By Ellie Watkins
Jim Johnson is a longtime fixture at St. John’s—a friendly face greeting people on Sundays and an experienced voice contributing to committee decisions. He’s a cradle Episcopalian with a longtime interest in evangelism; he joined St. John’s in 1975 and was elected to the Vestry four years later.
His first assignment was co-chair of Fellowship with Lola Ferguson. “We were a really good team,” he remembers. They served during the St. John’s Centennial, an entire year’s worth of celebrations, culminating in a banquet with the parish and all its former rectors. “It was the most people I’ve ever seen in our gymnasium.”
After that, he was asked to chair the stewardship committee. It was a time of high inflation in America, and St. John’s was facing a potential financial crisis. Jim helped change the previous model and got people talking about pledging and giving. The congregation responded, and they ended their campaign with an impressive surplus of $71,000. “I’m really proud of that,” Jim notes.
After that, he became Senior Warden. “The day Grayson Clary told me he was resigning was not a great day for me, because I knew it would be a big responsibility to find a replacement for him!” The church wanted to make their associate rector, Tom Harries, their interim rector, but the diocese’s policy was to bring in someone new. A deadlock ensued. It ended when Jim, attending an unrelated Christmas party at the Minneapolis Club, saw Bishop Robert Anderson at a different party next door. Jim ran after him and caught up with him on the stairway landing. They agreed on a compromise: Harries could become the interim rector if St. John’s stopped using the 1928 prayer book at the 8am service! Jim attended 8am services to personally explain the transition to the new prayer book, and it went smoothly.
Jim also served as greeter at the door for 13 years. Assisted by Eleanor Hartman, he kept copious notes on visitors. “I really like meeting new people,” he says, adding that hospitality is so important. “Greeting people at the door is one of the keys. If you’re new in any setting, you don’t know what to do” and you appreciate someone who can guide you right away. “A little gesture” like inviting someone to coffee hour during the Peace or delivering a loaf of bread to a visitor “makes all the difference.”
He hosted a lot of brunches for new members at his house—indeed, many current members joined after attending one of Jim’s brunches! It’s one of his most powerful contributions to St. John’s.
And there are many other contributions in Jim’s history of servant leadership here. He served as treasurer from 2000-2013. He helped organize the Cornerstone Trust, the church’s endowment fund, and continues to serve as a trustee. He organized the Men’s Breakfast, “a wonderful group” for a long time with Don Husband. He’s been chairman of the building committee since 1996. The committee handles capital projects, aesthetics, gift acceptance, and memorials. “It all ties in with outreach and evangelism.” They’ve overseen everything from railings and ramps to renovating the undercroft. It “looked just like a 1902 basement in someone’s house!” Now this clean, updated space is a key part of our programming.
But if it starts to seem like Jim does it all, he’ll set you straight. “I would be lousy at lots of things it takes to run a church!” he laughs. He’s quick to compliment the work of many others around the church and what a great job they’re doing. “You have to match people with their talents. That’s what teamwork is all about. That’s how you have progress and move ahead. A church is like a village. It takes a village to make things work.”
Originally published in the May-June 2019 Evangelist.
