Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - September 26, 2026


REPLAY ｜ Donor-Conceived, Lesbian-Raised & Born Again ｜ Guest： Ross Johnston

Topics
God's design for marriage fatherlessness crisis
Hosted by
Allie Beth Stuckey
Mentioned
Paul Jesus Christ Gavin Newsom Holy Spirit Chris
Ep 1400 ｜ Ex-Psychic： Taylor Swift is on a Mission to Normalize Witchcraft ｜ Jenn Nizza Ep 1401 ｜ 'Death of the Pastor’s Wife'： Everyone’s Getting This Wrong About JP Miller

Episode Stats


Length

40 minutes

Words per minute

211.41

Word count

8,546

Sentence count

543

Harmful content

Misogyny

3

sentences flagged

Toxicity

3

sentences flagged

Hate speech

10

sentences flagged


Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00 Ross Johnston was conceived via artificial insemination in 1994, was raised in a lesbian
00:00:07 secular household, and then at the age of 16, he became a Christian and everything changed.
00:00:14 Now he's on a mission to share the gospel with as many people as possible, not just
00:00:20 in the country, but specifically in the state of California.
00:00:24 Today, he's here to tell us his story, how God finally satisfied the longing that he
00:00:31 had for a dad, and why he cares so much about saving California through the power of the
00:00:40 Holy Spirit.
00:00:50 Ross, thanks so much for joining us.
00:00:53 First, can you tell us who you are and what you do?
00:00:55 Yeah.
00:00:55 So my name is Ross Johnston.
00:00:57 I'm currently living in SoCal, everybody's favorite place to be.
00:01:00 Yeah.
00:01:01 And what I do right now is actually co-lead a ministry called California Will Be Saved.
00:01:05 And so what we do is, if you can imagine the most influential cities in California,
00:01:09 we take a full sound system.
00:01:11 We do live worship, live music, preach the gospel, and then we baptize people right there
00:01:16 on the ocean and plug them into local churches.
00:01:18 So that's what I'm doing full time at the moment.
00:01:20 Okay.
00:01:20 We got to back up then.
00:01:21 We got to back up to hear how you came to do what you do now.
00:01:26 Tell us about the household that you were raised in.
00:01:28 Were you raised in this kind of revivalist Christian home? 0.62
00:01:32 Yeah, it honestly starts from day one because I was born by artificial insemination.
00:01:37 And the reason why I was born that way is my mom was and is living in a lesbian lifestyle.
00:01:42 And so I grew up in a two-mom household that was quote unquote normal for me.
00:01:46 And so my whole life, as I was, you know, from zero to 16 years old, every time, you know, we had a friend over or we had a party or birthday party, whatever the case may be, it was typically somebody from that community.
00:01:59 And so it's a very interesting backdrop because I definitely was not raised in a revival or Christian atmosphere, yet God pursued me.
00:02:07 He found me, he saved me.
00:02:08 And so here I am today.
00:02:09 Okay.
00:02:10 Let's dig into the details of that.
00:02:11 We talk about that a lot on this show, just the formation of the family, but also the
00:02:17 reproductive industry, something like sperm donation.
00:02:20 What was the first moment that you realized, oh, my family's a little different, that I've
00:02:27 got two moms and my friends seem to have a dad.
00:02:30 That's a little odd.
00:02:32 Yeah.
00:02:33 Well, honestly, it wasn't too different to me because it was how I was raised.
00:02:37 But then as I got older and started thinking, started asking questions and came to the Lord
00:02:42 at 16 years old, I was like, okay, I actually have to figure out like, what is different
00:02:46 about my life?
00:02:48 Why do I have two moms as opposed to most people who I see have a one mom, one father?
00:02:52 And so I would say-
00:02:53 So it really wasn't until you were about 16 that you started really even thinking about
00:02:57 that.
00:02:57 Because you said that a lot of people that came to your house, they were homosexual themselves.
00:03:02 Yes. 0.99
00:03:02 So it was just kind of normal for you.
00:03:04 Yeah, it was kind of normal.
00:03:05 like there wasn't really any questions to be asked
00:03:07 because I didn't even know what questions to ask, right?
00:03:10 But then when you give your life to Jesus
00:03:12 and you start learning about him
00:03:14 and the Holy Spirit enters into your heart
00:03:16 and you're like, wow, this is not the language I like to say,
00:03:19 this is not the design of God.
00:03:21 This is not how God created the family to operate.
00:03:23 And so when I started having that revelation,
00:03:25 I was like, wow, there is something different
00:03:28 about my upbringing than many other people.
00:03:30 And so that's what led me to start asking questions
00:03:32 like, well, mom, like tell me more about our family,
00:03:34 you know, tell me more about, do you know, my dad, you know, and as those questions start to
00:03:38 kind of come to the surface, you start figuring out really quickly, okay, this is a much different
00:03:42 story than maybe I even knew was possible or existed. So you don't remember when you're five
00:03:48 or six years old, ever having those questions or ever aching for a dad? Or was it just like,
00:03:57 this is just what my life is. And you never even questioned it until you were a teenager.
00:04:02 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. Because on the outside, it's like, OK, this is where I'm growing up. I have my two moms. This is the household. 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.
00:04:21 I was longing for somebody who would provide, who would protect.
00:04:25 And my mom did many of those things.
00:04:27 But once again, when the woman's role is trying to step into the man's role, there's going to be differences there.
00:04:32 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.
00:04:40 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.
00:04:46 That's why I felt anxious.
00:04:48 That's why I felt hopeless because I never had a true father who actually was able to
00:04:52 father me as I was being raised up.
00:04:55 And tell us then, well, first, before I actually ask about your conversion or your coming to
00:05:00 the Lord, what kind of religious environment were you raised in with two moms?
00:05:05 So I actually had never been to church my entire life. 0.97
00:05:08 Never heard a worship song.
00:05:10 I never heard a sermon.
00:05:11 I mean, I had, I like to say like this, I had zero grid for Jesus.
00:05:15 I had zero grid for the Bible.
00:05:16 I never opened up a Bible. So when I first went to church, like everything was completely
00:05:21 brand new to me. So it was a zero. Okay. So no, no religious background at all.
00:05:30 Do you remember your mom's having any like animosity towards religion or Christianity or no?
00:05:36 You know, it's honestly a really interesting story because when I was, so from the time I
00:05:41 was zero to 16 years old, my mom was with a certain partner. And in that timeframe,
00:05:45 that partner of hers would actually, she would say the name of Jesus or, you know, mention church
00:05:50 or things like that. But there was no, what I would say, personal engagement of our hearts
00:05:55 towards the Lord. Right. And then at 16, they actually split. And so it's almost like I had
00:06:01 this like little voice, tiny, small voice of somebody who wasn't necessarily walking with
00:06:05 the Lord, but still using his name. And so then when I came to the Lord, it like shifted my whole
00:06:10 perspective because I said, Whoa, this Jesus that I at least heard the name of now, I actually know
00:06:15 who he is. And that's what really shifted everything in my life. So I noticed that you
00:06:19 say mom, you don't say moms, the two women that you were raised by zero to 16. Do you consider
00:06:28 the woman who laughed at 16, your, your mom too? Yeah, great. Yeah. So I've never called her mom.
00:06:35 Really? And, you know, even before I was a Christian and the reason why I use this specific
00:06:39 language is because it's so important for people to understand. We're not just talking about like
00:06:43 one person's life especially when we see our culture now and how there's this is running
00:06:48 through our entire nation yeah and i like to say hey if you don't walk in the design of god
00:06:53 you can't walk in the blessing of god so how does that do with the moms well we're only created to
00:06:58 have one mom when we're here on the earth right and so i never called her mom even before i knew
00:07:03 the lord because that was not the design of god so it's not going to naturally come out now maybe i
00:07:08 can force it maybe i can try to make it into something it's not but for me my whole experience
00:07:12 I've always called my biological mom mom and she never pushed you to call her partner mom too
00:07:19 yeah I never recall my mom ever trying to you know and and I've actually had that somebody
00:07:24 asked me that question recently I was like man I can't remember a time where my mom was like hey
00:07:28 you must call her mom but I do know that my mom she was really gracious to me growing up and she
00:07:35 really cared for me well and so I think she was like hey I'm not gonna force my son to do something
00:07:41 if he doesn't want to do it. And I'm honestly really grateful that my mom at least had the
00:07:46 ability to like say, Hey, I want to give you grace. I'm going to make you're going to, you're
00:07:50 allowed to kind of choose what you want to do in this situation, even though she was living in a 0.97
00:07:54 specific lifestyle. It's interesting kind of what you said about God writing his design on all of
00:08:01 our hearts naturally that even your mom, even though she was living outside of God's design,
00:08:05 And it's like, she knew that the natural and right thing was for a child to have one mom.
00:08:12 And I think, I don't know if it's rare, but I do think, as you said, it's good that she
00:08:16 didn't force that on you.
00:08:17 She didn't force at least that confusion on you to say, no, you have two moms, even though
00:08:22 that's a biological impossibility.
00:08:23 And so, yeah, I wonder if that kind of allowed you or set you up for greater clarity later
00:08:30 on because she didn't force that confusion on you early.
00:08:33 That's really interesting.
00:08:34 Yeah, well, one thing that I've really found, you know, especially if we look in the last 10 or 20 years of our culture, it seems like this LGBTQ agenda, it's really coming to the surface. Like it's always been there, right? There's always people that have lived that lifestyle, but it seems to be more prevalent. Whereas with my mom, she never actually forced it upon me, which is really like she never forced me in the sense of like, hey, you must believe this. You must follow this. Now, obviously, when I became a Christian, there's some conversations we had to have. And I was so new in the faith that I really didn't know what to say. 0.98
00:09:03 I just, I was like, hey, I love Jesus.
00:09:07 You know, his word says that this is not the lifestyle of a believer.
00:09:10 And so we had to have some real conversations.
00:09:12 But the amazing thing is, is even till this day, my mom and I, we engage in conversation
00:09:17 and I'm really honest with her.
00:09:18 I say, mom, you know, I love you.
00:09:20 I'm so grateful for everything you did for me, but I'm believing that you would personally
00:09:24 engage with Jesus in your heart.
00:09:26 Right.
00:09:26 And so that's where our relationship is today.
00:09:29 And when her partner left when you were 16, so I'm, this is around the time.
00:09:33 that you became a Christian. Same week. Same week. So was that destabilizing for you? Even
00:09:40 though you didn't consider her a mom, I imagine that that was a hurtful shift in your life when
00:09:46 they were no longer together. Yeah. It was a really challenging week because in that week
00:09:52 when they were splitting up, obviously before any relationship splits up, there's going to be tension
00:09:56 and there's going to be just strife in the house. And as a kid, you can discern that whether you
00:10:00 know it or not. Then add on top of that, it's my first time ever going to church. I walk into the
00:10:05 church building and for the first time in my life, I'm actually sensing the presence of God. And so
00:10:11 I go home, I have this tension kind of happening at the house, which seems for a 15, 16 year old,
00:10:16 it's really challenging. Right. And I also have a younger brother. And then I go to church and it's
00:10:20 like the world is completely different. I'm full of hope. I'm full of peace. There's grace. I'm
00:10:25 feeling the presence of God. And so it was like these two worlds, these two tensions kind of
00:10:28 colliding in that week. And so it was a really challenging moment because as much as I love my
00:10:33 mom, there's tension happening in the household. Right. So yeah, it was really challenging.
00:10:37 So tell me how you were invited to church. How did you become a Christian?
00:10:42 It's actually a funny story. A friend of mine from my high school says, Hey, do you want to
00:10:46 come to church with me and my grandma? I say, sure. Why not? I show up typical story. I'm sitting in
00:10:52 the back row of the church. I wasn't mad. I was actually genuinely curious, but I was sitting
00:10:56 back there and the worship was playing. Like I said, this is the first time I'd ever heard live
00:11:00 worship music. So as soon as I heard live worship music and I, and like I said, at the time, I didn't
00:11:05 know what this was, but it was the presence of God. I was an easy one. I said, presence of God.
00:11:10 I feel great. I'm full of hope. I'm full of joy. Jesus, here's my life, you know? And I even
00:11:15 remember going home that night and the first time you went to church. Yeah. That was kind of, that
00:11:19 was like my original reaction. As my friend actually asked me, she said, how did you like
00:11:23 the service. I said, I'm not really sure what I think, but I know what I feel. And I feel full
00:11:28 of hope. I feel excited. I feel something's going on. Right. So I go home that night and, you know,
00:11:34 anytime you go to Sunday service, for the most part, the pastor gives what we would call an
00:11:38 altar call. And the pastor says, Hey, you know, do you want to give your life to Jesus? So I go
00:11:42 home that night and I'm thinking, if I'm going to give my life to something, this needs to be like
00:11:47 the real deal. You know, I don't want to just be a good person who reads a good book and goes to a
00:11:51 church, like, God, if you really are real, like this pastor said, Jesus, if you are the Messiah,
00:11:57 I want to know you. I want to know you. And sure enough, day after day in my room, I would just
00:12:01 sense the presence of God over and over. And I said, here's my life. So do you remember in those
00:12:07 first church services, hearing the gospel? Like, do you have like tangible memories of that?
00:12:14 I have tangible memories of different pieces. Like I can't remember, like, you know, some people,
00:12:18 they have these crazy encounters of what they would say they have these moments that are like
00:12:22 whoa like i really i heard my name or this or something yeah for me it wasn't like that it was
00:12:28 more so like my whole life i longed for this peace in my heart yeah and for the first time i actually
00:12:34 felt that i had language for that through the gospel and so the gospel was the language for
00:12:38 what my heart was longing for my entire life yeah and so when i heard it when i sensed it when i
00:12:43 felt it, I was like, this is it right here. This is Jesus. He's not just some man. He's not just
00:12:49 a book. He's not just a building. No, he's actually a relationship. And so that shifted everything for
00:12:54 me. So it was an affirmation of what you already knew that you needed, but you couldn't yet put
00:13:00 into words. So the message that you were a sinner bound for hell, that I think sometimes is an
00:13:11 impediment for people who don't think that they need a savior or who think that they're generally
00:13:15 a good person. For someone like you who didn't have that kind of theological background, I
00:13:21 imagine that you weren't taught, hey, you're a sinner in need of a savior growing up. What was
00:13:26 that aspect of the gospel like? Or was that also just affirmation? Were you kind of like, yeah,
00:13:31 I already know I messed up? Well, like I said, growing up, I always felt this sense of like
00:13:37 nobody actually knew me right or nobody actually cared even though my mom was she cared for me
00:13:42 and she took care of me in my soul in my heart it felt like nobody actually cared for Ross it was
00:13:48 what I would like to call like an orphan spirit right where I always saw me against the world
00:13:52 or I remember specifically when I would go to friends houses we had enough food on the table
00:13:56 we had a house we had everything we needed but I'd always try to eat as much as I could
00:13:59 right or I'd always try to make sure that I took care of Ross first get as much as I could for Ross
00:14:05 right and so when I heard the gospel it confronted that orphan spirit that no you're not alone you do
00:14:12 have a father and not only do you have a father he cares about you he wants to provide for you and
00:14:16 he wants to protect you so it was almost like the gospel though sin is obviously a critical
00:14:21 component of the gospel and understanding that we are separated from God it was like I was so
00:14:26 overjoyed to know that there's actually a God and I have a father that for me I was like yeah I'm a
00:14:31 sinner. Like whatever you need to do, Lord, here I am. I repent. Like I was just all in because for
00:14:36 the first time in my life, I actually had that heart connection. Yeah. Isn't it interesting that
00:14:41 you lacked a sense of belonging, even though you did have a home, you were not an orphan,
00:14:47 you had a mother who loved you. And yet you still kind of felt like you were just
00:14:51 wading through the world, right? Without any direction and without someone who was really
00:14:56 intently watching over you. Yeah. I even remember, this is going to sound funny,
00:15:01 but it'll make sense the first person like the first girlfriend I ever had in high school when
00:15:05 we broke up I like had to force myself to cry so I'd listen to specific songs right and I know
00:15:11 most people have had that story but the reason why secondhand serenade or something like that
00:15:14 I don't know if we're the same age but that's what we would have listened to emo songs like that yeah
00:15:19 but I remember the reason why that story comes to mind is because I was trying so hard to feel
00:15:23 something I was trying so hard to connect with like an emotion yeah like somebody care for me
00:15:29 Does somebody see my heart?
00:15:30 It wasn't even the girl, you know, it was the fact that I was longing for a deep heart
00:15:34 connection.
00:15:35 And so it's a funny story, but it proves the fact of like, Hey, when we don't walk once
00:15:40 again, in that design of God, when we don't know our father and we don't have a natural
00:15:44 father in our life, who's there for us, our hearts ache.
00:15:48 We long, we hurt.
00:15:49 And until we find the language of Jesus, of the gospel, man, we're just going to kind
00:15:54 of be on this, like, we're going to live this life with such a tainted view.
00:15:58 And we're just going to make decisions that just lead us deeper and deeper into that hole.
00:16:01 Yeah.
00:16:02 So for every Christian who is converted from unbelief to belief, there is a sanctification process.
00:16:11 So we don't understand everything that God has for us or everything that God reveals in his word right away.
00:16:18 We have a longing now.
00:16:20 We have a hatred for sin.
00:16:21 We become new.
00:16:22 But there's a lot of things that we still have to work out.
00:16:25 I imagine, just knowing your background, that one of the most difficult things was God's design for marriage.
00:16:32 Now, you had that inherent sense of, okay, something's off.
00:16:36 I need a father, a sense of belonging.
00:16:38 But for these people, this mother that you've loved to hear, this is not God's design.
00:16:43 What was that like for you working that out?
00:16:46 Yeah.
00:16:46 Well, when I first got saved, I really didn't even have that language.
00:16:50 Of course.
00:16:50 Because everything was so new to me.
00:16:52 Of course.
00:16:52 So I don't even remember what I told my mom, to be honest.
00:16:55 I don't remember fully, but as I've gotten older, you know, she sees my content. I'm very
00:17:00 upfront in my content and I honor my mom, right? I'm like, mom, I love you. I'm so grateful and
00:17:05 thankful for everything you've done for me. However, when you only have a mom, you can't do
00:17:10 everything that God designed because you have one role and the father has another role. And I've had
00:17:15 this conversation multiple times. And so for me, where I'm at right now is I'm like, Lord, you,
00:17:21 in our culture, we have these prevailing narratives, right? And the thing that I really
00:17:26 struggled with the most was actually not the marriage component. It was a component of sexual
00:17:30 confusion and even addiction, because when you're around that spirit, there's different expressions,
00:17:37 right? We see the gender confusion, we see, you know, pornography, we see all these different
00:17:41 expressions, but it's the same spirit behind it all. And so for me, that was actually my biggest 0.90
00:17:46 struggle was I was like, okay, I'm not struggling personally with being attracted to men.
00:17:51 But I am struggling in this area with lust.
00:17:54 And so for me, that was a challenge that I really had to overcome when I became a believer.
00:17:59 Now that you are able to look back in retrospect, you're able to kind of put words to the longing and orphan spirit that you said that you had.
00:18:10 Do you now see some examples of the consequences of not having a father growing up before you were even able to put words into it?
00:18:20 Like the lack of even just like a masculine presence.
00:18:23 Like what are some of those things that you see now looking back?
00:18:26 Yeah.
00:18:27 I mean, it's going to sound funny, but it's just the reality. 1.00
00:18:29 I didn't know how to pursue a woman. 0.98
00:18:31 Like I, in high school, I had no clue how to approach a woman. 0.85
00:18:35 Like if I was interested in, like I had no clue because I never had a father to say, 1.00
00:18:38 Hey, this is how you respect women.
00:18:40 Hey, if you're feeling this, there's one way to do it.
00:18:43 You know, I had zero of that.
00:18:44 So for so long in my life, I listened to culture, whatever music said, whatever the movie said,
00:18:50 oh, that's what I have to do to be a man.
00:18:52 Oh, that is what it actually means to pursue a woman.
00:18:54 Oh, that's what it actually means to be successful, right?
00:18:57 And then once again, when you come to the Lord
00:18:59 and the Holy Spirit comes in you, you're confronted
00:19:02 because everything you thought was truth is no longer truth.
00:19:05 It's actually a lie and a facade.
00:19:08 And so that was one of the biggest things.
00:19:10 I remember like, it's like I had a light bulb moment,
00:19:12 like, whoa, everything that I put my hope, my trust,
00:19:15 my faith in is actually not the truth.
00:19:19 It's a lie.
00:19:20 And so that's been one of the, one of those things where I was like, wow, this is, this
00:19:24 is truly what God has called me into is to stand and confront these issues of our day
00:19:29 and say, Hey, you might be feeling a certain way.
00:19:31 You might have a certain experience, but here's the truth that God has for you.
00:19:35 And not only is it the truth, but it's better.
00:19:37 Yeah.
00:19:38 What's your response to the prevailing message of the day?
00:19:41 There'll even be some YouTube comments saying, um, you know what?
00:19:46 you shouldn't try to change your mom or it's totally, it's totally acceptable to be a so-called 0.72
00:19:53 gay Christian. God doesn't have a particular design. Um, you understand where that person 0.52
00:19:59 is coming from and why it's very personal for a lot of people, but how do you approach that?
00:20:05 Yeah. I mean, on a practical level, if we look at thousands of years of the church,
00:20:09 we know deep down, right? We know deep down, like God, this is what your word says. And this is
00:20:14 it's been practiced for thousands of years by the church. So anytime there's a Christian or
00:20:19 somebody who would profess being a believer who is okay with gay marriage or living in a lesbian
00:20:24 lifestyle, it's like, I want to actually have a real conversation with you because that expression
00:20:29 is probably not the root issue. There's something deep down in your heart. There's, there's an
00:20:33 experience. There's a moment, something that somebody has said, whatever the case may be.
00:20:38 So my heart is like, do you actually want to have a real conversation with me? Or do you just want
00:20:42 to toss names and words back and forth. I'm not interested in getting in emotional debates with
00:20:47 you. I'm interested in like, who are you? What's your heart? Where are you at with Jesus? Because
00:20:52 when you have the real conversations and the real questions, you can't lie or you just walk away.
00:20:59 And so any person that's in one of those boats, I'm like, let's have a real conversation. Let's
00:21:03 see where are you coming from? Let me share my experience. Let's talk about the word of God.
00:21:08 Let's see what Holy Spirit wants to reveal to us. And let's have a real conversation.
00:21:12 That's what I love to tell people.
00:21:13 Yeah, that's really good.
00:21:15 Because it does come back to like a very fundamental understanding of who God is and what his word is.
00:21:21 When we have the conversations about like, you know, proper sexuality, holy sexuality and gender, things like that, that have turned into these political topics, which are really fundamentally biblical.
00:21:33 I do.
00:21:34 I agree.
00:21:34 I think it's important to go back to what does that person believe about God?
00:21:40 Yes.
00:21:40 Before we can talk about homosexuality, before we can talk about Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 6,
00:21:46 Genesis 1, all these passages, do you believe that God is good?
00:21:50 Do you believe that he's trustworthy?
00:21:52 Do you believe that he's authoritative?
00:21:54 Do you believe that he made all of this and therefore can define things how he wants to
00:21:58 define them?
00:21:59 Do you believe that he knows what is best for you?
00:22:02 And then do you believe that he has revealed those things through his word?
00:22:06 Because that's really what we are debating.
00:22:08 rather than debating these other issues.
00:22:10 We're really debating, who do you think is in charge?
00:22:13 Is it you or God?
00:22:15 That makes all the difference, right?
00:22:16 Yeah, well, because Paul said, right,
00:22:18 if you don't have the Holy Spirit,
00:22:19 you can't understand spiritual truth, right?
00:22:21 So that doesn't mean we don't quote the word of God.
00:22:23 Of course not.
00:22:24 But what it means is we need to actually talk
00:22:26 about life experiences.
00:22:28 We need to talk about what do you believe about creation?
00:22:30 We need to actually talk about these things
00:22:32 because it's so easy just to throw your opinion
00:22:35 or whatever you may believe in one box
00:22:37 and you never actually have to engage on the heart level, right?
00:22:41 So many people are engaging up here.
00:22:42 I want to engage right here.
00:22:44 I want to engage on the heart level.
00:22:46 I want to engage where, what do you believe?
00:22:48 What was your experience as a child growing up?
00:22:50 How were your parents?
00:22:51 Why do you believe this, right?
00:22:53 Because when we actually talk about your actual life,
00:22:55 it goes from me just saying, this is my opinion to, uh-oh,
00:22:58 I have to actually confront what's in my actual heart
00:23:01 and what I believe about God.
00:23:02 Yeah.
00:23:03 And once you've established with someone,
00:23:05 if someone says, yes, I believe God is good, loving, authoritative, and that his word is
00:23:10 inerrant, then you can go from there. And then you can say, great. Like, here's what the word
00:23:15 says. And God is so gracious, I think, to give us the privilege of clarity that the world doesn't
00:23:20 have. The world is waiting in chaos and confusion. And God is not a God of confusion or chaos. He's
00:23:26 a God of peace. He's a God of truth. He's a God of clarity. And he's made these very contentious
00:23:31 and hot button topics so clear for the Christian, that it's actually a privilege that we get to look
00:23:37 at Genesis 127, that we are made male and female and say, awesome. I don't have to wade into all
00:23:43 of these very confusing thought exercises about gender bending and things like that, because God
00:23:50 has given us the gift of clarity in his word. I think sometimes people see God's word as like
00:23:54 a burden that they have to carry, that they have to apologize for, or take God off the hook for
00:24:00 the culture, really, it's such a privilege that we get that clarity. Yeah. And I even want to
00:24:04 call the church higher too, right? Like there's two sides to this coin. It's like, yeah, we're
00:24:09 the church of Jesus Christ. We are supposed to be the most loving, but at the same time, share the
00:24:14 truth. And so many times we want to settle for one or the other, like all truth, all truth, all truth.
00:24:19 And then we actually never love the person. If you don't feel loved by somebody, you're probably
00:24:23 not going to have a conversation with them. Right. But at the same time, we have the other camp. It's
00:24:27 all about love. It's all about what you feel. It's like, yeah, God is love, right? But at the same
00:24:33 time, we have to share truth. And so that's what I want to see take place is like, hey, we can have
00:24:38 our beliefs and our thoughts, but are we willing to actually come together, have conversation,
00:24:43 love one another, but actually share the truth with one another? Because that is an absolute
00:24:47 game changer. Absolute game changer. Yeah. First John 4, 8, God is love. But I like to say, but
00:24:53 you cannot out love God. And so I think a lot of people by apologizing for God's word or pretending
00:25:00 that God didn't have anything to say about sexuality or about gender, they actually think
00:25:06 that they are more loving or more compassionate or more empathetic than God is. Because if God
00:25:11 is love, and he said what he said in Romans 1, he said what he said in 1 Corinthians 6,
00:25:17 He said what he said in Genesis 1.
00:25:19 Therefore, all of those things are loving.
00:25:22 He can't say something that is not loving or do something that is not loving because he is love.
00:25:27 We're not told that we are love, but he is love.
00:25:29 Therefore, the most loving thing we can always do is agree with him.
00:25:33 And that's hard for all of us.
00:25:35 That's difficult for all of us in relationships in different ways or even just confronting the sin in our own heart.
00:25:40 It can be difficult, but it's also a comfort to know, okay, if God says something, that it is the most loving thing that I can say to you.
00:25:46 Well, if we're Christians and we say we believe what we believe and there's a real eternity,
00:25:51 if I actually say I love you, but I don't even give you an opportunity to enter into eternity
00:25:57 with God, do I actually love you? Right? Like if I say, oh, you know what? I want the best for you.
00:26:03 I care about your life, but then I'm scared to go into these hard topics because I'm afraid of
00:26:08 a relational dynamic or whatever the case may be. It's like, no, no, no. I have to do what Paul said.
00:26:13 I have to set my sight on heavenly realities.
00:26:16 I can't be so focused on what's in front of me.
00:26:18 Paul said, what we see now won't last forever, but what we don't see will last forever.
00:26:23 So if I truly love you and I truly care about you, I have to share the truth with you.
00:26:28 Not because I want to hit you on the head and make you feel horrible.
00:26:31 No, no, no. 0.68
00:26:32 I want to give you an opportunity to say, listen, here is the real Jesus.
00:26:37 The real Jesus, not only will he do X, Y, and Z for you because he's good, but he wants
00:26:42 you to know him.
00:26:43 You know, God's greatest desire is not what we can do for him.
00:26:46 It's being with him.
00:26:48 And so many people, they come from this perspective.
00:26:49 Well, if I come to God, I got to do this.
00:26:51 Like, well, yes, if you love somebody, you do something for them.
00:26:54 But his greatest desire isn't what you do.
00:26:56 He wants to know you.
00:26:57 He wants your heart to be filled with his love.
00:26:59 He wants you to walk in peace, walk in joy, walk in hope.
00:27:03 But if nobody, aka the church, if we don't give people an opportunity and explain that to them, how would they ever know?
00:27:08 Right?
00:27:09 Romans 10.
00:27:10 Unless somebody goes, how are they going to know?
00:27:11 unless somebody speaks, how are they going to hear? So that's our privilege, like you said,
00:27:16 in our opportunity as a church. And obviously you feel a love in multiple different ways for your
00:27:23 mom that you don't feel for every person. You love her as a Christian. You love her as someone
00:27:28 who wants her to be saved, just as you love everyone that you encounter, but also this is
00:27:33 your mother. This is a special connection there. And so tell us a little bit more. You've referenced
00:27:38 said a couple of times about the conversations that you've had with her. But tell us what that's
00:27:43 like. It sounds like you still have a good relationship, even though you believe the
00:27:47 things that you do, not just about God, but about her state and about who she believes that she is
00:27:54 on a fundamental level. What has that been like? Yeah. So it's really funny because just over a
00:27:59 year ago, before I got into full-time ministry, I was working for a social media marketing agency,
00:28:04 making really good money. Right. And the Lord said, Hey, if you want to pioneer a movement,
00:28:09 you're going to have to resign. So I resigned. So when you go from pretty good money to zero,
00:28:13 it's a big situation. And the reason why I'm sharing this is because my mom was one of the
00:28:17 first people to say, you know what? I'll be one of your monthly financial donors. And she knows
00:28:21 what I do. Travel America full time, share the gospel, equip the church. Like she knows what I
00:28:25 do. It's not like I'm just like, yeah, mom, I'm just kind of like speaking here and there. Like
00:28:28 she knows. Right. Number two, she'll call me from time to time and she'll say, man, I watch one of
00:28:33 your videos on social media, whatever it is. It's like, I sense something. I feel something.
00:28:37 You need to keep doing that. Right. So she knows, she knows that the Lord is working on her heart
00:28:43 and she knows that's why she won't come to one of my gatherings. Cause she knows she'll get saved.
00:28:48 But our relationship is, she's like scared of what the Holy spirit is already starting to stir in
00:28:53 her. Yeah. So our relationship is actually really good, which I know unfortunately is not the case
00:28:58 for many people, maybe that are in my situation or my bow, but I think that's what happens when
00:29:02 you're genuine with somebody, even if they disagree with you, if you're genuine, you share
00:29:07 the truth in love. How can, I mean, sure, there will always be the, what I like to call the crazy
00:29:11 people who just say, I'm not going to accept that. I'm out. Don't talk to me again. That's a small
00:29:15 percentage. Most people, they'll have a conversation with you. So my mom and I, I've kept it real with
00:29:20 her. I love her. She sees my life, but not only does she see my life, she sees the fruit of my
00:29:25 life, right? Because if I'm going to call somebody into the reality of who Jesus is, but I'm not
00:29:29 bearing fruit in my life. It's going to be a little challenging. It's a little iffy. And so
00:29:33 I think all those components together have really allowed my mom and I's relationship
00:29:37 to be on a healthy level while I share truth with her. Yeah. And you said that you had a brother.
00:29:43 I know you can't speak for your brother, but is he kind of in the same position that you are?
00:29:48 Has he realized a lot of the same things that you have? So I'm actually the only Christian
00:29:52 in my family. It's a really unique story because my mom never knew her father,
00:29:58 my grandma, right? My grandma never knew her father, right? And so all the only family that
00:30:04 I have is literally my mom, my brother. My mom has a few siblings, but I've only seen them once
00:30:10 or twice. Now I share all this because I think really what we're getting into is the even bigger
00:30:14 picture, which is, like I said earlier, we have a fatherlessness crisis. We have a lack of fathers
00:30:21 and there's three ways to look at this, right? Number one, you actually didn't have a natural
00:30:25 father. Number two, you did have a father, but he didn't know the Lord or didn't represent the
00:30:29 Lord well. Or three, you have a misrepresentation of the father. So if you have any of those
00:30:35 happening in your life, it's really easy to end up in a situation like I did. Praise God that I
00:30:40 met the Lord and now I have the Holy Spirit. But all those things I believe are the bigger issue
00:30:44 and we're seeing it confronted on a cultural level. Do you still long to know who your
00:30:51 biological father is? I've actually, no, it's surprising. I know most people go, don't you
00:30:57 want to meet him and see him? And I don't. And I think one of the reasons why is this is going to
00:31:03 sound like a really cheesy line, but I'm learning that the cheesy lines are usually the most true
00:31:07 lines, right? When I met the father, he became my father and he fathered me from 16 years old till
00:31:13 now. He's now taught me how to be a man. He's taught me how to pursue a woman. He's taught me
00:31:19 what it means one day to lead a family right so as soon as you meet the father all of a sudden
00:31:25 you actually get to learn from the truest source you get to meet you get to learn from god himself
00:31:30 yeah and so in regards to the question i've never really had this longing like if it was to happen
00:31:35 or if he's somehow watching this i'd of course i'd meet him i'd say hey like who are you because
00:31:40 i don't know i don't know anything about him i just know his height and i think like eye color
00:31:44 right that's all i know so i'd be curious um but there's nothing in me that's like man i absolutely
00:31:49 this is like a life mission of mine like i must do this yeah i don't really have a desire in that
00:31:53 regard did you have mentors when you became a christian and afterward in the church of older
00:31:58 men who kind of took you under their wing and helped support you i remember when i first got
00:32:04 saved because keep like i said it was such a different world for me like it was going from
00:32:09 you know, literally darkness into light. And so there was a guy by the name of Chris and he became
00:32:15 such a spiritual father to me in that season of my life. I remember him sometimes taking me home
00:32:19 to church, you know, grabbing food for me and letting me spend the night at his house once or
00:32:23 twice a week or whatever the case may be. And even now in my life, I actually have two or three men
00:32:28 who are much older than me, who I always go to for life things and spiritual matters, because it's so
00:32:34 important to have people in your life who you allow to speak in. But especially when you come
00:32:38 from a background like me, where you don't, you never had a natural father, there still is that
00:32:43 craving and that desire to say, man, I wish I could just sometimes, you know, lay on my father's
00:32:49 chest, right? Or I wish sometimes I can just, he can just hug me. Or I wish sometimes he could
00:32:53 just listen to me, right? Now I have that in the father, right? In God, but we're natural beings.
00:32:58 We want someone right here next to us to be able to comfort us in different moments of our life.
00:33:03 So there is a desire for that, but it's not, it's not the desire for like the guy who actually, you know, donated his sperm and my mom was inseminated by.
00:33:12 Yeah. And you will, you know, by the grace of God and according to the will of God, be a father one day, if that's what's in store for you.
00:33:22 You're not, you're not married right now.
00:33:25 So as you think about the future of fatherhood and knowing that you didn't have a natural example for that, like, what are your thoughts surrounding that?
00:33:32 Is that intimidating for you? Does it scare you a little bit? Are you just super excited to be able to, I mean, you're, you would be breaking a generational experience that your predecessors had by providing a father for your child. So what are your thoughts?
00:33:50 There's moments where I, where I think about it. I'm like, I don't know what to do, you know? And then I, I talked to other men. They're like, I don't know what to do. Right. Um, so there's parts of me that kind of go like, wow, like how, how am I going to handle that? Like, will I be a good father? But then there's the reality and the truth of, well, I have the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is going to teach me how to lead, how to guide. I have the word of God. I can see practically what to do things, how to lead my wife, how to love my children.
00:34:17 So there's been moments where I was like, man, this is kind of scary and this is going to be really challenging.
00:34:21 But I think where I'm at right now is it's actually something I'm looking forward to.
00:34:25 I'm like, man, it's an honor and a blessing to be called a father.
00:34:29 It's an honor and a blessing to build and to lead a legacy.
00:34:33 And more importantly, to be a man of God in a culture that is just so anti-men.
00:34:38 And, you know, that's a whole other conversation.
00:34:40 But so, yeah, I'm really looking forward to it.
00:34:42 And I'm really excited to have children one day and to lead a family and to have a wife.
00:34:45 okay tell us a little bit more before we end about what you do california will be saved i know you
00:34:54 mentioned it at the beginning but tell us a little bit more about it yeah when we look at california
00:34:58 it's really easy to say it's so dark yeah and it's so crazy like is god is god there in that
00:35:05 state right but when we look at history we see so much revival history and so many things so many
00:35:10 moves of god that have happened in the state so i like to say like this california has a dna of
00:35:15 revival. It has a DNA of God doing spectacular things there. And so we know though, that what
00:35:20 happens in California gets exported to the whole world, whether that's exactly, whether that's the
00:35:25 kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of light, it's going to get exported. So what we decided to do
00:35:29 is in 2020, there's this guy by the name of Gavin Newsom, who is the governor of California. And he
00:35:37 tries shutting the church down, which will never happen. But in that moment, I remember looking on
00:35:43 the tv screen if we go back to 2020 for a second because we like to easily forget it was crazy
00:35:48 but especially in california and so in that moment i remember i met a friend of mine by the name of
00:35:53 joel and we're just having we're just becoming friends he leads worship he sings and we're like
00:35:58 we got to do something in california something has to be done we can't we know the answer is
00:36:03 not just to sit in our house watch a tv screen like we have to do something we show up at huntington
00:36:08 beach in august of 2021 huntington beach is an iconic beach in socal thousands of people there
00:36:12 we bring a full sound system. We do live worship. We preach the gospel. And I'm not kidding you.
00:36:19 Salvation broke out. I mean, people are walking on the boardwalk, coming up to us saying, I heard
00:36:24 what's happening here. What do I do to get saved? Like book of acts type of encounters, right? We
00:36:30 have people get delivered of drug addictions. We baptize people in the ocean. And so after that
00:36:35 night happened, we weren't trying to create a movement or a ministry, but we kind of looked
00:36:38 at each other and we said, I think God is doing something. And so we decided to name it, California
00:36:43 will be saved because we believe that whatever happens in California is going to happen all
00:36:48 throughout the nation and the nations of the earth. And so if the narrative is flipped in
00:36:51 California, what does that look like for the rest of the nation? I mean, that's true. California 0.59
00:36:55 exports its values, its policies to the rest of the country. America then turns around and does
00:37:01 the same thing to the rest of the world. So I think that is really interesting to look at it
00:37:06 from that perspective. And, you know, we talk a lot about how dangerous and difficult it can be
00:37:13 to raise your children in a place that you know is diametrically opposed to your values. And there
00:37:20 is discernment that parents need to have there. There are parents who say, you know what, we
00:37:25 cannot live in a place like this. But at the same time, we don't want all Christians to flee the
00:37:32 darkness in the same way that i talk about okay it's still important for christian teachers if
00:37:37 they can if they're convicted to do so to stay in government schools even if you take your children
00:37:42 out and so there's a time and a place and people that god calls to particular places and we are to
00:37:49 be light in darkness not just like a little diffused nightlight but one that shines really
00:37:54 really brightly um so i'm thankful i'm thankful that you're doing that and where can people learn
00:37:59 more about it? Yeah. Our social media, if you just type in California will be saved, or you type in
00:38:05 my name, Ross Johnston on Facebook, Instagram, wherever you're at, you'll definitely be able to
00:38:09 find us and see us. But one thing I want to share really quick in the last three years, I've only
00:38:14 had maybe one or two people out of, I can't even give you a number of those who I've preached the
00:38:18 gospel to only one or two have actually said no. So I want to encourage us as the body and people
00:38:24 who maybe are looking at California, like it's crazy there. It's like, if we would just actually
00:38:28 share the gospel in love and truth you'll be surprised at what happens yeah yeah and you know
00:38:33 what i'm sure that i don't know we haven't even worked it all out i'm sure that there are theological
00:38:37 differences maybe that you and i have your i would probably describe you as more charismatic than what
00:38:44 my church would be but we share in the ultimate goal of seeing people changed by jesus christ
00:38:49 and knowing that nothing is too dark nothing is too far off nothing is too depraved or too desperate
00:38:55 that God cannot save it and redeem it
00:38:57 and turn it into something beautiful.
00:38:59 Absolutely.
00:39:00 And so in that, we're co-labors
00:39:02 and I appreciate that so much.
00:39:04 Thank you.
00:39:05 So people can find out online
00:39:08 about California Will Be Saved.
00:39:09 There's been some articles written about it.
00:39:11 Can they follow you?
00:39:12 Do you have social media and stuff?
00:39:13 Yeah, you just type in my name, Ross Johnston,
00:39:15 R-O-S-S-J-O-H-N-S-T-O. 1.00
00:39:17 You have to put two N's
00:39:18 because somebody took my original name.
00:39:20 Rude.
00:39:20 So I know, come on.
00:39:21 That's so rude.
00:39:22 How can that happen?
00:39:22 Ross Johnston, I would never think
00:39:24 that anyone else would be named.
00:39:25 I never thought that either.
00:39:26 So yeah, if you just go on social media,
00:39:28 Instagram is the main place you can find me,
00:39:29 but I love to connect, love to hear your story.
00:39:32 You have questions, whatever the case may be.
00:39:34 We're all in this, like you said, for Jesus.
00:39:36 And when the church comes together,
00:39:37 like we just talked about,
00:39:39 man, there's such a beautiful blessing that God has.
00:39:41 Yeah, thank you so much.
00:39:42 Thank you, Ali.
00:39:55 Thank you.