Randy Matthews Remembers Mike Johnson

Jesus Music forerunner Mike Johnson passed away in his sleep of a heart attack on February 9^th in his Nashville home.   We labored together on various projects starting in the mid-70s, and I always respected his vision, skill, and hard work in wanting to expand God’s kingdom through creative means.  One of his closest friends, Randy Matthews (whom I consider part of the triumvirate that Jesus Music was birthed out of alongside Larry Norman and Andrea Crouch), wrote about Mike this week…

It was 1972 and there was nothing but wide-open road in front of us. It was on this trail that I first met Mike Johnson.  We were at a rather primitive Christian rock festival held in a high school gym. Mike was one of the headliners, along with Larry Norman and myself. I was excited about meeting Larry, but even more so about meeting Mike who, in my mind, was THE true father of what we now call Contemporary Christian Music. It was because of his young visionary work with The Exkursions, a missionary band who worked with the Billy Graham Association and at the same time performed on street corners that had captured my imagination. My first impression upon seeing him onstage was, "HEY, he's doing my act!!" But our dreams were the same and we immediately got along. I casually invited him to visit me and my new wife, Barb, in Nashville. The next thing I knew he and his whole family were living in their camper in my back yard. My wife swears he beat us home. From that point on he was a part of my life all these many years.

I, along with Wes Yoder and Bill Grine, had a Christian talent agency called Dharma Productions. We started booking dates for Mike, and he and I also did road shows together. We started writing special songs as a duo. We then brought in Danny Taylor and recorded Matthews, Taylor and Johnson. The three of us toured for some time then Mike signed with New Pax Records and we all went back to doing solo gigs. Mike was also a great record producer. He helped countless artists with their projects and as long as I knew him he never stopped recording custom albums of his own work. I know this for sure because I have one whole corner in my garage stacked full of everything from two inch master tapes to 8 tracks to cassettes to CD's all titled "Mike Johnson."

We were friends; we were rivals. We loved each other; we fought each other. We struggled endlessly to make Christians accept rock music and  for non Christians to accept Christ. We were at the top together, we were at the bottom together. Our separate roads home intertwined in so many ways.

Of all of Mike's accomplishments I am certain it was his work with Compassion International that he would be most proud of. He pioneered a new way for a Christian artist to communicate the plight of third world children...a way that has seen great success over the years, saving thousands and thousands of children's lives and touching the hearts of artists who, to this day, continue to communicate the heart of Compassion in concerts around the globe.

I'm fortunate in that all my life I have been surrounded by people who were far more talented than myself. Mike was truly one of the most talented and inspirational of them all. I don't know if he realized just how deeply he touched so many. I’m not sure how many songs he wrote…hundreds that I know of…but I do know he was the most prolific writer I've ever known. And it was my great opportunity and experience to co-write with him for almost forty years.

He would always make me laugh by telling me the latest joke he just heard and, like his songs, he had tons of hilarious tales. He was, without a doubt, the funniest guy I ever met. We were the best of friends. So, when I think of Mike Johnson I hear music and laughter and remember a spirit that never, ever gave up. He was a true Christian man and we'll never replace him. Nor would we try. Thank you for everything Mike!

-Randy Matthews

Prayer Events Could Be MoreThan Political Rallies

One of my favorite columnists, Ray Waddle, gives a well-thought summary once again...

What difference will it make?

This month “The Response,” in Texas, rallied Christians to pray for a nation in crisis. Will it cause a breakthrough?

Does it offer anything more than last year’s “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington, D.C., which similarly yearned for spiritual awakening to avert national disaster?

Both high-profile faith events remind me of one thing: the void left by the absence of evangelist Billy Graham. Now 92, Graham no longer leads his remarkable crusades across the land. But for five decades, his preaching roused self-examination and conversion, often stirring a surge of good will in the cities he draped in prayer.

No winsome, transcultural minister emerges any longer on the pluralistic horizon. The Response was led by a Texas governor. Restoring Honor was orchestrated by a TV showman.

It is easy to share the grief of supporters of such events — the erosion of national prestige, the eclipse of reverence and courtesy, the financial pain and fear, the need for repentance. Society is awash in falsehoods and weapons. “God” and “Jesus” are curse words.

But some public pleas to God sound fatalistic and passive, as if we have no idea how our troubles happened or how to face the specifics.

“There are threats emerging within our nation and beyond our borders beyond our power to solve,” The Response website declares.

Yet the nation got here by a million daily decisions in the name of liberty, Wall Street, cheap oil, wishful thinking, the tax code or foreign policy. A 10-year war, securitized mortgages, epidemics of personal debt, the election of ideologues — these did not fall from the sky. Our fingerprints are all over them, choices made at the intersection of conscience, prejudice and haste.

Yet the prayer to heaven now seems to be: “God: Just fix it.”

Rallies like The Response revere biblical standards. What would that mean? The book of Proverbs says a decent life depends on self-restraint, simplicity, consideration of others. Avoid things that insult God — haughtiness, a lying tongue, false witness, wicked schemes, the sowing of family discord, the shedding of innocent blood. It’s not a long list.

Writing about American religion for nearly 30 years now, I find I have to write more about politics too. To more and more people, political identity matters more than religious belief. Political passion — hatred of the opposing party, indifference to details — overwhelms the old power of religious teaching to seek a transformed outlook.

Maybe the critics are right and such rallies are just reunions of the old-fashioned religious right. But they could be more. Prayer can be a revolutionary act, forcing us petitioners to face facts, face one another, or even face ourselves.

Thoughts?