News from Tom and Leslie Johnson

Leslie’s Update

Be sure to read to the bottom of this update to see some important family news for which we would appreciate your prayers.

Representing Refugees and Immigrants at the PCA General Assembly

In June, Tom and I went to our denomination’s national meetings. We are a part of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and in June every year, they hold the national meetings, called “General Assembly” (GA).

I now work part-time for the PCA’s Mission to North America (MNA) Refugee and Immigrant Ministry as the Cross-cultural Training Specialist. While at GA in that role, I worked with a colleague, Osman, representing the ministry at a booth at GA. In addition to staffing the booth, I joined 3 others to present a seminar called, “Using Cultural Sensitivity to Build the Body of Christ” which was well received.

Osman and I also hosted a luncheon on behalf of our ministry. The luncheon included a panel of four people talking about their churches’ experiences helping recent Afghan refugees. It was very interesting, and the audience was spell-bound listening to these four people and their stories. Lord willing, more people are motivated to support refugee and immigrant ministry in their communities.

Other duties included being support staff at a luncheon and a breakfast sponsored by MNA. And I attended an alumni breakfast sponsored by Covenant College. It was fun to meet new people as well as see old friends.

For Tom, however, it was a difficult week. The first day we were there, we had to do a lot of walking. From the parking structure to the hotel lobby to the exhibit hall and back, it was too much, and he developed a lot of pain. Unfortunately, it was bad enough that he was unable to go to more than one or two events each day. He watched most of the meetings of the delegates from our hotel room via live stream.

Since that trip, Tom has started more intense physical therapy (PT) to try to help reduce the pain. The current theory is that there is a damaged muscle near the hip that the replacement did not address. Overall, he is still MUCH better than before the hip replacement. However, please keep him in prayer that the PT team would have wisdom on the best way to help.

ACSI EU and Global

Please pray for the International ACSI EU Student Leadership Conference (SLC) in September 2022 to be honoring to the Lord and encouraging and helpful to the student leaders who are attending.

I also continue to work with ACSI Global in international Christian school accreditation. The conversations have started with the school assigned for me to visit next Spring. As of this writing, the dates have not been set yet, but I look forward to seeing how the Lord is working in yet another Christian international school.

It is an honor to use the training and experience the Lord has brought my way to help people grow in cultural sensitivity. May the Lord be glorified!

What’s Next?

Amid the normal activities of life, we are preparing as a family to move. Where? We don’t know yet.

Our son-in-law is leaving the military in October and is actively looking for a new job. Aimee is also actively looking for a counseling job. Once one of them has a firm job offer, they will move. And they want us to move with them, either to continue living with them for a while or to live nearby. At this point, then, we don’t know where, but we have a general idea of when. We hope to move before October 1 of this year.

Please be praying for the Lord to put us where we are to serve Him and others well.

Refugee update from Tom

Praise the Lord with us! We just learned that the refugee family from the Middle East, with whom we have been working for almost 2 1/2 years, received their Canadian ID number. This means that, in principle, they have been accepted as future residents of Canada, though it may take a few months for all the needed paperwork, and refugees always face terrible uncertainty. I recently saw the dad and mom on Zoom in a meeting with the Canadian woman who is the head of the organization coordinating their move. Their son was at a church camp. They began rejoicing once they understood what the new documents mean, but I cautioned them that I will feel a lot better when I see a picture of them coming out of a Canadian airport. A huge thanks to the many who helped in different ways! And please keep praying!

Praises:
We thank the Lord for:

• Leslie’s opportunities to serve:
  • the PCA Mission to North America (MNA) as a cross-cultural training specialist in the Refugee and Immigrant Ministry;
  • another school by helping them through an ACSI accreditation process with the team visit happening next Spring.
• Projects moved well without Tom doing a lot, allowing time for his hip to recover.
• The Decalogue Project, an international book about the Ten Commandments, edited by Tom and William S. Barker, is on schedule for release at a conference this fall.
• Volume 2 of Tom’s book series, Christian Ethics in Secular Cultures is beginning to gain a warm reception.
• A request from Indonesian Muslims for Tom to do much more with them regarding religious freedom.
• Very promising documents from the Canadian government for the Middle Eastern refugee family we have been assisting.

Prayers:

Please join us in praying for:

• Wisdom for both of us as we continue to pray through the Lord’s callings:
  • For Leslie: more refugee work? More educational consultations? Taking on a job to help with finances? And of course, investing in grandchildren is not a question.
  • For Tom: what to research and write? How to work with Muslims and with the Vatican? What to delegate?
  • For both of us: when and where should we travel for ministry?
• Protection from discouragement for the refugee family we have been helping. Even though there is progress, they still have to wait and work on documents.
• The refugee family’s transition to a new culture and for all refugees who also are having transition challenges. They will need tremendous courage to face huge challenges in their up-coming transition.
• For more churches to take on supporting refugees. We have done it in the past with the boat people and Vietnam refugees. Let’s do it again now with so many people who need help.
• For all the refugees around the world, including those from Ukraine, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, and the list could go on. The latest estimate is that there are now over 100 million displaced people around the world!
• Tom as he expects to go to Indonesia for several days of meetings at the beginning of November.
• Please be praying for the Lord to put us where we are to serve Him and others well.

Thank you for your faithful prayer for us as well as your financial gifts that allow us to do the work He has called us to.

Recent Publications

1. God Needs No Defense: Reimagining Muslim-Christian Relations in the 21st Century, edited by Thomas K. Johnson and C. Holland Taylor (a Muslim scholar), hard cover: https://wipfandstock.com/9781666744323/god-needs-no-defense/; free PDF: https://www.academia.edu/50075224/God_Needs_No_Defense_Reimagining_Muslim_Christian_Relations_in_the_21st_Century.
2. Humanitarian Islam, Evangelical Christianity, and the Clash of Civilizations, paperback: https://wipfandstock.com/9781666704396/humanitarian-islam-evangelical-christianity-and-the-clash-of-civilizations/; free PDF: https://www.academia.edu/45458012/Humanitarian_Islam_Evangelical_Christianity_and_the_Clash_of_Civilizations.
3. Christian Ethics in Secular Cultures: Volume 2: Culture, Hermeneutics, Natural Law, Islam, and Missions, paperback (temporarily out of stock): https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Thomas-K-Johnson/dp/3862692337/ref=sr_1_9?crid=160UQNHXL0FOZ&keywords=Thomas+K.+Johnson&qid=1652537978&sprefix=thomas+k.+johnson%2Caps%2C160&sr=8-9; free PDF: https://www.academia.edu/74013380/Christian_Ethics_in_Secular_Cultures_vol_2_Culture_Hermeneutics_Natural_Law_Islam_Missions.
4. The Protester, the Dissident, and the Christian: Essays on Human Rights and Religion, with a foreword by C. Holland Taylor, paperback: https://wipfandstock.com/search-results/?contributor=Thomas%20K%20Johnson; free PDF: https://www.academia.edu/45375662/The_Protester_the_Dissident_and_the_Christian_Essays_on_Human_Rights_and_Religion.
5. “Does the Word of God Change the World? From Martin Luther to the 69 Theses of Thomas Schirrmacher,” Evangelical Review of Theology, May 2022: https://www.academia.edu/78964674/Does_the_Word_of_God_Change_the_World_From_Martin_Luther_to_the_69_Theses_of_Thomas_Schirrmacher.
6. “Religious communities as good neighbors in a post-secular global society,” December 2020 speech for a US State Department online conference for global religious leaders and diplomats, later published by the International Journal for Religious Freedom: https://www.academia.edu/73268382/Religious_communities_as_good_neighbors_in_a_post_secular_global_society.

Forthcoming: The Decalogue Project: Disciples from Six Continents Engage with God’s Ten Commandments, edited by Thomas K. Johnson and William S. Barker.

We appreciate you all and are thankful for the Lord’s work through you!