I'm not interested in getting in emotional debates with you.
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Because when you have the real conversations and the real questions, you can't lie or you
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And so any person that's in one of those boats, I'm like, let's have a real conversation.
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Let's see what Holy Spirit wants to reveal to us and let's have a real conversation.
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Yeah, that's really good because it does come back to like a very fundamental understanding
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When we have the conversations about like, you know, proper sexuality, holy sexuality and
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gender, things like that, that have turned into these political topics, which are really
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I think it's important to go back to what does that person believe about God?
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Because before we can talk about homosexuality, before we can talk about Romans 1, 1 Corinthians
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6, Genesis 1, all these passages, do you believe that God is good?
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Do you believe that he made all of this and therefore like can define things how he wants
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Do you believe that he knows what is best for you?
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And then do you believe that he has revealed those things through his word?
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Rather than debating these other issues, we're really debating, who do you think is in charge?
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Well, because Paul said, right, if you don't have the Holy Spirit, you can't understand spiritual
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So that doesn't mean we don't quote the word of God.
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But what it means is we need to actually talk about life experiences.
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We need to talk about what do you believe about creation?
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We need to actually talk about these things because it's so easy just to throw your opinion
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or whatever you may believe in one box and you never actually have to engage on the heart
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What was your experience as a child growing up?
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Because when we actually talk about your actual life, it goes from me just saying, this is
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my opinion to, uh-oh, I have to actually confront what's in my actual heart and what I believe
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And once you've established with someone, if someone says, yes, I believe God is good,
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loving, authoritative, and that his word is inerrant, then you can go from there.
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And God is so gracious, I think, to give us the privilege of clarity that the world doesn't
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The world is waiting in chaos and confusion, and God is not a God of confusion or chaos.
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And he's made these very contentious and hot-button topics so clear for the Christian
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that it's actually a privilege that we get to look at Genesis 127, that we are made male
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Like, I don't have to wade into all of these very confusing thought exercises about gender
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bending and things like that, because God has given us the gift of clarity in his word.
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I think sometimes people see God's word as like a burden that they have to carry, that
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they have to apologize for, or take God off the hook for the culture.
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And I even want to call the church higher too, right?
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It's like, yeah, we're the church of Jesus Christ.
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We are supposed to be the most loving, but at the same time, share the truth.
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And so many times we want to settle for one or the other, like all truth, all truth, all
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And if you don't feel loved by somebody, you're probably not going to have a conversation
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And so that's what I want to see take place is like, hey, we can have our beliefs and our
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thoughts, but are we willing to actually come together, have conversation, love one another,
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First John 4, 8, God is love, but I like to say, but you cannot out love God.
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And so I think a lot of people by apologizing for God's word or pretending that God didn't
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have anything to say about sexuality or about gender, they actually think that they are more
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loving or more compassionate or more empathetic than God is.
00:25:43.120
Because if God is love and he said what he said in Romans 1, he said what he said in 1 Corinthians
00:25:48.980
6, he said what he said in Genesis 1, therefore, all of those things are loving.
00:25:54.480
He can't say something that is not loving or do something that is not loving because he
00:25:59.540
We're not told that we are love, but he is love.
00:26:01.800
Therefore, the most loving thing we can always do is agree with him.
00:26:07.440
That's difficult for all of us, you know, in relationships in different ways, or even just
00:26:12.080
You know, it can be difficult, but it's also a comfort to know, okay, if God says something
00:26:16.340
that it is the most loving thing that I can say to you.
00:26:18.740
Well, if we're Christians and we say we believe what we believe and there's a real eternity,
00:26:23.440
how can, if, if I actually say I love you, but I don't even give you an opportunity to
00:26:28.300
enter into eternity with God, do I actually love you?
00:26:36.700
But then I'm scared to go into these hard topics because I'm afraid of a relational
00:26:48.560
I can't be so focused on what's in front of me.
00:26:51.100
Paul said, what we see now won't last forever, but what we don't see will last forever.
00:26:56.020
So if I truly love you and I truly care about you, I have to share the truth with you.
00:27:00.800
Not because I want to hit you on the head and make you feel horrible.
00:27:04.440
I want to give you an opportunity to say, listen, here is the real Jesus, the real Jesus.
00:27:11.040
Not only will he do X, Y, and Z for you because he's good, but he wants you to know him.
00:27:15.740
You know, God's greatest desire is not what we can do for him.
00:27:20.200
And so many people, they come from this perspective.
00:27:23.640
Like, well, yes, if you love somebody, you do something for them, but his greatest desire
00:27:29.780
He wants your heart to be filled with his love.
00:27:31.600
He wants you to walk in peace, walk in joy, walk in hope.
00:27:35.240
But if nobody, aka the church, if we don't give people an opportunity and explain that
00:27:42.300
Unless somebody goes, how are they going to know?
00:27:44.340
Unless somebody speaks, how are they going to hear?
00:27:46.340
So that's our privilege, like you said, and our opportunity as a church.
00:27:50.100
And obviously, you feel a love in multiple different ways for your mom that you don't
00:28:11.320
You love her as someone who wants her to be saved, just as you love everyone that you
00:28:21.480
You've referenced it a couple of times about the conversations that you've had with her.
00:28:26.900
It sounds like you still have a good relationship, even though you believe the things that you
00:28:32.080
do, not just about God, but about her state and about who she believes that she is on a
00:28:41.660
So it's really funny because just over a year ago, before I got into full-time ministry,
00:28:45.740
I was working for a social media marketing agency, making really good money, right?
00:28:50.260
And the Lord said, hey, if you want to pioneer a movement, you're going to have to resign.
00:28:54.900
So when you go from pretty good money to zero, it's a big situation.
00:28:58.560
And the reason why I'm sharing this is because my mom was one of the first people to say,
00:29:05.560
Travel America full-time, share the gospel, equip the church.
00:29:09.340
It's not like I'm just like, yeah, mom, I'm just kind of like speaking here and there.
00:29:13.280
Number two, she'll call me from time to time and she'll say, man, I watch one of your videos
00:29:23.220
So she knows, she knows that the Lord is working on her heart and she knows, that's why
00:29:28.700
she won't come to one of my gatherings because she knows she'll get saved.
00:29:33.120
She's like scared of what the Holy Spirit is already starting to stir in her.
00:29:37.820
So our relationship is actually really good, which I know unfortunately is not the case
00:29:42.500
Maybe they're in my situation or my beau, but I think that's what happens when you're genuine
00:29:46.840
with somebody, even if they disagree with you, if you're genuine, you share the truth
00:29:53.420
There will always be the, what I like to call the crazy people who just say, I'm not going
00:29:59.740
Most people, they'll have a conversation with you.
00:30:05.260
She sees my life, but not only does she see my life, she sees the fruit of my life.
00:30:09.620
Because if I'm going to call somebody into the reality of who Jesus is, but I'm not
00:30:13.200
bearing fruit in my life, it's going to be a little challenging.
00:30:16.760
And so I think all those components together have really allowed my mom and I's relationship
00:30:20.920
to be on a healthy level while we share, while I share truth with her.
00:30:27.080
I know you can't speak for your brother, but is he kind of in the same position that
00:30:32.320
Like, has he realized a lot of the same things that you have?
00:30:34.840
So I'm actually the only Christian in my family.
00:30:37.380
It's a really unique story because my mom, my mom never knew her father, my grandma, right?
00:30:46.460
And so all the only family that I have is literally my mom, my brother.
00:30:51.440
My mom has a few siblings, but I've only seen him once or twice.
00:30:54.020
Now I share all this because I think really what we're getting into is the even bigger
00:30:58.080
picture, which is, like I said earlier, we have a fatherlessness crisis.
00:31:03.320
We have a lack of fathers and there's three ways to look at this, right?
00:31:06.760
Number one, you actually didn't have a natural father.
00:31:09.580
Number two, you did have a father, but he didn't know the Lord or didn't represent the
00:31:14.080
Or three, you have a misrepresentation of the father.
00:31:17.540
So if you have any of those happening in your life, it's really easy to end up in a situation
00:31:22.380
Praise God that I met the Lord and now I have the Holy Spirit, but all those things
00:31:26.920
I believe are the bigger issue and we're seeing it confronted on a cultural level.
00:31:31.780
Do you still long to know who your biological father is?
00:31:40.280
I know most people go, don't you want to meet him and see him?
00:31:44.280
And I think one of the reasons why is this is going to sound like a really cheesy line,
00:31:48.580
but I'm learning that the cheesy lines are usually the most true lines, right?
00:31:51.860
When I met the father, he became my father and he fathered me from 16 years old till
00:32:02.160
He's taught me what it means one day to lead a family, right?
00:32:04.920
So as soon as you meet the father, all of a sudden you actually get to learn from the
00:32:12.140
You get to meet, you get to learn from God himself.
00:32:13.980
And so in regards to the question, I've never really had this longing.
00:32:18.140
Like if it was to happen or if he's somehow watching this, of course I'd meet him.
00:32:30.980
But there's nothing in me that's like, man, I absolutely, this is like a life mission
00:32:37.520
Did you have mentors when you became a Christian and afterward in the church of older men who
00:32:42.980
kind of took you under their wing and helped support you?
00:32:46.620
I remember when I first got saved, cause keep, like I said, it was such a different world for
00:32:51.940
Like it was going from, you know, literally darkness into light.
00:32:54.920
And so there was a guy by the name of Chris and he became such a spiritual father to me
00:33:01.860
I remember him sometimes taking me home to church, you know, grabbing food for me and
00:33:05.540
letting me spend, letting me spend the night at his house once or twice a week or whatever
00:33:09.120
And even now in my life, I actually have two or three men who are much older than me, who
00:33:14.040
I always go to for life things and spiritual matters because it's so important to have people
00:33:21.160
But especially when you come from a background like me, where you don't, you never had a
00:33:25.320
natural father, there still is that craving and that desire to say, man, I wish I could
00:33:30.880
just sometimes, you know, lay on my father's chest, right?
00:33:33.540
Or I wish sometimes I can just, he can just hug me.
00:33:36.240
Or I wish sometimes he could just listen to me, right?
00:33:42.240
We, we want someone in right here next to us to be able to comfort us in different moments
00:33:46.800
So there is a desire for that, but it's not, it's not the desire for like the guy
00:33:52.040
who actually, you know, donated his sperm and my mom was inseminated by, right?
00:33:57.420
And you will, you know, by the grace of God and according to the will of God, be a father
00:34:08.620
And so as you think about the future of fatherhood and knowing that you didn't have a natural
00:34:13.920
example for that, like, what are your thoughts surrounding that?
00:34:19.000
Are you just super excited to be able to, I mean, you're, you would be breaking a generational
00:34:25.600
experience that your predecessors had by providing a father for your child.
00:34:33.740
There's moments where I, where I think about it.
00:34:41.800
So there's parts of me that kind of go like, wow, like how, how am I going to handle that?
00:34:47.400
But then there's the reality and the truth of, well, I have the Holy Spirit and the Holy
00:34:52.500
Spirit is going to teach me how to lead, how to guide.
00:34:56.240
I can see practically what to do things, how to lead my wife, how to love my children.
00:35:00.860
So there's been moments where I was like, man, this is kind of scary and this is going
00:35:05.280
But I think where I'm at right now is, it's actually something I'm looking forward to.
00:35:08.780
I'm like, man, it's an honor and a blessing to be called a father.
00:35:13.340
It's an honor and a blessing to build and to lead a legacy.
00:35:16.960
And more importantly, to be a man of God in a culture that is just so anti-men.
00:35:22.240
And you know, that's a whole nother conversation, but so yeah, I'm really looking forward to it.
00:35:25.680
And I'm really excited to have children one day, to lead a family, to have a wife.
00:35:35.280
Okay, tell us a little bit more before we end about what you do, California will be saved.
00:35:48.800
I know you mentioned it at the beginning, but tell us a little bit more about it.
00:35:52.200
When we look at California, it's really easy to say, it's so dark and it's so crazy.
00:36:00.620
But when we look at history, we see so much revival history and so many things, so many
00:36:06.900
So I like to say it like this, California has a DNA of revival.
00:36:10.520
It has a DNA of God doing spectacular things there.
00:36:13.540
And so we know though, that what happens in California gets exported to the whole world.
00:36:18.020
Whether that's the kingdom of darkness or the kingdom of light, it's going to get exported.
00:36:22.220
So what we decided to do is in 2020, there's this guy by the name of Gavin Newsom, who is
00:36:30.060
the governor of California and he tries shutting the church down, which will never happen.
00:36:34.620
But in that moment, I remember looking on the TV screen and if we go back to 2020 for a
00:36:40.320
second, cause we like to easily forget, it was crazy, but especially in California.
00:36:45.200
And so in that moment, I remember I met a friend of mine by the name of Joel and we're
00:36:50.480
He leads worship, he sings, and we're like, we got to do something in California.
00:36:56.120
We can't, we know the answer is not just to sit in our house, watch a TV screen.
00:37:01.540
We show up at Huntington beach in August of 2021.
00:37:04.560
Huntington beach is an iconic beach in SoCal, thousands of people there.
00:37:11.160
We preach the gospel and I'm not kidding you, salvation broke out.
00:37:15.720
I mean, people are walking on the boardwalk coming up to us saying, I heard what's happening
00:37:24.280
We have people get delivered of drug addictions.
00:37:28.620
And so after that night happened, we weren't trying to create a movement or a ministry,
00:37:32.120
but we kind of looked at each other and we said, I think God is doing something.
00:37:37.920
California will be saved because we believe that whatever happens in California is going
00:37:42.560
to happen all throughout the nation and the nations of the earth.
00:37:44.500
And so if the narrative is flipped in California, what does that look like for the rest of the
00:37:50.160
California exports its values, its policies to the rest of the country.
00:37:54.240
America then turns around and does the same thing to the rest of the world.
00:37:57.420
So I think that is really interesting to look at it from that perspective.
00:38:02.360
And, you know, we talk a lot about how dangerous and difficult it can be to raise your children
00:38:09.540
in a place that, you know, is diametrically opposed to your values.
00:38:14.260
And there is discernment that parents need to have there.
00:38:17.460
There are parents who say, you know what, I, we cannot live in a place like this.
00:38:21.780
But at the same time, we don't want all Christians to flee the darkness in the same way that I
00:38:28.300
talk about, okay, it's still important for Christian teachers if they can, if they're convicted
00:38:32.800
to do so, to stay in government schools, even if you take your children out.
00:38:36.940
And so there's a time and a place and people that God calls to particular places.
00:38:43.020
And we are to be light in darkness, not just like a little diffused nightlight, but one
00:38:55.700
Our social media, if you just type in California will be saved, or you type in my name, Ross
00:39:00.440
Johnston on Facebook, Instagram, wherever you're at, you'll definitely be able to find
00:39:04.860
But one thing I want to share really quick, in the last three years, I've only had maybe
00:39:09.660
one or two people out of, I can't even give you a number of those who I've preached the
00:39:13.240
gospel to, only one or two have actually said no.
00:39:15.980
So I want to encourage us as the body and people who maybe are looking at California,
00:39:21.480
It's like, if we would just actually share the gospel in love and truth, you'd be surprised
00:39:27.760
I'm sure that, I don't know, we haven't even worked it all out.
00:39:30.820
I'm sure that there are theological differences, maybe that you and I have your, I would probably
00:39:35.580
describe you as more charismatic than what my church would be, but we share in the ultimate
00:39:41.420
goal of seeing people change by Jesus Christ and knowing that nothing is too dark, nothing
00:39:47.280
is too far off, nothing is too depraved or too desperate that God cannot save it and
00:39:51.620
redeem it and turn it into something beautiful.
00:39:54.060
Um, and so, and that we're, we're co-labors and I appreciate that so much.
00:40:00.060
So people can, people can find out online about California will be saved.
00:40:08.360
You just type in my name, Ross Johnston, R-O-S-S-J-O-H-N-S-T-O.
00:40:12.180
You have to put two N's because somebody took my original name.
00:40:17.920
I would never think that anyone else would be named.
00:40:21.160
So yeah, if you just go on social media, Instagram's the main place you can find me.
00:40:24.040
But I love to connect, love to hear your story.
00:40:28.880
Um, we're all in this, like you said, for Jesus.
00:40:31.000
And when the church comes together, like we just talked about, man, there's such a beautiful