December 5, 2024 • 39 mins
This episode was released on September 27, 2024.
Ross Johnston shares the incredible story of how revival broke out across California, with THOUSANDS responding to Jesus at outdoor events. Hear testimonies of lives transformed and discover how you can partner with this movement. Ross also opens up about his unconventional upbringing and journey to faith. Learn how the presence of God is drawing people of all backgrounds into a life-changing encounter with Jesus. This interview will inspire and equip you to see revival in your own community.
@RossJohnstonn
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I was born by artificial insemination. I grew up in a lesbian household with two moms.
(00:05):
You know, I'd never been to church, never heard a worship song, never heard a sermon,
never heard of a Charisma News, right? Like, I had zero grid for God.
Ross Johnston, it's great to have you here on Charisma. You have been seeing tremendous
revival and I love your story of how God brought you to a place where revival is your passion.
(00:26):
You've seen God do amazing things in California. We're going to talk about how that's spreading in
powerful ways. Tell us what's going on right now with you.
Yeah, well, what's really exciting is one thing that we've seen in California all throughout
history is that when God does something significant in California, it not only touches America,
(00:49):
but it touches the nations of the earth. So, what we've been seeing is three years ago,
we started as a group of just young bucks, young kids just desiring God to move.
And in a time, there was the most crisis and tension that we've ever experienced in our own life.
And you know, what we started doing is we said, we're going to do what the Bible says to do.
I know, crazy concept. And so, we were showing up at beaches, we're showing up at streets,
(01:12):
we're showing up wherever we could set a sound system up, that's where we were at.
And so, what we started doing is we just started doing open air worship, preaching the gospel,
baptisms, and the wind of God just came on it and God started breathing on it.
And what started with a couple hundred people per gathering in a few years here is turning to
thousands of people showing up, believing for God to yes, touch California, yes, touch America,
(01:36):
but ultimately to touch the nations of the earth. And so, it's been an incredible journey with so
much more to come. But that's how this journey has kind of been for us.
Yeah. So, you said three years ago, and as we're recording this, this is 2024.
And three years ago, we were in the midst of the worldwide pandemic. And so, California was more
(01:58):
shut down than the rest of the country. Now, I'm in Orlando, Florida, and I've only been to
California a few times. But to be completely honest, people outside of California kind of
look at California as a lost cause. But what you're telling me is that California is not a
lost cause. Tell me about the start of these revivals that you've been seeing.
(02:20):
Yeah. It's, you know, California definitely was a very interesting place and state.
Four years ago in 2020, right, our governor was saying, you can't take communion, you can't
worship, you can't gather. But ultimately, you know, the enemy always overplaces his hand,
and he's never won. He never will. And so, what it actually did is it backfired because people
(02:42):
like me who at the time, I actually wasn't walking with the Lord, which we'll get more into here in a
sec, I started feeling this hunger and this stir and this faith in me like, oh my gosh, this is the
moment that I was created for. And I know so many of us watching and listening had that moment in
the past few years. And so, what ended up happening is I walked into a tent revival in Orange County,
(03:02):
California. And when I walk into this tent revival, I see the worship leader on stage,
and the Lord tells me, you need to connect with him. And I didn't know this guy at all. We had
never had a conversation. Later on in the night, the preacher of that gathering brings the worship
leader back on stage mid sermon and says, listen, you have a sound of revival that needs to be
(03:22):
released across the state of California, and you're going to need a car to do this. And she
hands him the keys to her brand new Jeep car right on stage. I've never experienced anything like
this, weeping. I mean, people are just like sounds, you know, it was just one of those holy moments
where you just didn't quite know what was happening, but you knew God was in it. Well, I end up
(03:44):
connecting with him that night. His name is Joel, and we became really good friends. And we just
started talking about revival history in California, right? Azusa Street, Amy Simple McPherson,
Billy Graham launching his ministry, the Jesus People movement. And we just said, God, you've
done it so many times here in California. We believe you're going to do it again. And that's
what ultimately led us to go to Huntington Beach in 2021 and do an outdoor event. We didn't have
(04:06):
any permits. Cops are coming up to us like, what are you doing here? I'm like, sir, I have the
permit of heaven. You know, and that started the whole journey where here we are three and a half
years later, we just did 31 cities across the state of California. And that's where the journey
was birthed and where it really began. So what's happening at these revivals? So a bunch of people
(04:26):
show up, there's, there's worship, like, tell me about what it's like for somebody that is
just stumbling upon this. They might be walking by because I mean, yeah, you're going to attract
Christians, you post something on social media, Christians like to get together. I mean, that's
part of our DNA. But ultimately, you want to reach the lost. So tell me about that. What this is like
for somebody that just stumbles upon this. Yeah, I think one of the best descriptions that we
(04:51):
recently came up with, and, and this is really challenging sometimes, but it's been a blessing
in regards to our gatherings is it feels like you're in a church building, but you're outside,
like the presence of God, the peace of God, the hand of God, the voice of God, the saints are
all together. Yet there is no walls. You're just in the open air. You're in one of the most famous
(05:12):
beaches or streets, literally in America, going after Jesus, worshiping Him, lifting your hands,
you know, preaching the gospel, praying for people who are sick, praying for people who need
miracles, baptizing people in the ocean. So, you know, I would say if somebody stumbles across a
gathering, they're going to be walking in just a normal everyday life scenario. And then all of the
sudden they're going to be like, wait a minute, what am I feeling? What am I sensing? Why do I
(05:37):
feel hope? Why do I feel peace? Why do I feel destiny? Why do I feel like there's something
beyond me taking place in the atmosphere? And so I like to call it for maybe a lack of better term,
like a holy chaos, right? Like the whole world is in tension. There's so many things going on,
but for a moment, for a couple hours in a certain place, at a certain time, the presence of God is
so tangible that nothing else matters but knowing who He is and making Him known. Yeah. Well, I know
(06:03):
God gave you a dream and that's where these things came out of. So I want to talk about this dream,
but let's back up a little bit because we mentioned your story a little bit here and there,
but we're going to get to this dream in just a few minutes. But your backstory is really remarkable.
I've heard you tell it a couple other times, but you did not grow up with a traditional family at
(06:27):
all. Tell us about this. Yeah. I mean, my story, honestly, it starts on day one, right? So I was
born by artificial insemination. I grew up in a lesbian household with two moms. You know, I'd
never been to church, never heard a worship song, never heard a sermon, never heard of a charisma
news, right? Like I had zero grid for God. And recently I actually asked my mom, because I was
(06:49):
really curious. I said, mom, why, why did you have me? You know, and she had told me that ever since
she was a young girl, she'd always desire children. Obviously she started living a lesbian lifestyle,
but she started recognizing that her body clock was kind of running out. And she was like, man,
if I'm going to have children, you know, it's going to be, it's got to be in these next few years.
And so what she did, this was, you know, keep in mind, this was the early 1990s, right? She opens
(07:13):
up a phone book and she found a laboratory. She walks in and says, Hey, I want to have a child.
They put a list of about 10 donors or 10 men in front of her. And she chose one. They inseminated
her with the donor. And nine months later, here I was. And so I was born in 1994 in Los Angeles,
California. And so that is the journey of kind of where I was birthed from, where I began
(07:39):
in regards to my natural bloodline. So just curious, have you ever found out who that,
who that donor was? Yeah, I've never found out. I mean, the reality is you don't know how many times,
you know, his DNA has been used, right? So you don't know how many half siblings you have.
You don't know. I could be walking by half sibling every day and have no clue. I think there is ways
(08:02):
to now, especially now in the culture we live in, there's ways to potentially find them. But
for me, it's like, once I met the father, right, the father, our father, God, it was one of those
things where it's like, I don't really have a desire. If it came across my life, I'm totally
open to it. But there's nothing really pushing or pulling me like, I have to find out who this guy
is. Yeah. I was just curious because I mean, that's, that's just kind of wild. So you grew up in
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this family without a father and two mothers. How did that affect your view of God? Yeah, well,
like I always say like this, everybody's, you know, experience is so unique, right? Like growing up in
my household, there was no talk of Jesus, you know, I had never been a church. But at the same time,
it wasn't necessarily anti-God. What I mean by that is my mom wasn't, you know, flying a pride flag
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and saying, you need to affirm my gender and you know, things of that nature. It was just more so
like, hey, this is how my lifestyle I live. We don't really need to talk a whole ton about it.
But there also was no mention or no talk about Jesus, religion, faith, anything of that nature.
And so when I got invited to church for the first time ever and I went, that kind of shifted
everything for me because I didn't really have a tainted lens of God. I didn't have any lens.
(09:14):
All I knew was when I walked into the church building, I felt something happen internally.
I knew that God was real, that His presence was there. And I just wanted more of that. And that's
what led me to the decision of coming to Jesus. Yeah. So tell me about this decision to come know
Jesus and how old are you at this time? Because I mean, obviously this is a departure from the values,
(09:37):
I guess, that you grew up with. So obviously there had to be some bit of a conflict with this. So
tell me about that story. Yeah, I was 15 years old and my friend and her grandma would always go to
church. And for some reason, I still don't know the reason to this day, they decided to invite me one
weekend, you know? And it was like in high school, when you have a really good friend in high school
(09:57):
and they ask you to go somewhere, of course you're going to go. So I'm like, sure, why not? Like,
I'll go to church. I've never been, I have nothing against it. And we walk into the church service
and you know, we're sitting in the back row. And now I say it like this when I preach, right? God
will get you in the back row. And I'm sitting back there. And like I just said a few minutes ago,
I just felt something internally begin to happen. Like I felt hope and destiny, and it felt like
(10:19):
there was something greater and beyond myself. But not only that, I started to feel like this value,
like, oh, I'm really seeing, I'm really cared for. There is a plan, there is a purpose for my life.
And as I'm sitting in this church building, I go, well, there's no other explanation than
God's real. Like there's nothing else outside of that. I've never felt this in my life. And I'm
feeling it at this specific place where they say that God is alive. And they're talking about this
(10:41):
man named Jesus. And they're talking about the Bible and the Holy Spirit. And so I went home
that night after going to church. And you know, you got to keep in mind, I never had a conversation
with God, right? Like I had never had a dialogue. I didn't even know what that meant. And as I look
back on it, you know, 12, 13 years ago, this is really what I was saying in my heart is God,
please don't let me just be a good person who reads a good book, goes to a good church,
(11:04):
lives a good life. Like, God, I want to know you like that fire and that passion and that love and
that peace and that joy that I felt. I want that to be the greatest reality of my life. And so
sure enough, night after night in my room, the presence of God would meet me. And the next time
I went to church, I just lifted my hand and I responded to the salvation call. And I said,
Jesus, here's my life. And I didn't even know what that meant, but I knew that Jesus was real and
(11:28):
deserved every part of who I was. Yeah. So then, then what happened? I mean, you, you came to,
you came to know Jesus, you surrendered to him, but you're 15 years old. You can't drive yet.
You're obviously still living with your mom. And tell me about how your relationship with Jesus
grew because that's, I mean, we learned in Mark chapter four, that the sea that gets scattered on
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the ground, there's four different types of soil. And, you know, three of those aren't very good
where they get choked up, they get eaten and scorched and die. So how did you remain in good
soil? Well, it was a very unique situation. And I promise, I know when people share their stories,
I'm not trying to say everything about my life is unique, but certain things definitely stand out.
And I remember like when I, that first week that I either went to church or gave my life to Jesus,
(12:14):
I can't remember exactly, but my mom and her partner ended up splitting, which obviously was
like a whole nother dynamic, because now I'm going to church and it's like holy and presence of God,
and I'm crying and I'm hearing about the word of God. And then I go home and it's like a whole
different atmosphere, you know, but not only that kind of, I guess a fun fact is like you said,
I couldn't drive. So guess who had to drive me to church? My mom, right? So my mom's taking me to
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church, going back home, coming back and picking me up. And so it was just such a unique scenario.
But I remember the second week I was at church, the pastor came out to me and released the word
of knowledge. And I had no clue what the gifts of the Holy Spirit were. And he's just like, man,
Ross, I see leadership on your life. And I'm like, thank you. But what does that mean? Right? I was
still so new to everything. And so long story short, that first year, year and a half, I just
(13:02):
served in the youth ministry. And then I actually came to the end of my high school time. So I
graduated high school and I went to college in San Diego. And for those four years in college,
I'm so thankful nothing traumatic really happened. But I graduated college in 2016. And I figured out
I had to pay this thing called rent. Right? And I'm like, oh my gosh, like life is at my front door.
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And so I made the worst decision of my life, talking about the seed and the four different
way in the four different kind of paths that we take when the word of God or when Jesus gets
implanted in us. What I did is since I wasn't rooted in a local church, since I didn't have a
spiritual father in my life, I was going to church time to time, but I wasn't really spending, you
know, quality, consistent time with the Lord. I decided when I graduated college, God, I'm going
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to put you on a pause here because I don't have the girlfriend I want. I don't have the house I want.
I don't have the money I want. Right? Notice the word I a lot in that. And so I played the blame
game with God. My heart became bitter. And then I walked out of intimacy with the Lord. And so for
the next three years of 2016 to the end of 2019, man, it was the worst time of my life. Sure. I had
some of the things the world told me to do. But ultimately, when I laid my head on the pillow at
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night, I felt empty and broken. And so that's what ultimately led me to 2020, where everything
shifted for me once again. Yeah. 2020, you had an opportunity to actually have kind of a dream job.
And so you kind of had to lay that down once God started giving you a different dream, his dream.
(14:33):
Tell me about that part of your story, because this is this is pretty wild. Yeah. So 2020 comes
in, like, seriously, I hated my life. Like, it was just like, I just had no purpose, no hope. I was
doing the same thing over and over. Well, in early 2020, when I started seeing the pandemic and
everything happening, it was really wild, because though I wasn't walking with the Lord, I felt
(14:53):
this stirring in me. And I even heard the Holy Spirit tell me, Ross, if you do not stand now,
you never will. And right at that time, I got offered a job to work for a social media marketing
agency. You know, this social media marketing agency was one of the top in literally in America,
maybe even the world. I was making good money. It was a remote job, especially during the pandemic.
(15:15):
It was like the perfect, the perfect situation. And I remember for the first year I worked that,
it was incredible. I was making good money. And then I started feeling this stir, like, okay,
I've come back to the Lord, I've come back to Jesus, but I'm burning for revival. I want to
see something happen in the nation. I want to get into the streets. I want to preach the gospel.
I want to mobilize the church. I want to see a move of God. And so that ultimately led me to that
(15:36):
tent revival, which has taken me along these last three and a half years of my life. So like you said,
I got this amazing job, was perfect, especially during the pandemic. And then I felt the Lord
tell me, you know, if you're going to lead a movement of revival, you're going to have to
lay down this dream job of yours. And so ultimately, that's what I ended up doing.
– Yeah. So tell me about following the dream that God gave you.
(15:57):
– Yeah. Well, when I walked into this tent revival, that night was so catalytic on so many
levels, right? I meet Joel, who I ended up leading the ministry with. He receives a prophetic word
about revival in California, you know, but not only that, what we decided to do is after this tent
revival, we decided it was time to get outside of the building. But before we went to Huntington
(16:18):
Beach, before we did all these 31 cities in the last three years, there was actually a dream that
came to us from a friend who's a prophet. And in this dream, he said he saw us standing on the beach,
standing on a beach in California. And he said, Jesus appeared to him in the dream. First off,
I'm like, I want dreams like that. Jesus appeared to me in my dreams, right? And so he sees Jesus
appear to him to the dream, and he takes him down to the water. And he says, do you hear the sound,
(16:44):
almost as if to say, like, do you see what's coming? And as soon as he said that, the ground
began to shake. And when the ground began to shake, Jesus said these few things. He said this, he said,
the land of California has already been prepared. He said, the victory has already come, and now is
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the time for the rains of my spirit. And as soon as he said that, a massive tsunami wave from the
Pacific Ocean crashed over the shores of California. And in that dream, we were asking him,
do you remember where we were at, like, logistically, like geographically? He said,
yes, in Huntington Beach. And so we knew in that dream that God was speaking to us, we needed to
(17:29):
get outside the building, we needed to worship, and we needed to go along the coast, the Pacific
Coast, PCH, Pacific Coast Highway. And that's why we ultimately went to Huntington Beach in 2021,
and God birthed the entire movement of where we and what we've been doing these last three and a
half years. So that was your first crusade, or that was your first revival? Yeah, we didn't even
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know, like, we were just gonna, we were just going to the beach for like a two-day event, because we
just wanted to do something. We had no clue it was gonna turn into a movement. And you know, people
were coming up to me, Ross, how long you been a pastor? I said 30 minutes. Ross, what church is
this? I'm like, I don't even know what to tell you. I just started going back to church like six months
ago. So Joel and I go home after night one, and we're like, man, we got to give this thing a name.
(18:12):
And so we named it California Will Be Saved. And that's what we've been doing for these last three
and a half years. Yeah. So people thought that you had been a pastor for a while, or had been
ministry for a while, and you jokingly said it's been about 30 minutes, and you were serious with
that. Yeah. Tell me about what you were preaching, and how did God prepare you for that first message
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there? You know, honestly, it's the grace of God, because I had never preached a day in my life,
and I didn't really have like this desire to be in ministry. Like, that never was on like my future
vision board. Right. But it kind of, I kind of got thrown into it, because Joel would lead worship,
and he was a phenomenal preacher, too. But he couldn't do that always. And so I was like,
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you know, we were kind of thinking, who's going to preach? And I'm like, well, I'll go for it,
you know. And so at these gatherings, it was really simple. It was literally like a 10 minute
gospel presentation. Very simple. Who Jesus was, what he did on the cross, and what is to come,
the reality of eternity, the reality of separation from God, how you can be filled with the Spirit,
come into his family, be saved from your sin, and know him, not just in this life, but for the
(19:18):
future to come. And so honestly, man, it's really just a five, 10 minute simple gospel message,
and then just inviting people to the altar to say, hey, if you've never given your life to Jesus,
if you never made him your Lord, if you've never received him into your heart, and you want to be
forgiven of sin, you want to get free of addiction and bondage, come respond to him. Or number two,
if you had a moment like me, where you've walked away from God, you want to rededicate your life
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to him, come to this altar, and that's all we were doing. Yeah. Wow. I mean, I love preaching the
gospel. I was a missionary for eight years myself, where I was focused on preaching the gospel all
over 15 different countries. And so there's nothing like being on the streets and seeing people
come to know the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and making him their Lord of their future and
(20:06):
their savior of their past. And Ross, how have you changed during this time? Because now you've been
doing this for three years. You had 31 different revival breakouts. How is the revival happening
and sustaining in Ross? Yeah. I think what it comes down to is, I mean, we all know this, right,
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intimacy with the father is what guides our entire lives. You know, any relationship that doesn't
have intimacy won't be a relationship for long. Right? So that's always priority number one. But
then number two, this is some of the language that I felt the Holy Spirit give me, right? And I'm
still processing it, but it's like, I've seen too much. I've heard too much. I've seen too many
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tears. I've seen too many homeless people get saved. I've seen too many bodies get healed.
I've seen too many baptisms in the ocean. Like, it's like, I think another phrase I've been saying
is this, is like, the hand of God is not too short. Right? His eyes are not blind. His ears
are not deaf. His feet are not tired. Right? He's not a respecter of persons. Like,
(21:09):
if you call out to him, he will respond. And so for me, I think what keeps me burning, even in
moments where maybe it can feel a little normal, or maybe there's just a, you know, some moments,
some days I'm a little tired, whatever the case is, I'm like, I've seen too much. I've came too far.
There's too much on the line. There's too many prophetic words and dreams, not just spoken over
(21:30):
my life, but spoken over our nation, spoken over my family, spoken over our generation. It's like,
I can't give up and I must push forward at all costs and operate in the gift of faith,
because nothing else will satisfy. What else am I going to do, man? Am I just going to go,
like, I can't just work a job and make money. Like, I need to see the move of God in my generation.
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It's burning in me. And so I think when you take all those factors into consideration,
it keeps you going because you're like, the God of the universe who knitted me and knitted you in our
mother's womb, He's doing something significant. He's writing a story and His story and our story
are converging in this hour. And there's nothing else that will satisfy the longings of my soul
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than knowing Him and making Him known to the world around me. Amen. Amen. That's good, Ross.
You know, you mentioned a lot of people getting saved and baptized and healed.
Share some testimonies about that. I want to hear some really good stories of what God's been
doing in these last 31 events, 31 revivals, breaking down, breaking out along the Pacific
(22:36):
Coast Highway there. Obviously, when you're doing 31 cities, there's so many stories. You're like,
oh my gosh, like, how do I condense this? But there's always a few that I'll probably never
forget. The first one that's coming to my head right now is we did an event in San Francisco in
the Tenderloin District. If you don't know what the Tenderloin District is, just take a quick
Google search. It's pretty insane. It's almost like a third world country within America. Like,
(22:59):
I didn't even know that existed. And so we're doing the gathering, we're worshipping, we're preaching
the gospel. I found out later because there was this couple walking by the gathering, they heard
the music, the worship, and they stopped. One of our team members went over and started just talking
to them, ministering to them, prayed for them. The lady's back got healed because she was in a car
accident. They ended up staying. They were the first couple to respond to the altar. Incredible.
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But not only that, what we found out later through a team member talking with them,
they actually told us they were on their way to a satanic ritual. Seriously, they were on their way
to a satanic gathering. And literally, we call it like a holy interception. God's like, boom,
catches them and is like, not today. You're my sons and my daughters. I'm going to heal you. I'm
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going to save you. That's incredible. Right? The second story I heard, we did an event a few months
back in Fresno, kind of a city in the middle of nowhere, and we're preaching the gospel and we're
going through the ministry moment. We heard later there was this girl at the gathering who she
literally had written a letter that this was going to be the last night that she would be on the
earth. Like she already made up her mind. Well, she came forward during the gospel. She came forward
(24:06):
during the ministry call. And I remember looking at her because I didn't know this in the moment,
but she got delivered, literally got delivered at the altar call. And whatever was in her came out
of her. The third story that's coming to my head right now that I'll never forget is we were in
Hollywood Boulevard. We shut down Hollywood Boulevard, which is incredible, a whole miracle
in itself. There's video of that on your YouTube channel too, right? Yeah. We have a whole documentary
(24:30):
of that because I still can't believe we did it. First Christian organization to ever shut down
Hollywood Boulevard, insane. 2000 Christians showed up, but I'll never forget the altar call.
We actually had a team member count. There was about 115 people that responded to the gospel call
right there in the moment. We had about 38 baptisms that took place. I mean, we're baptizing
people in horse troughs on the walk of fame, right? And so, I mean, there's so many stories
(24:55):
that could keep going, but those are the three that are coming to mind right now. You know,
those personal stories and that corporate story, it just blows your mind. Yeah. So, you've obviously
grown to more than just you and Joel. Tell me about the team that God has brought around you.
Yeah. So, God's given us an incredible team. There's a few on the worship team. There's another
(25:15):
girl who handles like the logistics, and then we have a few that kind of just doing the dirty work,
right? Loading in equipment, production, right? Making sure everything's going smooth on the day
of the event. And so, there's about six or seven of us that have been pulling off these events.
We like to say we're small but mighty, right? We're small but mighty. And so, just super grateful
for our California Will Be Saved team. I love each of them. And there's been a few people that have
(25:37):
come in the ministry and then moved on to different things. But yeah, so grateful for our small but
mighty team. Yeah. So, you've seen these 31 different revivals break out. What are some of
the lasting effects that you've seen? Because you've been doing this for just the first couple
of years now. And God's opening up other doors for you and more opportunities because your focus was
(26:01):
California Will Be Saved. But now it's bigger than that. Tell me about some of the lasting fruit and
how God's launching you into the next thing. Yeah. The two things that come to mind is number one,
I can literally see like specific people in my... Even right now, I can see them who they came to a
gathering or they started coming around what we were doing and they got lit up with revival fire.
(26:21):
I mean, they love Jesus and they were going to a church, but like something happened in them
where they're like, I gotta take action. I gotta preach the gospel. I wanna pursue God more than I
ever have. I wanna experience Him as much as I possibly can. And so, seeing people in our
generation... What's one of the big questions for a lot of pastors? How do we reach Gen Z, right?
Our gatherings have been like 70 to 80% Gen Z, which is incredible because it flips this script
(26:44):
and it flips the narrative of Gen Z doesn't want God. It's like, no, if we represent Him right and
we host His presence, our generation is hungry for Him. So, I think seeing our generation getting
lit up with fire, with desire, with passion, and even this is coming to my mind right now,
finding your place in the story. I alluded to it a little bit earlier. God's been writing a story
and ultimately He's given each of us one of our own personal stories. And so, we just have to find
(27:08):
that moment, so to speak, where His story and our story converge. And when our soul catches that,
it's like we come alive. Like, oh my gosh, I'm not just here to live a good life and make some money
and go to a Sunday service. Like, I'm here to usher in the kingdom of God on the earth and
there's personal words on my life. So, that's the first thing. I mean, the second thing is seeing
the church mobilize and unite. You know, when we first started, nobody knew who we were. We're
(27:30):
just some young kids going for it, right? And over the last couple of years, we've had anywhere
between five, 10 to even 15 local churches and pastors at each event who are praying with us,
supporting us, getting their churches to come out. And so, seeing the local church get outside the
four walls of their building and getting activated is so, so powerful because God's ultimate plan
(27:51):
is the local church, right? And so, if the local church gets activated and equipped and transformed,
they'll transform the city, the state, and the nation around us. So, those are the two
things I think when it comes to lasting fruit. So, you said we need to represent the Lord rightly,
and that's something that Gen Z is really looking for. How have we not been representing the Lord,
(28:15):
or how have you been representing the Lord wrongly that is unattractive for Gen Z? And what are the
things about the Lord that if we talk about Him the right way, is attractive for Gen Z?
Yeah. I mean, I honestly see it a little bit differently in regards to like,
if we have the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit in us, we're carriers of God, right? That's a crazy
(28:37):
thought, but we're carriers of God. So, for me, I'm less concerned about the talk and, you know,
what we're posting and what we're saying because really, Jesus said, out of the abundance of the
heart, the mouth speaks. So, I'm more concerned with, are we actually hosting the manifest weighty
presence of God, not just in our churches, but in our lives? Because here's the deal. I could say
(28:59):
and speak a five-point sermon to somebody at the grocery store or wherever the Lord leads me,
but if His presence and anointing aren't in me and flowing through me, it's not going to do much.
It's just words, right? Jesus said in the book of John, the words I speak are spirit and life. So,
that means as Christians, when we speak, we're not just speaking nice words to give people a
goosebumps. No, we're speaking things that not only touch their mind, but touch their hearts.
(29:23):
And so, for me, when I see representing Jesus well and how do we do that, for me, it's ultimately,
am I carrying the manifest presence of God or not? I know that's a big statement. I know that's a
little deep, but that's how I see it. Am I hosting God in my personal heart, mind, life, so that when
someone talks to me, they actually sense the presence of God through me? That, I believe,
is the greatest desire because I might not have the perfect speech. I might not have the perfect
(29:47):
line, but if I have His presence, then I have everything that I need. Amen. That is so powerful.
If I have His presence, then I have everything that I need. And I think so many times we just
try to complicate it. We make it too complicated. But if we have His presence, we have everything
that we need. And His presence is so attractive. It makes people want to be with Jesus. It makes
(30:11):
people want to give their lives to Him and for Him. Ross, I'm going to ask you in just a moment to
actually preach the gospel. But I know we've talked about Gen Z just briefly there, but
you came from a background with the alphabet community. You said your mom wasn't waving
around rainbow flags or everything like that. But I know a lot of people feel that that community
(30:35):
is completely lost and that there's no hope. Can you tell us some testimonies specifically from
your experience with that, especially with your background, how you've been able to bring Jesus
and His presence to them? Yeah. So I'll share two stories that relate to that. But before I do that,
I want to just share this because this is probably one of the number one questions that I receive,
(30:56):
if not the churches receiving in this hour are asking, right? How do we reach the LGBTQ community
with the gospel? And I think my greatest desire and what I believe the Lord has shown me is bring
them to the table, right? Our world is so polarized where we just put a post up. We just put our,
you know, who our favorite politician is. Listen, I believe in politics. I'm very outspoken on this.
(31:18):
I believe we're the ecclesia, we're the salt and the light of the earth. But what I'm saying is,
if all we do is post our beliefs, but we never invite somebody in to our lives, then that's a
counterfeit, right? Jesus didn't go around preaching and then just said, all right, peace out, see you
later, right? He preached and He declared the kingdom and He declared His values and His beliefs.
(31:39):
But He also literally went over to their house. He literally sat at the table with them. It doesn't
mean we live in sin. It doesn't mean we live their lifestyle, but what it means is let's actually
have personal connection. And so my greatest encouragement to reach any community that we
feel is disenfranchised or impossible to come back to God is when is the last time, I know,
and I'm still looking for an opportunity to do this, but this is the revelation the Lord's given
(32:02):
me. When is the last time we've invited them to have dinner with us? When is the last time we've
invited them to have lunch with us and actually forget talking politics and your beliefs. What's
your story? What's your family life like? What do you believe about Jesus? What do you believe about
life? What do you believe about family? Like actually getting to the core root of somebody's
heart. So that's my encouragement. But in regards to testimonies, there's three that come to the
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top of my head. Number one, I was actually at an event with Jenny Donnelly, who's an amazing friend
and just like a spiritual mama to me, and she's leading the movement of a million women and doing
all these incredible things. So she had this gathering and there's like three to 5,000 people
there. And one of the literal pride, the Pride Festival speakers, actually happened to come to
(32:45):
the event. She didn't want to be there. She kind of just went because she felt like she needed to
go for some reason, right? And she was actually supposed to speak at the Pride Festival either
the next day or the next week. Well, I came to find out because I talked to her personally,
I actually happened to preach the gospel that night and she was there for the whole day. But
during the gospel presentation, she responded to the gospel and gave her life to Jesus. She came
(33:09):
up to me after the event and told me her whole story. And now she's plugged in at a literal
Bible college getting discipled in the word. Incredible, incredible. The second one was we
were in downtown San Diego last year. We were just in the Gaslamp district. There's a bunch of bars,
clubs. We're just out there on the street. I preached the gospel and the first person to
respond was a transgender man. There's actually a video of it on my YouTube channel. You can see it
(33:32):
and he walks forward and I just give him a massive hug and he just starts breaking down, weeping,
crying. It was absolutely incredible. On the third testimony, I wasn't actually there, but Jenny,
my friend and my spiritual mama, she had an event and at this event, they showed up at the
Capitol building, I believe it was in Wisconsin, and there was about a hundred protesters from the
LGBTQ community. And one of the moms who was a part of the event walked over to the leader of
(33:57):
the LGBTQ and said, listen, I would love for you to come over and have dinner with me. And the leader
said, are you serious? Are you being serious? And she said, I absolutely am. And that person came
over to her house, countered the love of the father and just got radically wrecked and moved
by the heart of God. And so those are just some of the testimonies that I've been a part of and
I've heard. That's amazing. You know, you talked about that she was invited to encounter the love
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of the father. You know, I don't want to miss this opportunity right now to have you who's been up
and down the coast and many different cities across the country, sharing the love of the father,
sharing the love of Jesus. I don't want to miss the opportunity to ask you to share with those
watching right now. Yeah, absolutely. You know, when it comes to the gospel and the good news,
(34:44):
I think sometimes, especially in America, we're used to Christianity. Like we're used to hearing
about Jesus and God and religion. But I just want you for a second here to really just focus and
take off any lens if you possibly can that the world has tried to put on you, that your mom tried
to put on you, that your coworkers try to put on you, because ultimately this good news is better
(35:04):
than good. It's the greatest news in all of human history. And this is what the news is, is that
God literally created man. He created me, created you, right? And there's this scripture in Genesis,
the first book of the Bible, when God created the heavens and the earth and created mankind.
It blows my mind. It says this, it says that Adam and Eve walked in the garden with God. Adam and
(35:26):
Eve were the first two people ever created and they walked in the actual presence of God. That's
wild. That's crazy. But one day they sinned. What a sin. It means you missed the mark of holiness
compared to a righteous God. They disobeyed the commands of God. And so there was a separation
between God and man. Why? Not because he hates you. No, because he's holy. He's perfect. He can't
(35:48):
have a relationship with somebody that is not holy like himself. And so God decided after this
separation to do something incredible. He decided to send his one and only son, Jesus, to this earth.
But here's what I think many people miss. When Jesus came to the earth, was he fully God? Absolutely.
But he was also fully man. He had flesh and blood like you and I. He had emotion. He felt pain. He
felt trauma. You know, I like to say it like this and I know this is not a laughing matter, but this
(36:12):
is the reality. Jesus didn't come to this earth. He wasn't sipping on matches, watching Netflix,
scrolling on Instagram every day. No, he was the son of suffering. The Bible says he was beaten
beyond recognition. Why did he do that? He did that because he loves you. He did that because sin
has separated us from the father, from God. And so he decided when he came to this earth to live a
(36:34):
perfect life, to actually die on the cross, to actually take our sin on himself, to take the
penalty that we deserve, to live the life that we can never live. And so when he was hung on that
cross and died on that cross, he became the perfect sacrifice to forgive me, to forgive you of all of
our sin and restore us back into relationship with God the father. But, but the story isn't over.
(36:58):
And on the third day, he actually rose from the dead and was seated at the right hand of the
father in heaven. Why does this matter for your life? This means when you surrender your life to
Jesus, one day friend, you're going to be actually raised to life in eternity and spend it with God.
And the Bible tells us that eternity with God in heaven, there is no disease, there is no sickness,
(37:21):
there's no fear. No, he actually wipes away every tear from our eyes. And so I want to encourage you
today, whether you've never surrendered your life to Jesus or you want to rededicate your life to
Jesus, the Bible makes it really easy. God makes it really simple. He didn't say you have to do 10
pushups, clap your hands five times and hopefully you find him. No. He said, if you would believe in
your heart, if you would confess with your mouth that Jesus is the son of God, died on the cross,
(37:45):
raised from the dead and made him your Lord, you would be saved, forgiven of sin. And not only that,
you would receive his spirit, the Holy Spirit in you for all the days of your life. And so if that's
you and you want to pray that prayer, just say this with me, just say, Jesus, I surrender my life to
you. I make you my Lord. I receive you into my heart. I repent and I turn from all my sin,
(38:08):
from all my mistakes. And from this day forward, my life is yours. Say this last thing, just say,
Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, fill me now. And we just declare that in Jesus' name. Amen. In Jesus'
name, amen. And if you responded to what Ross just prayed and led in that prayer, I want you to put
in the comments that you prayed, that you prayed and you received the Holy Spirit. Your sins have
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been forgiven and you are starting a brand new life with Jesus. We want to be able to pray for
you, to pray with you. So let us know in the comments. That's the best way to reach out to us
right now. And then we'll see where the Holy Spirit takes it from there. But we want to be able to
celebrate with you for that. Ross, how can people connect with you? I mean, this is powerful to see
(38:54):
what God has been doing. And I want to make sure that people know how that they can follow along
so they can see what God's doing next. Yeah. The best way to stay connected is if you go on any of
my social media accounts, it's just Ross Johnston with two N's because somebody took my original
name. So YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, all that. Please send me a message. Send me an email.
I would love to connect. I would love to hear from you. If you're like, man, I want to come to an
(39:17):
event, follow on social media. That's where we post all the updates. That's where we post the city,
state, nations we're going to. So we'd love, we'd love, we'd love to connect with you and chat with
you. Ross, thank you so much for joining us today here on Charisma. Thanks for having me.
I was born by artificial insemination. I grew up in a lesbian household with two moms.
(00:05):
You know, I'd never been to church, never heard a worship song, never heard a sermon,
never heard of a Charisma News, right? Like, I had zero grid for God.
Ross Johnston, it's great to have you here on Charisma. You have been seeing tremendous
revival and I love your story of how God brought you to a place where revival is your passion.
(00:26):
You've seen God do amazing things in California. We're going to talk about how that's spreading in
powerful ways. Tell us what's going on right now with you.
Yeah, well, what's really exciting is one thing that we've seen in California all throughout
history is that when God does something significant in California, it not only touches America,
(00:49):
but it touches the nations of the earth. So, what we've been seeing is three years ago,
we started as a group of just young bucks, young kids just desiring God to move.
And in a time, there was the most crisis and tension that we've ever experienced in our own life.
And you know, what we started doing is we said, we're going to do what the Bible says to do.
I know, crazy concept. And so, we were showing up at beaches, we're showing up at streets,
(01:12):
we're showing up wherever we could set a sound system up, that's where we were at.
And so, what we started doing is we just started doing open air worship, preaching the gospel,
baptisms, and the wind of God just came on it and God started breathing on it.
And what started with a couple hundred people per gathering in a few years here is turning to
thousands of people showing up, believing for God to yes, touch California, yes, touch America,
(01:36):
but ultimately to touch the nations of the earth. And so, it's been an incredible journey with so
much more to come. But that's how this journey has kind of been for us.
Yeah. So, you said three years ago, and as we're recording this, this is 2024.
And three years ago, we were in the midst of the worldwide pandemic. And so, California was more
(01:58):
shut down than the rest of the country. Now, I'm in Orlando, Florida, and I've only been to
California a few times. But to be completely honest, people outside of California kind of
look at California as a lost cause. But what you're telling me is that California is not a
lost cause. Tell me about the start of these revivals that you've been seeing.
(02:20):
Yeah. It's, you know, California definitely was a very interesting place and state.
Four years ago in 2020, right, our governor was saying, you can't take communion, you can't
worship, you can't gather. But ultimately, you know, the enemy always overplaces his hand,
and he's never won. He never will. And so, what it actually did is it backfired because people
(02:42):
like me who at the time, I actually wasn't walking with the Lord, which we'll get more into here in a
sec, I started feeling this hunger and this stir and this faith in me like, oh my gosh, this is the
moment that I was created for. And I know so many of us watching and listening had that moment in
the past few years. And so, what ended up happening is I walked into a tent revival in Orange County,
(03:02):
California. And when I walk into this tent revival, I see the worship leader on stage,
and the Lord tells me, you need to connect with him. And I didn't know this guy at all. We had
never had a conversation. Later on in the night, the preacher of that gathering brings the worship
leader back on stage mid sermon and says, listen, you have a sound of revival that needs to be
(03:22):
released across the state of California, and you're going to need a car to do this. And she
hands him the keys to her brand new Jeep car right on stage. I've never experienced anything like
this, weeping. I mean, people are just like sounds, you know, it was just one of those holy moments
where you just didn't quite know what was happening, but you knew God was in it. Well, I end up
(03:44):
connecting with him that night. His name is Joel, and we became really good friends. And we just
started talking about revival history in California, right? Azusa Street, Amy Simple McPherson,
Billy Graham launching his ministry, the Jesus People movement. And we just said, God, you've
done it so many times here in California. We believe you're going to do it again. And that's
what ultimately led us to go to Huntington Beach in 2021 and do an outdoor event. We didn't have
(04:06):
any permits. Cops are coming up to us like, what are you doing here? I'm like, sir, I have the
permit of heaven. You know, and that started the whole journey where here we are three and a half
years later, we just did 31 cities across the state of California. And that's where the journey
was birthed and where it really began. So what's happening at these revivals? So a bunch of people
(04:26):
show up, there's, there's worship, like, tell me about what it's like for somebody that is
just stumbling upon this. They might be walking by because I mean, yeah, you're going to attract
Christians, you post something on social media, Christians like to get together. I mean, that's
part of our DNA. But ultimately, you want to reach the lost. So tell me about that. What this is like
for somebody that just stumbles upon this. Yeah, I think one of the best descriptions that we
(04:51):
recently came up with, and, and this is really challenging sometimes, but it's been a blessing
in regards to our gatherings is it feels like you're in a church building, but you're outside,
like the presence of God, the peace of God, the hand of God, the voice of God, the saints are
all together. Yet there is no walls. You're just in the open air. You're in one of the most famous
(05:12):
beaches or streets, literally in America, going after Jesus, worshiping Him, lifting your hands,
you know, preaching the gospel, praying for people who are sick, praying for people who need
miracles, baptizing people in the ocean. So, you know, I would say if somebody stumbles across a
gathering, they're going to be walking in just a normal everyday life scenario. And then all of the
sudden they're going to be like, wait a minute, what am I feeling? What am I sensing? Why do I
(05:37):
feel hope? Why do I feel peace? Why do I feel destiny? Why do I feel like there's something
beyond me taking place in the atmosphere? And so I like to call it for maybe a lack of better term,
like a holy chaos, right? Like the whole world is in tension. There's so many things going on,
but for a moment, for a couple hours in a certain place, at a certain time, the presence of God is
so tangible that nothing else matters but knowing who He is and making Him known. Yeah. Well, I know
(06:03):
God gave you a dream and that's where these things came out of. So I want to talk about this dream,
but let's back up a little bit because we mentioned your story a little bit here and there,
but we're going to get to this dream in just a few minutes. But your backstory is really remarkable.
I've heard you tell it a couple other times, but you did not grow up with a traditional family at
(06:27):
all. Tell us about this. Yeah. I mean, my story, honestly, it starts on day one, right? So I was
born by artificial insemination. I grew up in a lesbian household with two moms. You know, I'd
never been to church, never heard a worship song, never heard a sermon, never heard of a charisma
news, right? Like I had zero grid for God. And recently I actually asked my mom, because I was
(06:49):
really curious. I said, mom, why, why did you have me? You know, and she had told me that ever since
she was a young girl, she'd always desire children. Obviously she started living a lesbian lifestyle,
but she started recognizing that her body clock was kind of running out. And she was like, man,
if I'm going to have children, you know, it's going to be, it's got to be in these next few years.
And so what she did, this was, you know, keep in mind, this was the early 1990s, right? She opens
(07:13):
up a phone book and she found a laboratory. She walks in and says, Hey, I want to have a child.
They put a list of about 10 donors or 10 men in front of her. And she chose one. They inseminated
her with the donor. And nine months later, here I was. And so I was born in 1994 in Los Angeles,
California. And so that is the journey of kind of where I was birthed from, where I began
(07:39):
in regards to my natural bloodline. So just curious, have you ever found out who that,
who that donor was? Yeah, I've never found out. I mean, the reality is you don't know how many times,
you know, his DNA has been used, right? So you don't know how many half siblings you have.
You don't know. I could be walking by half sibling every day and have no clue. I think there is ways
(08:02):
to now, especially now in the culture we live in, there's ways to potentially find them. But
for me, it's like, once I met the father, right, the father, our father, God, it was one of those
things where it's like, I don't really have a desire. If it came across my life, I'm totally
open to it. But there's nothing really pushing or pulling me like, I have to find out who this guy
is. Yeah. I was just curious because I mean, that's, that's just kind of wild. So you grew up in
(08:26):
this family without a father and two mothers. How did that affect your view of God? Yeah, well,
like I always say like this, everybody's, you know, experience is so unique, right? Like growing up in
my household, there was no talk of Jesus, you know, I had never been a church. But at the same time,
it wasn't necessarily anti-God. What I mean by that is my mom wasn't, you know, flying a pride flag
(08:51):
and saying, you need to affirm my gender and you know, things of that nature. It was just more so
like, hey, this is how my lifestyle I live. We don't really need to talk a whole ton about it.
But there also was no mention or no talk about Jesus, religion, faith, anything of that nature.
And so when I got invited to church for the first time ever and I went, that kind of shifted
everything for me because I didn't really have a tainted lens of God. I didn't have any lens.
(09:14):
All I knew was when I walked into the church building, I felt something happen internally.
I knew that God was real, that His presence was there. And I just wanted more of that. And that's
what led me to the decision of coming to Jesus. Yeah. So tell me about this decision to come know
Jesus and how old are you at this time? Because I mean, obviously this is a departure from the values,
(09:37):
I guess, that you grew up with. So obviously there had to be some bit of a conflict with this. So
tell me about that story. Yeah, I was 15 years old and my friend and her grandma would always go to
church. And for some reason, I still don't know the reason to this day, they decided to invite me one
weekend, you know? And it was like in high school, when you have a really good friend in high school
(09:57):
and they ask you to go somewhere, of course you're going to go. So I'm like, sure, why not? Like,
I'll go to church. I've never been, I have nothing against it. And we walk into the church service
and you know, we're sitting in the back row. And now I say it like this when I preach, right? God
will get you in the back row. And I'm sitting back there. And like I just said a few minutes ago,
I just felt something internally begin to happen. Like I felt hope and destiny, and it felt like
(10:19):
there was something greater and beyond myself. But not only that, I started to feel like this value,
like, oh, I'm really seeing, I'm really cared for. There is a plan, there is a purpose for my life.
And as I'm sitting in this church building, I go, well, there's no other explanation than
God's real. Like there's nothing else outside of that. I've never felt this in my life. And I'm
feeling it at this specific place where they say that God is alive. And they're talking about this
(10:41):
man named Jesus. And they're talking about the Bible and the Holy Spirit. And so I went home
that night after going to church. And you know, you got to keep in mind, I never had a conversation
with God, right? Like I had never had a dialogue. I didn't even know what that meant. And as I look
back on it, you know, 12, 13 years ago, this is really what I was saying in my heart is God,
please don't let me just be a good person who reads a good book, goes to a good church,
(11:04):
lives a good life. Like, God, I want to know you like that fire and that passion and that love and
that peace and that joy that I felt. I want that to be the greatest reality of my life. And so
sure enough, night after night in my room, the presence of God would meet me. And the next time
I went to church, I just lifted my hand and I responded to the salvation call. And I said,
Jesus, here's my life. And I didn't even know what that meant, but I knew that Jesus was real and
(11:28):
deserved every part of who I was. Yeah. So then, then what happened? I mean, you, you came to,
you came to know Jesus, you surrendered to him, but you're 15 years old. You can't drive yet.
You're obviously still living with your mom. And tell me about how your relationship with Jesus
grew because that's, I mean, we learned in Mark chapter four, that the sea that gets scattered on
(11:50):
the ground, there's four different types of soil. And, you know, three of those aren't very good
where they get choked up, they get eaten and scorched and die. So how did you remain in good
soil? Well, it was a very unique situation. And I promise, I know when people share their stories,
I'm not trying to say everything about my life is unique, but certain things definitely stand out.
And I remember like when I, that first week that I either went to church or gave my life to Jesus,
(12:14):
I can't remember exactly, but my mom and her partner ended up splitting, which obviously was
like a whole nother dynamic, because now I'm going to church and it's like holy and presence of God,
and I'm crying and I'm hearing about the word of God. And then I go home and it's like a whole
different atmosphere, you know, but not only that kind of, I guess a fun fact is like you said,
I couldn't drive. So guess who had to drive me to church? My mom, right? So my mom's taking me to
(12:39):
church, going back home, coming back and picking me up. And so it was just such a unique scenario.
But I remember the second week I was at church, the pastor came out to me and released the word
of knowledge. And I had no clue what the gifts of the Holy Spirit were. And he's just like, man,
Ross, I see leadership on your life. And I'm like, thank you. But what does that mean? Right? I was
still so new to everything. And so long story short, that first year, year and a half, I just
(13:02):
served in the youth ministry. And then I actually came to the end of my high school time. So I
graduated high school and I went to college in San Diego. And for those four years in college,
I'm so thankful nothing traumatic really happened. But I graduated college in 2016. And I figured out
I had to pay this thing called rent. Right? And I'm like, oh my gosh, like life is at my front door.
(13:25):
And so I made the worst decision of my life, talking about the seed and the four different
way in the four different kind of paths that we take when the word of God or when Jesus gets
implanted in us. What I did is since I wasn't rooted in a local church, since I didn't have a
spiritual father in my life, I was going to church time to time, but I wasn't really spending, you
know, quality, consistent time with the Lord. I decided when I graduated college, God, I'm going
(13:50):
to put you on a pause here because I don't have the girlfriend I want. I don't have the house I want.
I don't have the money I want. Right? Notice the word I a lot in that. And so I played the blame
game with God. My heart became bitter. And then I walked out of intimacy with the Lord. And so for
the next three years of 2016 to the end of 2019, man, it was the worst time of my life. Sure. I had
some of the things the world told me to do. But ultimately, when I laid my head on the pillow at
(14:13):
night, I felt empty and broken. And so that's what ultimately led me to 2020, where everything
shifted for me once again. Yeah. 2020, you had an opportunity to actually have kind of a dream job.
And so you kind of had to lay that down once God started giving you a different dream, his dream.
(14:33):
Tell me about that part of your story, because this is this is pretty wild. Yeah. So 2020 comes
in, like, seriously, I hated my life. Like, it was just like, I just had no purpose, no hope. I was
doing the same thing over and over. Well, in early 2020, when I started seeing the pandemic and
everything happening, it was really wild, because though I wasn't walking with the Lord, I felt
(14:53):
this stirring in me. And I even heard the Holy Spirit tell me, Ross, if you do not stand now,
you never will. And right at that time, I got offered a job to work for a social media marketing
agency. You know, this social media marketing agency was one of the top in literally in America,
maybe even the world. I was making good money. It was a remote job, especially during the pandemic.
(15:15):
It was like the perfect, the perfect situation. And I remember for the first year I worked that,
it was incredible. I was making good money. And then I started feeling this stir, like, okay,
I've come back to the Lord, I've come back to Jesus, but I'm burning for revival. I want to
see something happen in the nation. I want to get into the streets. I want to preach the gospel.
I want to mobilize the church. I want to see a move of God. And so that ultimately led me to that
(15:36):
tent revival, which has taken me along these last three and a half years of my life. So like you said,
I got this amazing job, was perfect, especially during the pandemic. And then I felt the Lord
tell me, you know, if you're going to lead a movement of revival, you're going to have to
lay down this dream job of yours. And so ultimately, that's what I ended up doing.
– Yeah. So tell me about following the dream that God gave you.
(15:57):
– Yeah. Well, when I walked into this tent revival, that night was so catalytic on so many
levels, right? I meet Joel, who I ended up leading the ministry with. He receives a prophetic word
about revival in California, you know, but not only that, what we decided to do is after this tent
revival, we decided it was time to get outside of the building. But before we went to Huntington
(16:18):
Beach, before we did all these 31 cities in the last three years, there was actually a dream that
came to us from a friend who's a prophet. And in this dream, he said he saw us standing on the beach,
standing on a beach in California. And he said, Jesus appeared to him in the dream. First off,
I'm like, I want dreams like that. Jesus appeared to me in my dreams, right? And so he sees Jesus
appear to him to the dream, and he takes him down to the water. And he says, do you hear the sound,
(16:44):
almost as if to say, like, do you see what's coming? And as soon as he said that, the ground
began to shake. And when the ground began to shake, Jesus said these few things. He said this, he said,
the land of California has already been prepared. He said, the victory has already come, and now is
(17:05):
the time for the rains of my spirit. And as soon as he said that, a massive tsunami wave from the
Pacific Ocean crashed over the shores of California. And in that dream, we were asking him,
do you remember where we were at, like, logistically, like geographically? He said,
yes, in Huntington Beach. And so we knew in that dream that God was speaking to us, we needed to
(17:29):
get outside the building, we needed to worship, and we needed to go along the coast, the Pacific
Coast, PCH, Pacific Coast Highway. And that's why we ultimately went to Huntington Beach in 2021,
and God birthed the entire movement of where we and what we've been doing these last three and a
half years. So that was your first crusade, or that was your first revival? Yeah, we didn't even
(17:51):
know, like, we were just gonna, we were just going to the beach for like a two-day event, because we
just wanted to do something. We had no clue it was gonna turn into a movement. And you know, people
were coming up to me, Ross, how long you been a pastor? I said 30 minutes. Ross, what church is
this? I'm like, I don't even know what to tell you. I just started going back to church like six months
ago. So Joel and I go home after night one, and we're like, man, we got to give this thing a name.
(18:12):
And so we named it California Will Be Saved. And that's what we've been doing for these last three
and a half years. Yeah. So people thought that you had been a pastor for a while, or had been
ministry for a while, and you jokingly said it's been about 30 minutes, and you were serious with
that. Yeah. Tell me about what you were preaching, and how did God prepare you for that first message
(18:33):
there? You know, honestly, it's the grace of God, because I had never preached a day in my life,
and I didn't really have like this desire to be in ministry. Like, that never was on like my future
vision board. Right. But it kind of, I kind of got thrown into it, because Joel would lead worship,
and he was a phenomenal preacher, too. But he couldn't do that always. And so I was like,
(18:53):
you know, we were kind of thinking, who's going to preach? And I'm like, well, I'll go for it,
you know. And so at these gatherings, it was really simple. It was literally like a 10 minute
gospel presentation. Very simple. Who Jesus was, what he did on the cross, and what is to come,
the reality of eternity, the reality of separation from God, how you can be filled with the Spirit,
come into his family, be saved from your sin, and know him, not just in this life, but for the
(19:18):
future to come. And so honestly, man, it's really just a five, 10 minute simple gospel message,
and then just inviting people to the altar to say, hey, if you've never given your life to Jesus,
if you never made him your Lord, if you've never received him into your heart, and you want to be
forgiven of sin, you want to get free of addiction and bondage, come respond to him. Or number two,
if you had a moment like me, where you've walked away from God, you want to rededicate your life
(19:40):
to him, come to this altar, and that's all we were doing. Yeah. Wow. I mean, I love preaching the
gospel. I was a missionary for eight years myself, where I was focused on preaching the gospel all
over 15 different countries. And so there's nothing like being on the streets and seeing people
come to know the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and making him their Lord of their future and
(20:06):
their savior of their past. And Ross, how have you changed during this time? Because now you've been
doing this for three years. You had 31 different revival breakouts. How is the revival happening
and sustaining in Ross? Yeah. I think what it comes down to is, I mean, we all know this, right,
(20:28):
intimacy with the father is what guides our entire lives. You know, any relationship that doesn't
have intimacy won't be a relationship for long. Right? So that's always priority number one. But
then number two, this is some of the language that I felt the Holy Spirit give me, right? And I'm
still processing it, but it's like, I've seen too much. I've heard too much. I've seen too many
(20:49):
tears. I've seen too many homeless people get saved. I've seen too many bodies get healed.
I've seen too many baptisms in the ocean. Like, it's like, I think another phrase I've been saying
is this, is like, the hand of God is not too short. Right? His eyes are not blind. His ears
are not deaf. His feet are not tired. Right? He's not a respecter of persons. Like,
(21:09):
if you call out to him, he will respond. And so for me, I think what keeps me burning, even in
moments where maybe it can feel a little normal, or maybe there's just a, you know, some moments,
some days I'm a little tired, whatever the case is, I'm like, I've seen too much. I've came too far.
There's too much on the line. There's too many prophetic words and dreams, not just spoken over
(21:30):
my life, but spoken over our nation, spoken over my family, spoken over our generation. It's like,
I can't give up and I must push forward at all costs and operate in the gift of faith,
because nothing else will satisfy. What else am I going to do, man? Am I just going to go,
like, I can't just work a job and make money. Like, I need to see the move of God in my generation.
(21:51):
It's burning in me. And so I think when you take all those factors into consideration,
it keeps you going because you're like, the God of the universe who knitted me and knitted you in our
mother's womb, He's doing something significant. He's writing a story and His story and our story
are converging in this hour. And there's nothing else that will satisfy the longings of my soul
(22:13):
than knowing Him and making Him known to the world around me. Amen. Amen. That's good, Ross.
You know, you mentioned a lot of people getting saved and baptized and healed.
Share some testimonies about that. I want to hear some really good stories of what God's been
doing in these last 31 events, 31 revivals, breaking down, breaking out along the Pacific
(22:36):
Coast Highway there. Obviously, when you're doing 31 cities, there's so many stories. You're like,
oh my gosh, like, how do I condense this? But there's always a few that I'll probably never
forget. The first one that's coming to my head right now is we did an event in San Francisco in
the Tenderloin District. If you don't know what the Tenderloin District is, just take a quick
Google search. It's pretty insane. It's almost like a third world country within America. Like,
(22:59):
I didn't even know that existed. And so we're doing the gathering, we're worshipping, we're preaching
the gospel. I found out later because there was this couple walking by the gathering, they heard
the music, the worship, and they stopped. One of our team members went over and started just talking
to them, ministering to them, prayed for them. The lady's back got healed because she was in a car
accident. They ended up staying. They were the first couple to respond to the altar. Incredible.
(23:22):
But not only that, what we found out later through a team member talking with them,
they actually told us they were on their way to a satanic ritual. Seriously, they were on their way
to a satanic gathering. And literally, we call it like a holy interception. God's like, boom,
catches them and is like, not today. You're my sons and my daughters. I'm going to heal you. I'm
(23:42):
going to save you. That's incredible. Right? The second story I heard, we did an event a few months
back in Fresno, kind of a city in the middle of nowhere, and we're preaching the gospel and we're
going through the ministry moment. We heard later there was this girl at the gathering who she
literally had written a letter that this was going to be the last night that she would be on the
earth. Like she already made up her mind. Well, she came forward during the gospel. She came forward
(24:06):
during the ministry call. And I remember looking at her because I didn't know this in the moment,
but she got delivered, literally got delivered at the altar call. And whatever was in her came out
of her. The third story that's coming to my head right now that I'll never forget is we were in
Hollywood Boulevard. We shut down Hollywood Boulevard, which is incredible, a whole miracle
in itself. There's video of that on your YouTube channel too, right? Yeah. We have a whole documentary
(24:30):
of that because I still can't believe we did it. First Christian organization to ever shut down
Hollywood Boulevard, insane. 2000 Christians showed up, but I'll never forget the altar call.
We actually had a team member count. There was about 115 people that responded to the gospel call
right there in the moment. We had about 38 baptisms that took place. I mean, we're baptizing
people in horse troughs on the walk of fame, right? And so, I mean, there's so many stories
(24:55):
that could keep going, but those are the three that are coming to mind right now. You know,
those personal stories and that corporate story, it just blows your mind. Yeah. So, you've obviously
grown to more than just you and Joel. Tell me about the team that God has brought around you.
Yeah. So, God's given us an incredible team. There's a few on the worship team. There's another
(25:15):
girl who handles like the logistics, and then we have a few that kind of just doing the dirty work,
right? Loading in equipment, production, right? Making sure everything's going smooth on the day
of the event. And so, there's about six or seven of us that have been pulling off these events.
We like to say we're small but mighty, right? We're small but mighty. And so, just super grateful
for our California Will Be Saved team. I love each of them. And there's been a few people that have
(25:37):
come in the ministry and then moved on to different things. But yeah, so grateful for our small but
mighty team. Yeah. So, you've seen these 31 different revivals break out. What are some of
the lasting effects that you've seen? Because you've been doing this for just the first couple
of years now. And God's opening up other doors for you and more opportunities because your focus was
(26:01):
California Will Be Saved. But now it's bigger than that. Tell me about some of the lasting fruit and
how God's launching you into the next thing. Yeah. The two things that come to mind is number one,
I can literally see like specific people in my... Even right now, I can see them who they came to a
gathering or they started coming around what we were doing and they got lit up with revival fire.
(26:21):
I mean, they love Jesus and they were going to a church, but like something happened in them
where they're like, I gotta take action. I gotta preach the gospel. I wanna pursue God more than I
ever have. I wanna experience Him as much as I possibly can. And so, seeing people in our
generation... What's one of the big questions for a lot of pastors? How do we reach Gen Z, right?
Our gatherings have been like 70 to 80% Gen Z, which is incredible because it flips this script
(26:44):
and it flips the narrative of Gen Z doesn't want God. It's like, no, if we represent Him right and
we host His presence, our generation is hungry for Him. So, I think seeing our generation getting
lit up with fire, with desire, with passion, and even this is coming to my mind right now,
finding your place in the story. I alluded to it a little bit earlier. God's been writing a story
and ultimately He's given each of us one of our own personal stories. And so, we just have to find
(27:08):
that moment, so to speak, where His story and our story converge. And when our soul catches that,
it's like we come alive. Like, oh my gosh, I'm not just here to live a good life and make some money
and go to a Sunday service. Like, I'm here to usher in the kingdom of God on the earth and
there's personal words on my life. So, that's the first thing. I mean, the second thing is seeing
the church mobilize and unite. You know, when we first started, nobody knew who we were. We're
(27:30):
just some young kids going for it, right? And over the last couple of years, we've had anywhere
between five, 10 to even 15 local churches and pastors at each event who are praying with us,
supporting us, getting their churches to come out. And so, seeing the local church get outside the
four walls of their building and getting activated is so, so powerful because God's ultimate plan
(27:51):
is the local church, right? And so, if the local church gets activated and equipped and transformed,
they'll transform the city, the state, and the nation around us. So, those are the two
things I think when it comes to lasting fruit. So, you said we need to represent the Lord rightly,
and that's something that Gen Z is really looking for. How have we not been representing the Lord,
(28:15):
or how have you been representing the Lord wrongly that is unattractive for Gen Z? And what are the
things about the Lord that if we talk about Him the right way, is attractive for Gen Z?
Yeah. I mean, I honestly see it a little bit differently in regards to like,
if we have the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit in us, we're carriers of God, right? That's a crazy
(28:37):
thought, but we're carriers of God. So, for me, I'm less concerned about the talk and, you know,
what we're posting and what we're saying because really, Jesus said, out of the abundance of the
heart, the mouth speaks. So, I'm more concerned with, are we actually hosting the manifest weighty
presence of God, not just in our churches, but in our lives? Because here's the deal. I could say
(28:59):
and speak a five-point sermon to somebody at the grocery store or wherever the Lord leads me,
but if His presence and anointing aren't in me and flowing through me, it's not going to do much.
It's just words, right? Jesus said in the book of John, the words I speak are spirit and life. So,
that means as Christians, when we speak, we're not just speaking nice words to give people a
goosebumps. No, we're speaking things that not only touch their mind, but touch their hearts.
(29:23):
And so, for me, when I see representing Jesus well and how do we do that, for me, it's ultimately,
am I carrying the manifest presence of God or not? I know that's a big statement. I know that's a
little deep, but that's how I see it. Am I hosting God in my personal heart, mind, life, so that when
someone talks to me, they actually sense the presence of God through me? That, I believe,
is the greatest desire because I might not have the perfect speech. I might not have the perfect
(29:47):
line, but if I have His presence, then I have everything that I need. Amen. That is so powerful.
If I have His presence, then I have everything that I need. And I think so many times we just
try to complicate it. We make it too complicated. But if we have His presence, we have everything
that we need. And His presence is so attractive. It makes people want to be with Jesus. It makes
(30:11):
people want to give their lives to Him and for Him. Ross, I'm going to ask you in just a moment to
actually preach the gospel. But I know we've talked about Gen Z just briefly there, but
you came from a background with the alphabet community. You said your mom wasn't waving
around rainbow flags or everything like that. But I know a lot of people feel that that community
(30:35):
is completely lost and that there's no hope. Can you tell us some testimonies specifically from
your experience with that, especially with your background, how you've been able to bring Jesus
and His presence to them? Yeah. So I'll share two stories that relate to that. But before I do that,
I want to just share this because this is probably one of the number one questions that I receive,
(30:56):
if not the churches receiving in this hour are asking, right? How do we reach the LGBTQ community
with the gospel? And I think my greatest desire and what I believe the Lord has shown me is bring
them to the table, right? Our world is so polarized where we just put a post up. We just put our,
you know, who our favorite politician is. Listen, I believe in politics. I'm very outspoken on this.
(31:18):
I believe we're the ecclesia, we're the salt and the light of the earth. But what I'm saying is,
if all we do is post our beliefs, but we never invite somebody in to our lives, then that's a
counterfeit, right? Jesus didn't go around preaching and then just said, all right, peace out, see you
later, right? He preached and He declared the kingdom and He declared His values and His beliefs.
(31:39):
But He also literally went over to their house. He literally sat at the table with them. It doesn't
mean we live in sin. It doesn't mean we live their lifestyle, but what it means is let's actually
have personal connection. And so my greatest encouragement to reach any community that we
feel is disenfranchised or impossible to come back to God is when is the last time, I know,
and I'm still looking for an opportunity to do this, but this is the revelation the Lord's given
(32:02):
me. When is the last time we've invited them to have dinner with us? When is the last time we've
invited them to have lunch with us and actually forget talking politics and your beliefs. What's
your story? What's your family life like? What do you believe about Jesus? What do you believe about
life? What do you believe about family? Like actually getting to the core root of somebody's
heart. So that's my encouragement. But in regards to testimonies, there's three that come to the
(32:24):
top of my head. Number one, I was actually at an event with Jenny Donnelly, who's an amazing friend
and just like a spiritual mama to me, and she's leading the movement of a million women and doing
all these incredible things. So she had this gathering and there's like three to 5,000 people
there. And one of the literal pride, the Pride Festival speakers, actually happened to come to
(32:45):
the event. She didn't want to be there. She kind of just went because she felt like she needed to
go for some reason, right? And she was actually supposed to speak at the Pride Festival either
the next day or the next week. Well, I came to find out because I talked to her personally,
I actually happened to preach the gospel that night and she was there for the whole day. But
during the gospel presentation, she responded to the gospel and gave her life to Jesus. She came
(33:09):
up to me after the event and told me her whole story. And now she's plugged in at a literal
Bible college getting discipled in the word. Incredible, incredible. The second one was we
were in downtown San Diego last year. We were just in the Gaslamp district. There's a bunch of bars,
clubs. We're just out there on the street. I preached the gospel and the first person to
respond was a transgender man. There's actually a video of it on my YouTube channel. You can see it
(33:32):
and he walks forward and I just give him a massive hug and he just starts breaking down, weeping,
crying. It was absolutely incredible. On the third testimony, I wasn't actually there, but Jenny,
my friend and my spiritual mama, she had an event and at this event, they showed up at the
Capitol building, I believe it was in Wisconsin, and there was about a hundred protesters from the
LGBTQ community. And one of the moms who was a part of the event walked over to the leader of
(33:57):
the LGBTQ and said, listen, I would love for you to come over and have dinner with me. And the leader
said, are you serious? Are you being serious? And she said, I absolutely am. And that person came
over to her house, countered the love of the father and just got radically wrecked and moved
by the heart of God. And so those are just some of the testimonies that I've been a part of and
I've heard. That's amazing. You know, you talked about that she was invited to encounter the love
(34:23):
of the father. You know, I don't want to miss this opportunity right now to have you who's been up
and down the coast and many different cities across the country, sharing the love of the father,
sharing the love of Jesus. I don't want to miss the opportunity to ask you to share with those
watching right now. Yeah, absolutely. You know, when it comes to the gospel and the good news,
(34:44):
I think sometimes, especially in America, we're used to Christianity. Like we're used to hearing
about Jesus and God and religion. But I just want you for a second here to really just focus and
take off any lens if you possibly can that the world has tried to put on you, that your mom tried
to put on you, that your coworkers try to put on you, because ultimately this good news is better
(35:04):
than good. It's the greatest news in all of human history. And this is what the news is, is that
God literally created man. He created me, created you, right? And there's this scripture in Genesis,
the first book of the Bible, when God created the heavens and the earth and created mankind.
It blows my mind. It says this, it says that Adam and Eve walked in the garden with God. Adam and
(35:26):
Eve were the first two people ever created and they walked in the actual presence of God. That's
wild. That's crazy. But one day they sinned. What a sin. It means you missed the mark of holiness
compared to a righteous God. They disobeyed the commands of God. And so there was a separation
between God and man. Why? Not because he hates you. No, because he's holy. He's perfect. He can't
(35:48):
have a relationship with somebody that is not holy like himself. And so God decided after this
separation to do something incredible. He decided to send his one and only son, Jesus, to this earth.
But here's what I think many people miss. When Jesus came to the earth, was he fully God? Absolutely.
But he was also fully man. He had flesh and blood like you and I. He had emotion. He felt pain. He
felt trauma. You know, I like to say it like this and I know this is not a laughing matter, but this
(36:12):
is the reality. Jesus didn't come to this earth. He wasn't sipping on matches, watching Netflix,
scrolling on Instagram every day. No, he was the son of suffering. The Bible says he was beaten
beyond recognition. Why did he do that? He did that because he loves you. He did that because sin
has separated us from the father, from God. And so he decided when he came to this earth to live a
(36:34):
perfect life, to actually die on the cross, to actually take our sin on himself, to take the
penalty that we deserve, to live the life that we can never live. And so when he was hung on that
cross and died on that cross, he became the perfect sacrifice to forgive me, to forgive you of all of
our sin and restore us back into relationship with God the father. But, but the story isn't over.
(36:58):
And on the third day, he actually rose from the dead and was seated at the right hand of the
father in heaven. Why does this matter for your life? This means when you surrender your life to
Jesus, one day friend, you're going to be actually raised to life in eternity and spend it with God.
And the Bible tells us that eternity with God in heaven, there is no disease, there is no sickness,
(37:21):
there's no fear. No, he actually wipes away every tear from our eyes. And so I want to encourage you
today, whether you've never surrendered your life to Jesus or you want to rededicate your life to
Jesus, the Bible makes it really easy. God makes it really simple. He didn't say you have to do 10
pushups, clap your hands five times and hopefully you find him. No. He said, if you would believe in
your heart, if you would confess with your mouth that Jesus is the son of God, died on the cross,
(37:45):
raised from the dead and made him your Lord, you would be saved, forgiven of sin. And not only that,
you would receive his spirit, the Holy Spirit in you for all the days of your life. And so if that's
you and you want to pray that prayer, just say this with me, just say, Jesus, I surrender my life to
you. I make you my Lord. I receive you into my heart. I repent and I turn from all my sin,
(38:08):
from all my mistakes. And from this day forward, my life is yours. Say this last thing, just say,
Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, fill me now. And we just declare that in Jesus' name. Amen. In Jesus'
name, amen. And if you responded to what Ross just prayed and led in that prayer, I want you to put
in the comments that you prayed, that you prayed and you received the Holy Spirit. Your sins have
(38:33):
been forgiven and you are starting a brand new life with Jesus. We want to be able to pray for
you, to pray with you. So let us know in the comments. That's the best way to reach out to us
right now. And then we'll see where the Holy Spirit takes it from there. But we want to be able to
celebrate with you for that. Ross, how can people connect with you? I mean, this is powerful to see
(38:54):
what God has been doing. And I want to make sure that people know how that they can follow along
so they can see what God's doing next. Yeah. The best way to stay connected is if you go on any of
my social media accounts, it's just Ross Johnston with two N's because somebody took my original
name. So YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, all that. Please send me a message. Send me an email.
I would love to connect. I would love to hear from you. If you're like, man, I want to come to an
(39:17):
event, follow on social media. That's where we post all the updates. That's where we post the city,
state, nations we're going to. So we'd love, we'd love, we'd love to connect with you and chat with
you. Ross, thank you so much for joining us today here on Charisma. Thanks for having me.
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