June 10, 2025 • 23 mins
Gen Z and Gen Alpha are on the move! Rather, God is on the move in these generations! In this episode, Evangelist and Revivalist Ross Johnston gives us an in-depth update on what God is doing among Gen Z and Gen Alpha, and the fact that hundreds and thousands of young people are coming to faith in Jesus and being baptized in water. Spiritual revival may very well be upon us!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
In Matthew 323, we read about John the Baptist who
most of us know is a person who God used
to prepare the way of Jesus in his arrival to
earth and his ministry. Ross Johnston in many ways is
a prophetic voice to this generation, and I wanna invite
you to open your heart and mind to the message
he brings, not just for students, but I believe for
(00:22):
this generation that is anybody living and breathing today. So
check out Ross Johnson as we jump into this episode
of Kingdom and Culture.
(00:42):
I met Ross a few different times, uh, most recently
at Baptized California at Huntington Beach. And, uh, he's just,
he's just doing what God's called him to do. So, Ross,
it's good to have you, man. Uh, and I love
that you are totally wearing the chosen team on your head,
the Los Angeles Dodgers. Um, we're both Dodger fans, but
(01:05):
that said, dude, I just, you know, if you could
introduce yourself, tell your story a little bit, and I'll
just prompt it with
You, you have a pretty, for lack of a better description,
gnarly background with regard to, it's not normal. Let's say that,
not normal. And if you could just help our, uh,
those that are joining us, um, yeah, understand where you
come from and, and how God has orchestrated your steps
(01:28):
up to this point in your life, and then we'll
go from there. Yeah,
Speaker 2 (01:31):
absolutely. Well, it's an honor to be here and I
truly believe we are living in a specific window of time.
And here's the thing about God, when you enter these
windows where God seems to be more near than he
is in other moments, right? Isaiah 55, seek the Lord
while he can be found. Joel chapter 2, similar language.
I believe there's something happening in our generation. It's like
(01:52):
this divine pull in our souls where we recognize there's
something happening beyond just the surface, what we know, what
we see, what we can touch. And so the reason
why I bring that up is I just
Believe every person who's watching, whether live, later, when wherever
you may be, if you're feeling this sense of like, God,
what is going on in my life in, in my generation,
that is a great place to be because when you
(02:14):
start asking questions, it shows where your hunger and your
desire is really at. And so that also is a
major component of my personal story because for me, I
was born by artificial insemination. I grew up in a
lesbian household with you.
Moms, right? I had never been to church my entire life.
I had never heard a worship song, never heard of
a K wave, right? Like, I had zero grid, zero
(02:35):
grid for God, zero grid for Jesus, the Bible, the
Holy Spirit, all these things. And so at 15 years old,
a friend invites me to church, and I remember I'm
sitting all the way in the back row. Now when
I preach, I always say this, God will get you
in the back row. And so I'm sitting all the
way in that back row and
You know, long story short, I can't even tell you
to this day what that pastor said. I have no
(02:57):
remembrance of anything that he said, not even one word,
one joke, one scripture, zero. But I do know this,
that there was something happening on the inside of me.
That for the first time in my life, I actually
began to feel like hope and destiny and identity in this, this,
this divine pull that I just talked about, that was,
that began to take place in my life in that
(03:18):
moment in the back of that church. And so from
0 to 15 before I was in this church service, right?
I mean, my family, obviously, we weren't living in the
design of God. However, things weren't too bad.
or too crazy, right? We always had a roof over
our head, we always had food on the table. I
had friends. I did good in sports, praise God. But
as I started getting into those mid teenage years in
(03:40):
the high school years, you kind of start looking around
and you're recognizing, OK, most people have a mom and
a dad and I have two moms, right? I have,
I don't have any father or any male figure in
the house outside of myself and my brother.
And so when I went to church at 15 and
I started experiencing the presence of God, well, first off,
(04:00):
guess who had to drive me to church because I
was only 15 years old. My mom.
Yeah, right. So I was getting driven to church, having
this encounter with the presence of the Lord, hearing the scriptures.
Then I go back home that night and I'm sitting
there in my room. I have no clue how to
commune with God. I mean, a lot of Christians still
are trying to figure out how to commune with God, right?
(04:21):
And so I'm sitting there and the best language that
I have now is this is what my heart was saying.
God, please don't just let me be a, a good
person who reads a good book, who goes to a
good church, who lives a good life. God, I have
to know you. Like I have to know you personally,
intimately because my life is not working. And sure enough,
night after night in my room, that presence that I
(04:43):
felt in the church building met me in my house
building and, and in that moment I knew.
I knew that this God, this man named Jesus was real.
And so I went back to church the following week.
The pastor said, you got to give your life to Jesus. Honestly,
it kind of sounded a little weird. I'm like, give
your life to Jesus. What, what in the world does
that mean? But here's what I did. I lifted my hand.
(05:04):
I didn't have it all figured out. I didn't have
anything going for me that I knew of, but I
had faith and I believed and in that moment.
I lifted my hand, became born again, received Jesus into
my heart, and that's taking me on the wildest adventure
of my life.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Come on. So, uh, kind of maybe from what you said,
you don't remember the message that initial time, uh, Paul
says in 1 Corinthians 2, where he says, I did
not come to you with wise and persuasive words or
eloquence of men.
But with the demonstration of the spirit's power, would you
say that you encountered God in that kind of powerful
way where the Holy Spirit was calling you out, um,
(05:43):
whether it be in the church or in your bedroom.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I would say there was a, I would say there
was a measure of that, right? Because when we talk
about the power of the spirit, I mean, there's so
many different aspects and that we can talk about with that,
but there was definitely a measure of that because I
had never been in any atmosphere, to my knowledge, any
atmosphere where the presence of God was being hosted, pursued, valued, welcomed,
(06:06):
and so when you.
Walk into that type of atmosphere, all of a sudden,
it's like for and I can look at my life now,
right now, that's kind of like the norm, so to speak, right?
Like I host the presence of the Lord in my apartment,
in my church, everywhere that I go. But when you've
never stepped foot into an atmosphere like that, it's almost
like you know, you don't quite know what's happening, but
you know there's something happening. And that's what happened to me.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
That's so good, dude. And so from the age of
15 and then if you don't mind, how old are
you now?
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah, I'm 30 years young. Come on somebody. Yeah,
Speaker 1 (06:37):
look at you, young Buck. No, that's cool though. So you, you're,
so now the last 15 years, basically, you've been walking
with Jesus, figuring it out along the way and here
God is opening this door for you to. So, you know, I,
I've seen your posts on social media. Um, I'm even
part of that new, uh, Instagram group. You got the
(06:57):
revivalist group, um.
Uh, and because honestly, I look at what's going on
in the world. I'm like, we, we just need spiritual revival.
And I've been ministry for 25 years, and I saw
that way back in the day with Lou Ingle at
the call in Washington DC in the year 2000, and
we just need that awakening in our hearts. And I
see you, dude out there on the streets.
(07:19):
Preaching the word and people that have never heard the
gospel receiving, can you tell us a little bit about that,
where that all started and where that emanated from with
you going literally to the streets with
Speaker 2 (07:31):
the, yeah, totally quick context because I think this is
gonna speak to some people. So I got saved at 15.
I got saved at 15. I graduate high school in
Los Angeles area, go to college in San Diego, graduate
with my business degree in 2016.
And then I figured out I had to pay this
thing called rent. I don't know if you've ever heard
of it, Michael, but I figured out I had to
pay this thing called rent. And so it felt like,
(07:52):
well it didn't feel like it was reality that life
was knocking at my front door. I had to be
a man. I had to figure out how to pay bills,
you know, what's the million dollar question you get asked
in high school and college? What do you want to
do with your life? And you're like, I don't know,
stop asking me that, right? But what happened is I
graduate college and I'm like, I don't want to go
back home. San Diego is a great place, but I
got to figure out how to pay rent. I gotta
(08:13):
figure out.
what to do, how to live life. And so I
wasn't at a local church consistently. I didn't have a
spiritual father. I wasn't in the word daily. I wasn't
doing the practical things, the practical steps to keep me
in intimacy and keep my heart burning, right? And so
what happened is I made the worst decision of my
life and I walked away from Jesus. And when I
(08:33):
say I walk away, not denounce my faith, but simply say,
you know what, God, I'm gonna kind of put you
on a pause here. I need to go figure out
this business, this money, this.
rent thing and I'll get back to you at some point, right?
Worst decision you could ever make. And so what is
exactly my way or the highway. And so over these
next few years, 2016, 2019, 2020, I, I saw a
(08:53):
little bit of these things. I some money started flowing
in my bank account. I started having some influence. Business
was doing well at some point. But when I laid
my head on the pillow at night, like I was empty.
I was broken. I, I, I, I had these natural
tangible things, yet everything internally felt misaligned.
And so 2020 comes and we don't like talking about
that year. We just kind of wanna say, oh well, that,
(09:14):
you know, that happened and uh we'll move on. The
Dodgers won the World Series that year too, so I
was waiting so I, I set you up perfectly for that, right?
I set you up perfectly. But I remember in that
year when I'm, when I'm, you know, I live in California,
we live in California, and whether you live in California
or not, you know, our governor was saying things like
you can't go to church, you can't worship, you can't
take communion. And even though I wasn't walking with Jesus,
it's like that Holy Spirit, that, that, that residence of
(09:36):
the holy.
spirit on the inside of me, though it seemed to
be small in that moment, it started stirring in me again.
And I remember the Lord spoke to me and he said, Ross,
if you don't stand now, you never will. And here's
some language that I've been saying, I love the father
heart of God. I love Abba, but this was not
a daddy God type of moment. This was like a
(09:57):
stern father looking at his son, his child, saying, Ross,
you have a decision to make today.
Like right now, and this decision won't just impact you
for the next week, the next month. This is actually
gonna impact the rest of your life. And so I
get on my knees, I'm weeping, you know, remember, if you,
if you can, try to remember how wild 2020 was
like nobody knew what was going on. There was chaos, tension,
(10:20):
darkness seemed to be prevailing. And so I'm in my
room in San Diego just weeping. I say, Lord, here's
my life, right? I resigned up. Here I am again, God.
And so what happened after that is I walk.
Into a tent revival in Orange County. And when I
walked into this tent revival, keep in mind in 2020,
there was like nothing, no church services, no worship nights,
like everything was shut down, especially in California. So I
(10:42):
walked into this tent revival and that presence of God
that I felt under that tent was so palpable, so
tangible that I started to, I started to become awakened
once again. Long story short, I met a guy that
night and he became really good.
Friends of mine, he was a worship leader, and we said, man,
we gotta do something right now. We don't think the
solution is just to be on a Zoom call and
(11:03):
tuck our tail away in our apartment. Like we have
to stand right now. And so we went to Huntington
Beach in August of 2021. We went out there with
a full sound system, you know, cops are coming up
to me, Ross, where's your permit? I'm like, sir, we
got the permit of heaven. I don't know what to
tell you. And so we started worshiping. We preached the gospel.
300 people showed up, you know, that was my first
time ever.
(11:24):
Preaching and and once again, another long story short here,
but people were coming up to me, Ross, how long
have you been a pastor? I'm like 30 minutes. Ross, what,
what church is this? I'm like, bro, I started going
back to church 6 months ago, but we knew the
move of God had begun and so we decided to
name the movement California Will Be Saved. And, and that's
what we've been doing these last few years. We, we've
(11:44):
done 33 outdoor events all across California from San Francisco
down to San Diego.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Come on.
Dude, and that, that's, uh, that's why when, uh, when
I saw them like, Hey, these guys are doing it.
You know, I've got 3 kids and I'm like, I
want to get out there and do what they're doing. And, and,
and the Lord told me like, you know, you keep
reaching a Vanguard university and a lot of our students
started plugging in with you guys and, and what you
guys are doing, um, just by way of, uh, you know,
(12:10):
social media, but also going out there and worshiping with
you guys and, and supporting. And so, um, yeah, dude,
looking at what you stepped out in faith in, what
kind of, um,
You know, I think of even when you talked about
how the Lord had that moment with you, like, no,
you need to do something now. How the Father, he disciplines,
he chastises those he loves. So, I think God was
(12:34):
maybe telling you how much he loves you because he's saying, Ross,
get your act together and come follow me faithfully. And, uh,
here you are. So you're, you're doing that. I know
you guys still do stuff here and there, but I've
seen of late, you've been engaging with high school campuses.
And, and just going on and preaching the gospel. Can
you tell a little bit about that? Do you go
(12:54):
through the Christian Club, um, do you have students, how
do you, how are you modeling toward that and, and
reaching students on high school campuses?
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah, as a preacher, right, we always have to give
the story because the story is the context, the foundation
that that lays it up. But really there's two main
organizations and I'll explain how I got connected with both
of them.
The first one is the Jesus Clubs led by Brian Barcelona, great,
great friend of mine. The second one is called Decision Point,
led by Mark Hobson, who I actually just met. He's
an incredible leader as well. So what happened is last
(13:24):
year in 2024, uh, there's a few Jesus clubs on
certain campuses here in Southern California. And because I'm friends
with some people like circuit riders and just.
You know how it's kind of in the Christian space,
you're friends with somebody, you're one pastor, and you know,
they hear about you. So I got invited to speak
at a few high schools and honestly, you know, I
was like, let's do, let's go, let's do this. You're
telling me I get to preach the gospel at a
lunch at a public high school, like, yeah, sign me up.
(13:47):
And so I go, I, I spoke at, I believe,
4 or 5 high schools last year, maybe even more,
but here.
Here's the deal. I was going in there because I
love preaching the gospel and really that was the main horror.
But when I walked out of there and I heard
some of these testimonies that some of these students shared
with me personally, I knew that I couldn't just like
clap it up and be like, God, like, whoa, great job, God,
(14:07):
you did your thing. Like, I felt this like pull
and I felt like this was actually a part of
my assignment.
And so one story that stands out to me is I,
and I heard this story from the girl like personally herself,
which just blew my mind. And this is a high
school student, yeah, so the public high school, I mean,
you got 15 minutes, 20 minutes at lunch. You got
15 minutes to build trust, preach the gospel and lead
(14:28):
people to Jesus.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Like pizza there because that builds trust. Yeah,
Speaker 2 (14:32):
exactly. There's Little Caesar's pizza. You can't go far without
it on a high school campus, right.
And so this girl told me this. She said she'd
been coming to the Christian club, the Jesus Club on
her campus every single week for about 345 weeks. This is,
these are her exact words. She said, I hated every
second of it. I hated the pastor who was leading it.
I didn't believe any of it was real. Like I
(14:52):
didn't want to be there, but my friends kept inviting me,
so I kept going. She said, Ross, you came and
spoke one week, and she said, as you were speaking,
I was sitting at the top. It was in like
a gymnasium, right? So I think like a basketball gymnasium
on a high school campus, and they just pulled the
bleachers out. She's like I'm.
Sitting at the top of the bleachers, and when you
started sharing about your story and the gospel, and then
you gave an invitation, so I usually give an invitation
(15:13):
to actually walk down the steps and come where I'm
at so I can lead people through prayer and just
lead them to lead them to the Lord. She said,
when you did that moment and when you actually shared that,
she said, I don't know how else to explain this,
but I literally felt a rope, like somebody placed a
rope around me and pulled me down the steps. I
was weeping, I was crying. I didn't fully know what
(15:35):
was going on.
But something pulled me down the steps. It felt like
a rope. She said, I came down, I gave my
life to Jesus. Well, come to find out that following
week she connected with the pastor who was at that
club every single week, started going to his church. She
then gets baptized. Then she has a younger sister who
gives her life to Jesus. And then she told me
that her mom began to live a lesbian lifestyle not
(15:57):
too long ago. But when she heard about what happened
to her daughter, her, she said she was interested in
knowing more about Jesus and coming to church.
So think about this. In a matter of 24 hours
and then in a matter of a few weeks, this
high school girl who has no grid for Jesus doesn't
even want to be there, has a radical supernatural encounter
(16:18):
at her high school, not in the church building. Praise
God for the church buildings, not at the conference, love
the conferences, not on social media, believe in social media.
Right there at her Christian club on campus, gives her
life to Jesus, leads her sister to the Lord, and
now her and serving at the local church gets.
Baptized and now her lesbian mom wants to know who
he is. When that happens, you can't just wake up
(16:39):
and go back to normal life and say, God, maybe
you'll send me again. It's like, God, no, at all costs,
whatever it takes to get me into high schools. And
so long story short, that's been my heart, and after
praying that, I got an email from somebody from that
next organization called Decision Point, and they've been opening up
doors for me to preach at different public high schools
all across California and even across America, which is happening
(17:01):
very soon. So I'm so honored and so excited.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Well, Ross, it, it's apparent that God's hand is on
your life, and I, I sense that not just, uh,
seeing what God's doing, but in meeting you and, and, uh,
appreciate that fire that you got and the grounding that
God has given you. Um, so do you, so you're
planted in SoCal then I, I imagine in the LA
area or
San Diego or
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I'm actually in Orange County now, so I live in
the promised land. Come on, man. Yeah,
Speaker 1 (17:27):
that dude, listen, it's expensive, but it's nice. Um, that's cool.
So, uh, what can people do, uh, just as far
as keeping in touch with what you're doing, um, uh,
in ministry and how to follow you, support you, all
those kinds of things. Where, where are some places that
people can go to do that? Like, we got high
school students that'll be listening to this and college students, um, yeah,
(17:49):
just how to, how to connect and follow
Speaker 2 (17:51):
you. Well, let me say this first, I have homework
for all my high school and college and even if not,
you're like, dang, I really don't like this guy. I
already got enough homework. But my, my homework.
I read Hebrews chapter 11. Everything that I shared today
really resonates from that place of operating with faith and
recognizing even if you see or don't see what the
(18:12):
Lord has spoken over you, great men and women of
God have laid this foundation. They have pioneered this faith
that you and I are a part of as being
a Christian. And so we're not building something new or
trying to do something that is like never been done before.
We're actually simply partnering with all.
The people that have gone before us, all their labor,
their tears, their work, their prayer, their preaching, they're building,
(18:35):
and we as this next generation get to come alongside
and say, now I'll pick up the baton. You ran
your race for 2030, 40, 50 years. Now here am
I saying, God, I'll use what they have done. I'll say,
I'll look at their foundation, I'll honor their stories, I'll
read their stories, I'll learn their stories, but God, would
you give us a story of our own and our
own generation? So I just wanna, I wanna.
(18:57):
lay that out before you today, that if you're feeling
this pull in your heart or in your spirit, that
God is really doing something that maybe has never been
done before on the earth, and he's almost passing the
baton from one generation to the next, like Moses to Joshua.
And I'll tell you this, when God passes the baton,
he's not always looking for the best, but he's definitely
(19:17):
looking for the yes. Let me say that again. He's
not always looking for the best. You might not come
from the best background, the best city.
You might not have the most money in the bank account,
even if you have those things. The point is this,
you might not think you're the best, but if you
have a yes in your heart, and you say, God,
here am I, send me, he will send the spirit
of revival on your life, and he'll use you in
(19:40):
ways that you can never, ever, ever imagine. So I
just encourage you, whether you're 1828, wherever you're at right now,
if you simply say yes to the Lord, even if
you've walked away, even if you felt like you were lukewarm,
no matter what the circumstances.
Just simply surrender your heart to him. Say, Lord, I'm all,
all of me is all of yours, and let him
use your life however he wants to use it. If
(20:01):
he wants to give you a mic, amen. If he
wants to give you a family, amen. Whatever he wants
to give you, take it and run with it. So
all that to say.
That's good. Where, where you can find me if you
want to follow, if you want to connect, the best
way obviously is social media. All my social media is
just Ross Johnston, my first and last name with two
Ns because somebody took my initial name, which I'm praying for,
(20:23):
and I, I need, I need inner healing for that.
But that's the best way to follow me or you
can go to my website first and last name Rossjohnson.co.
That's where you'll find sermons. If you want to sew,
you want to stay connected, whatever the case may be,
it's all there for you.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Dude, love it.
And I have no doubt that God's going to keep
using you as you stay faithful and trailblaze, man. You,
you're pioneering in a new generation, things that, yeah, as
you mentioned, Hebrews 11, many have done many generations before us,
but there's a time as you opened up a window
right now for the people of God to step out
(20:57):
and activate. And I think it would be fitting. I
haven't had anybody do this yet, but with what you've said.
And, and where we're praying God continues to use young
people at high school, college, or young at heart, people
my age, uh, even 30, you know, uh, would you
pray out this, this episode?
(21:18):
Just, uh, whatever God puts on your heart and let's
let that be the last word, a word of, uh,
a word of faith, a faith-filled prayer for those that
heard that call to give that yes and let God
use them mightily. So would you pray that out for us?
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, absolutely. The word I hear in my spirit is awakening.
So Father, we just declare that spirit of awakening to
fall afresh on the church, on our generation, every man,
every woman, young and old, we just declare God that
our eyes would see.
You rightly, uh, that our hearts will be fully open,
that we would open our hands, we lift our eyes,
we'd surrender all to you and that we would behold
(21:55):
the Lamb of God, the line of the tribe of Judah,
that we'd see the fire that's burning in your eyes,
and it would begin to burn in our own spirit.
So Father, give us boldness, give us an edge, uh,
give us an undignified worship. Give us a, a, uh,
make us rowdy in a holy way, Lord. Let us
be cutting edge and not just stay with.
In the confined walls of cute Christianity, but God, let
(22:17):
us break into the supernatural realm that you've created us
for and you've given us through your Holy Spirit. So Lord,
we just ask for an increase of salvation, of deliverance,
of healing, spirit of wisdom and revelation. Speak to us clearly.
Give us prophetic dreams and visions. God, stir our heart
for what's on your heart. We wanna hear your voice.
We wanna experience your touch God. And so we just
(22:39):
pray as Jesus prayed, Father, let your kingdom come.
Let your will be done here on earth as it
is in heaven. So we just agree as brothers and sisters,
we say let heaven come. Let the atmosphere, the reality,
the operation of heaven flow in us and flow through us,
and we declare this.
In Jesus' name.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
OK, so we have a lot to pray about. God
is doing a mighty work in youth culture, specifically Gen
Z and Gen Alpha, from what we have heard Ross share.
And so I hope you'll go and support Ross, or
at least follow to see what he's doing at Rossjohnston.co
for more information. And remember, God is advancing his kingdom
(23:22):
through all of us as we impact this culture for
his glory.
In Matthew 323, we read about John the Baptist who
most of us know is a person who God used
to prepare the way of Jesus in his arrival to
earth and his ministry. Ross Johnston in many ways is
a prophetic voice to this generation, and I wanna invite
you to open your heart and mind to the message
he brings, not just for students, but I believe for
(00:22):
this generation that is anybody living and breathing today. So
check out Ross Johnson as we jump into this episode
of Kingdom and Culture.
(00:42):
I met Ross a few different times, uh, most recently
at Baptized California at Huntington Beach. And, uh, he's just,
he's just doing what God's called him to do. So, Ross,
it's good to have you, man. Uh, and I love
that you are totally wearing the chosen team on your head,
the Los Angeles Dodgers. Um, we're both Dodger fans, but
(01:05):
that said, dude, I just, you know, if you could
introduce yourself, tell your story a little bit, and I'll
just prompt it with
You, you have a pretty, for lack of a better description,
gnarly background with regard to, it's not normal. Let's say that,
not normal. And if you could just help our, uh,
those that are joining us, um, yeah, understand where you
come from and, and how God has orchestrated your steps
(01:28):
up to this point in your life, and then we'll
go from there. Yeah,
Speaker 2 (01:31):
absolutely. Well, it's an honor to be here and I
truly believe we are living in a specific window of time.
And here's the thing about God, when you enter these
windows where God seems to be more near than he
is in other moments, right? Isaiah 55, seek the Lord
while he can be found. Joel chapter 2, similar language.
I believe there's something happening in our generation. It's like
(01:52):
this divine pull in our souls where we recognize there's
something happening beyond just the surface, what we know, what
we see, what we can touch. And so the reason
why I bring that up is I just
Believe every person who's watching, whether live, later, when wherever
you may be, if you're feeling this sense of like, God,
what is going on in my life in, in my generation,
that is a great place to be because when you
(02:14):
start asking questions, it shows where your hunger and your
desire is really at. And so that also is a
major component of my personal story because for me, I
was born by artificial insemination. I grew up in a
lesbian household with you.
Moms, right? I had never been to church my entire life.
I had never heard a worship song, never heard of
a K wave, right? Like, I had zero grid, zero
(02:35):
grid for God, zero grid for Jesus, the Bible, the
Holy Spirit, all these things. And so at 15 years old,
a friend invites me to church, and I remember I'm
sitting all the way in the back row. Now when
I preach, I always say this, God will get you
in the back row. And so I'm sitting all the
way in that back row and
You know, long story short, I can't even tell you
to this day what that pastor said. I have no
(02:57):
remembrance of anything that he said, not even one word,
one joke, one scripture, zero. But I do know this,
that there was something happening on the inside of me.
That for the first time in my life, I actually
began to feel like hope and destiny and identity in this, this,
this divine pull that I just talked about, that was,
that began to take place in my life in that
(03:18):
moment in the back of that church. And so from
0 to 15 before I was in this church service, right?
I mean, my family, obviously, we weren't living in the
design of God. However, things weren't too bad.
or too crazy, right? We always had a roof over
our head, we always had food on the table. I
had friends. I did good in sports, praise God. But
as I started getting into those mid teenage years in
(03:40):
the high school years, you kind of start looking around
and you're recognizing, OK, most people have a mom and
a dad and I have two moms, right? I have,
I don't have any father or any male figure in
the house outside of myself and my brother.
And so when I went to church at 15 and
I started experiencing the presence of God, well, first off,
(04:00):
guess who had to drive me to church because I
was only 15 years old. My mom.
Yeah, right. So I was getting driven to church, having
this encounter with the presence of the Lord, hearing the scriptures.
Then I go back home that night and I'm sitting
there in my room. I have no clue how to
commune with God. I mean, a lot of Christians still
are trying to figure out how to commune with God, right?
(04:21):
And so I'm sitting there and the best language that
I have now is this is what my heart was saying.
God, please don't just let me be a, a good
person who reads a good book, who goes to a
good church, who lives a good life. God, I have
to know you. Like I have to know you personally,
intimately because my life is not working. And sure enough,
night after night in my room, that presence that I
(04:43):
felt in the church building met me in my house
building and, and in that moment I knew.
I knew that this God, this man named Jesus was real.
And so I went back to church the following week.
The pastor said, you got to give your life to Jesus. Honestly,
it kind of sounded a little weird. I'm like, give
your life to Jesus. What, what in the world does
that mean? But here's what I did. I lifted my hand.
(05:04):
I didn't have it all figured out. I didn't have
anything going for me that I knew of, but I
had faith and I believed and in that moment.
I lifted my hand, became born again, received Jesus into
my heart, and that's taking me on the wildest adventure
of my life.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Come on. So, uh, kind of maybe from what you said,
you don't remember the message that initial time, uh, Paul
says in 1 Corinthians 2, where he says, I did
not come to you with wise and persuasive words or
eloquence of men.
But with the demonstration of the spirit's power, would you
say that you encountered God in that kind of powerful
way where the Holy Spirit was calling you out, um,
(05:43):
whether it be in the church or in your bedroom.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I would say there was a, I would say there
was a measure of that, right? Because when we talk
about the power of the spirit, I mean, there's so
many different aspects and that we can talk about with that,
but there was definitely a measure of that because I
had never been in any atmosphere, to my knowledge, any
atmosphere where the presence of God was being hosted, pursued, valued, welcomed,
(06:06):
and so when you.
Walk into that type of atmosphere, all of a sudden,
it's like for and I can look at my life now,
right now, that's kind of like the norm, so to speak, right?
Like I host the presence of the Lord in my apartment,
in my church, everywhere that I go. But when you've
never stepped foot into an atmosphere like that, it's almost
like you know, you don't quite know what's happening, but
you know there's something happening. And that's what happened to me.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
That's so good, dude. And so from the age of
15 and then if you don't mind, how old are
you now?
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah, I'm 30 years young. Come on somebody. Yeah,
Speaker 1 (06:37):
look at you, young Buck. No, that's cool though. So you, you're,
so now the last 15 years, basically, you've been walking
with Jesus, figuring it out along the way and here
God is opening this door for you to. So, you know, I,
I've seen your posts on social media. Um, I'm even
part of that new, uh, Instagram group. You got the
(06:57):
revivalist group, um.
Uh, and because honestly, I look at what's going on
in the world. I'm like, we, we just need spiritual revival.
And I've been ministry for 25 years, and I saw
that way back in the day with Lou Ingle at
the call in Washington DC in the year 2000, and
we just need that awakening in our hearts. And I
see you, dude out there on the streets.
(07:19):
Preaching the word and people that have never heard the
gospel receiving, can you tell us a little bit about that,
where that all started and where that emanated from with
you going literally to the streets with
Speaker 2 (07:31):
the, yeah, totally quick context because I think this is
gonna speak to some people. So I got saved at 15.
I got saved at 15. I graduate high school in
Los Angeles area, go to college in San Diego, graduate
with my business degree in 2016.
And then I figured out I had to pay this
thing called rent. I don't know if you've ever heard
of it, Michael, but I figured out I had to
pay this thing called rent. And so it felt like,
(07:52):
well it didn't feel like it was reality that life
was knocking at my front door. I had to be
a man. I had to figure out how to pay bills,
you know, what's the million dollar question you get asked
in high school and college? What do you want to
do with your life? And you're like, I don't know,
stop asking me that, right? But what happened is I
graduate college and I'm like, I don't want to go
back home. San Diego is a great place, but I
got to figure out how to pay rent. I gotta
(08:13):
figure out.
what to do, how to live life. And so I
wasn't at a local church consistently. I didn't have a
spiritual father. I wasn't in the word daily. I wasn't
doing the practical things, the practical steps to keep me
in intimacy and keep my heart burning, right? And so
what happened is I made the worst decision of my
life and I walked away from Jesus. And when I
(08:33):
say I walk away, not denounce my faith, but simply say,
you know what, God, I'm gonna kind of put you
on a pause here. I need to go figure out
this business, this money, this.
rent thing and I'll get back to you at some point, right?
Worst decision you could ever make. And so what is
exactly my way or the highway. And so over these
next few years, 2016, 2019, 2020, I, I saw a
(08:53):
little bit of these things. I some money started flowing
in my bank account. I started having some influence. Business
was doing well at some point. But when I laid
my head on the pillow at night, like I was empty.
I was broken. I, I, I, I had these natural
tangible things, yet everything internally felt misaligned.
And so 2020 comes and we don't like talking about
that year. We just kind of wanna say, oh well, that,
(09:14):
you know, that happened and uh we'll move on. The
Dodgers won the World Series that year too, so I
was waiting so I, I set you up perfectly for that, right?
I set you up perfectly. But I remember in that
year when I'm, when I'm, you know, I live in California,
we live in California, and whether you live in California
or not, you know, our governor was saying things like
you can't go to church, you can't worship, you can't
take communion. And even though I wasn't walking with Jesus,
it's like that Holy Spirit, that, that, that residence of
(09:36):
the holy.
spirit on the inside of me, though it seemed to
be small in that moment, it started stirring in me again.
And I remember the Lord spoke to me and he said, Ross,
if you don't stand now, you never will. And here's
some language that I've been saying, I love the father
heart of God. I love Abba, but this was not
a daddy God type of moment. This was like a
(09:57):
stern father looking at his son, his child, saying, Ross,
you have a decision to make today.
Like right now, and this decision won't just impact you
for the next week, the next month. This is actually
gonna impact the rest of your life. And so I
get on my knees, I'm weeping, you know, remember, if you,
if you can, try to remember how wild 2020 was
like nobody knew what was going on. There was chaos, tension,
(10:20):
darkness seemed to be prevailing. And so I'm in my
room in San Diego just weeping. I say, Lord, here's
my life, right? I resigned up. Here I am again, God.
And so what happened after that is I walk.
Into a tent revival in Orange County. And when I
walked into this tent revival, keep in mind in 2020,
there was like nothing, no church services, no worship nights,
like everything was shut down, especially in California. So I
(10:42):
walked into this tent revival and that presence of God
that I felt under that tent was so palpable, so
tangible that I started to, I started to become awakened
once again. Long story short, I met a guy that
night and he became really good.
Friends of mine, he was a worship leader, and we said, man,
we gotta do something right now. We don't think the
solution is just to be on a Zoom call and
(11:03):
tuck our tail away in our apartment. Like we have
to stand right now. And so we went to Huntington
Beach in August of 2021. We went out there with
a full sound system, you know, cops are coming up
to me, Ross, where's your permit? I'm like, sir, we
got the permit of heaven. I don't know what to
tell you. And so we started worshiping. We preached the gospel.
300 people showed up, you know, that was my first
time ever.
(11:24):
Preaching and and once again, another long story short here,
but people were coming up to me, Ross, how long
have you been a pastor? I'm like 30 minutes. Ross, what,
what church is this? I'm like, bro, I started going
back to church 6 months ago, but we knew the
move of God had begun and so we decided to
name the movement California Will Be Saved. And, and that's
what we've been doing these last few years. We, we've
(11:44):
done 33 outdoor events all across California from San Francisco
down to San Diego.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Come on.
Dude, and that, that's, uh, that's why when, uh, when
I saw them like, Hey, these guys are doing it.
You know, I've got 3 kids and I'm like, I
want to get out there and do what they're doing. And, and,
and the Lord told me like, you know, you keep
reaching a Vanguard university and a lot of our students
started plugging in with you guys and, and what you
guys are doing, um, just by way of, uh, you know,
(12:10):
social media, but also going out there and worshiping with
you guys and, and supporting. And so, um, yeah, dude,
looking at what you stepped out in faith in, what
kind of, um,
You know, I think of even when you talked about
how the Lord had that moment with you, like, no,
you need to do something now. How the Father, he disciplines,
he chastises those he loves. So, I think God was
(12:34):
maybe telling you how much he loves you because he's saying, Ross,
get your act together and come follow me faithfully. And, uh,
here you are. So you're, you're doing that. I know
you guys still do stuff here and there, but I've
seen of late, you've been engaging with high school campuses.
And, and just going on and preaching the gospel. Can
you tell a little bit about that? Do you go
(12:54):
through the Christian Club, um, do you have students, how
do you, how are you modeling toward that and, and
reaching students on high school campuses?
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah, as a preacher, right, we always have to give
the story because the story is the context, the foundation
that that lays it up. But really there's two main
organizations and I'll explain how I got connected with both
of them.
The first one is the Jesus Clubs led by Brian Barcelona, great,
great friend of mine. The second one is called Decision Point,
led by Mark Hobson, who I actually just met. He's
an incredible leader as well. So what happened is last
(13:24):
year in 2024, uh, there's a few Jesus clubs on
certain campuses here in Southern California. And because I'm friends
with some people like circuit riders and just.
You know how it's kind of in the Christian space,
you're friends with somebody, you're one pastor, and you know,
they hear about you. So I got invited to speak
at a few high schools and honestly, you know, I
was like, let's do, let's go, let's do this. You're
telling me I get to preach the gospel at a
lunch at a public high school, like, yeah, sign me up.
(13:47):
And so I go, I, I spoke at, I believe,
4 or 5 high schools last year, maybe even more,
but here.
Here's the deal. I was going in there because I
love preaching the gospel and really that was the main horror.
But when I walked out of there and I heard
some of these testimonies that some of these students shared
with me personally, I knew that I couldn't just like
clap it up and be like, God, like, whoa, great job, God,
(14:07):
you did your thing. Like, I felt this like pull
and I felt like this was actually a part of
my assignment.
And so one story that stands out to me is I,
and I heard this story from the girl like personally herself,
which just blew my mind. And this is a high
school student, yeah, so the public high school, I mean,
you got 15 minutes, 20 minutes at lunch. You got
15 minutes to build trust, preach the gospel and lead
(14:28):
people to Jesus.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Like pizza there because that builds trust. Yeah,
Speaker 2 (14:32):
exactly. There's Little Caesar's pizza. You can't go far without
it on a high school campus, right.
And so this girl told me this. She said she'd
been coming to the Christian club, the Jesus Club on
her campus every single week for about 345 weeks. This is,
these are her exact words. She said, I hated every
second of it. I hated the pastor who was leading it.
I didn't believe any of it was real. Like I
(14:52):
didn't want to be there, but my friends kept inviting me,
so I kept going. She said, Ross, you came and
spoke one week, and she said, as you were speaking,
I was sitting at the top. It was in like
a gymnasium, right? So I think like a basketball gymnasium
on a high school campus, and they just pulled the
bleachers out. She's like I'm.
Sitting at the top of the bleachers, and when you
started sharing about your story and the gospel, and then
you gave an invitation, so I usually give an invitation
(15:13):
to actually walk down the steps and come where I'm
at so I can lead people through prayer and just
lead them to lead them to the Lord. She said,
when you did that moment and when you actually shared that,
she said, I don't know how else to explain this,
but I literally felt a rope, like somebody placed a
rope around me and pulled me down the steps. I
was weeping, I was crying. I didn't fully know what
(15:35):
was going on.
But something pulled me down the steps. It felt like
a rope. She said, I came down, I gave my
life to Jesus. Well, come to find out that following
week she connected with the pastor who was at that
club every single week, started going to his church. She
then gets baptized. Then she has a younger sister who
gives her life to Jesus. And then she told me
that her mom began to live a lesbian lifestyle not
(15:57):
too long ago. But when she heard about what happened
to her daughter, her, she said she was interested in
knowing more about Jesus and coming to church.
So think about this. In a matter of 24 hours
and then in a matter of a few weeks, this
high school girl who has no grid for Jesus doesn't
even want to be there, has a radical supernatural encounter
(16:18):
at her high school, not in the church building. Praise
God for the church buildings, not at the conference, love
the conferences, not on social media, believe in social media.
Right there at her Christian club on campus, gives her
life to Jesus, leads her sister to the Lord, and
now her and serving at the local church gets.
Baptized and now her lesbian mom wants to know who
he is. When that happens, you can't just wake up
(16:39):
and go back to normal life and say, God, maybe
you'll send me again. It's like, God, no, at all costs,
whatever it takes to get me into high schools. And
so long story short, that's been my heart, and after
praying that, I got an email from somebody from that
next organization called Decision Point, and they've been opening up
doors for me to preach at different public high schools
all across California and even across America, which is happening
(17:01):
very soon. So I'm so honored and so excited.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Well, Ross, it, it's apparent that God's hand is on
your life, and I, I sense that not just, uh,
seeing what God's doing, but in meeting you and, and, uh,
appreciate that fire that you got and the grounding that
God has given you. Um, so do you, so you're
planted in SoCal then I, I imagine in the LA
area or
San Diego or
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I'm actually in Orange County now, so I live in
the promised land. Come on, man. Yeah,
Speaker 1 (17:27):
that dude, listen, it's expensive, but it's nice. Um, that's cool.
So, uh, what can people do, uh, just as far
as keeping in touch with what you're doing, um, uh,
in ministry and how to follow you, support you, all
those kinds of things. Where, where are some places that
people can go to do that? Like, we got high
school students that'll be listening to this and college students, um, yeah,
(17:49):
just how to, how to connect and follow
Speaker 2 (17:51):
you. Well, let me say this first, I have homework
for all my high school and college and even if not,
you're like, dang, I really don't like this guy. I
already got enough homework. But my, my homework.
I read Hebrews chapter 11. Everything that I shared today
really resonates from that place of operating with faith and
recognizing even if you see or don't see what the
(18:12):
Lord has spoken over you, great men and women of
God have laid this foundation. They have pioneered this faith
that you and I are a part of as being
a Christian. And so we're not building something new or
trying to do something that is like never been done before.
We're actually simply partnering with all.
The people that have gone before us, all their labor,
their tears, their work, their prayer, their preaching, they're building,
(18:35):
and we as this next generation get to come alongside
and say, now I'll pick up the baton. You ran
your race for 2030, 40, 50 years. Now here am
I saying, God, I'll use what they have done. I'll say,
I'll look at their foundation, I'll honor their stories, I'll
read their stories, I'll learn their stories, but God, would
you give us a story of our own and our
own generation? So I just wanna, I wanna.
(18:57):
lay that out before you today, that if you're feeling
this pull in your heart or in your spirit, that
God is really doing something that maybe has never been
done before on the earth, and he's almost passing the
baton from one generation to the next, like Moses to Joshua.
And I'll tell you this, when God passes the baton,
he's not always looking for the best, but he's definitely
(19:17):
looking for the yes. Let me say that again. He's
not always looking for the best. You might not come
from the best background, the best city.
You might not have the most money in the bank account,
even if you have those things. The point is this,
you might not think you're the best, but if you
have a yes in your heart, and you say, God,
here am I, send me, he will send the spirit
of revival on your life, and he'll use you in
(19:40):
ways that you can never, ever, ever imagine. So I
just encourage you, whether you're 1828, wherever you're at right now,
if you simply say yes to the Lord, even if
you've walked away, even if you felt like you were lukewarm,
no matter what the circumstances.
Just simply surrender your heart to him. Say, Lord, I'm all,
all of me is all of yours, and let him
use your life however he wants to use it. If
(20:01):
he wants to give you a mic, amen. If he
wants to give you a family, amen. Whatever he wants
to give you, take it and run with it. So
all that to say.
That's good. Where, where you can find me if you
want to follow, if you want to connect, the best
way obviously is social media. All my social media is
just Ross Johnston, my first and last name with two
Ns because somebody took my initial name, which I'm praying for,
(20:23):
and I, I need, I need inner healing for that.
But that's the best way to follow me or you
can go to my website first and last name Rossjohnson.co.
That's where you'll find sermons. If you want to sew,
you want to stay connected, whatever the case may be,
it's all there for you.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Dude, love it.
And I have no doubt that God's going to keep
using you as you stay faithful and trailblaze, man. You,
you're pioneering in a new generation, things that, yeah, as
you mentioned, Hebrews 11, many have done many generations before us,
but there's a time as you opened up a window
right now for the people of God to step out
(20:57):
and activate. And I think it would be fitting. I
haven't had anybody do this yet, but with what you've said.
And, and where we're praying God continues to use young
people at high school, college, or young at heart, people
my age, uh, even 30, you know, uh, would you
pray out this, this episode?
(21:18):
Just, uh, whatever God puts on your heart and let's
let that be the last word, a word of, uh,
a word of faith, a faith-filled prayer for those that
heard that call to give that yes and let God
use them mightily. So would you pray that out for us?
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, absolutely. The word I hear in my spirit is awakening.
So Father, we just declare that spirit of awakening to
fall afresh on the church, on our generation, every man,
every woman, young and old, we just declare God that
our eyes would see.
You rightly, uh, that our hearts will be fully open,
that we would open our hands, we lift our eyes,
we'd surrender all to you and that we would behold
(21:55):
the Lamb of God, the line of the tribe of Judah,
that we'd see the fire that's burning in your eyes,
and it would begin to burn in our own spirit.
So Father, give us boldness, give us an edge, uh,
give us an undignified worship. Give us a, a, uh,
make us rowdy in a holy way, Lord. Let us
be cutting edge and not just stay with.
In the confined walls of cute Christianity, but God, let
(22:17):
us break into the supernatural realm that you've created us
for and you've given us through your Holy Spirit. So Lord,
we just ask for an increase of salvation, of deliverance,
of healing, spirit of wisdom and revelation. Speak to us clearly.
Give us prophetic dreams and visions. God, stir our heart
for what's on your heart. We wanna hear your voice.
We wanna experience your touch God. And so we just
(22:39):
pray as Jesus prayed, Father, let your kingdom come.
Let your will be done here on earth as it
is in heaven. So we just agree as brothers and sisters,
we say let heaven come. Let the atmosphere, the reality,
the operation of heaven flow in us and flow through us,
and we declare this.
In Jesus' name.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
OK, so we have a lot to pray about. God
is doing a mighty work in youth culture, specifically Gen
Z and Gen Alpha, from what we have heard Ross share.
And so I hope you'll go and support Ross, or
at least follow to see what he's doing at Rossjohnston.co
for more information. And remember, God is advancing his kingdom
(23:22):
through all of us as we impact this culture for
his glory.
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