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Bill Johnson (born July 18, 1951) is the senior leader of Bethel Church, a charismaticmegachurchinRedding, California.[3][4] The congregation has grown in membership from 2,000 when he joined in 1996,[5] to over 11,000 in 2019.[6] Johnson has taken public conservative positions on same-sex marriage, abortion, open borders, and many other topics.[7] He is an author, functions as an itinerant speaker and has been featured in various media.
Johnson is a fifth-generation pastor and has held the position of senior leader at Bethel Church since 1996. He is known for leading a church and Christian movement with a large focus on miracles and the Holy Spirit. According to Christianity Today, Johnson has "considerable influence among charismatic Christians all over the world".[8] Johnson joined Bethel with a stipulation that the message would always be about revival, with an emphasis on God's supernatural presence. The church lost a thousand members over his vision.[8] However, under his leadership, the church has since grown[contradictory] from 2,000 members in 1996[5] to over 11,000 in 2019.[6] His father, M. Earl Johnson, previously held the Senior Pastor position from 1968 to 1982, when Bethel Church was part of the Assemblies of God.[8] Prior to this position, Johnson, along with his wife, served as the Senior Pastors of Mountain Chapel in Weaverville, California from 1978 to 1996.[9]
Johnson attended a John Wimbersigns and wonders conference in 1987 with the specific goal of seeking a revivalofhealing. He left discouraged because he had been teaching the same concepts John Wimber had been teaching, but the outcome was drastically different. Johnson states that this discouragement brought about a realization that faith required risk, and after this realization, healing miracles began to happen.[10] He traveled to Toronto, Canada in 1995 to attend some of the Toronto Blessing revival meetings. Johnson recounts receiving a fresh touch from God at these meetings that focused his life's work on pursuing the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit.[10]
In 1998, Johnson, along with Bethel Senior Associate Leader Kris Vallotton, started the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry to train students to become revivalists. The school has over 2,000 students from 57 countries.[8] Johnson is also part of the Core Residential Faculty at Wagner University in Rancho Cucamonga, CA.[2]Archived November 12, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
Brenda ("Beni"), the wife of Bill Johnson, passed away from cancer on 13 July 2022 [3].
Bill and Brenda Johnson have three children including: Brian Johnson, Eric Johnson and Leah Valenzuela.
Johnson has appeared in multiple documentaries, including Father of Lights and Holy Ghost Reborn, produced by Darren Wilson.[11] He has also been interviewed and highlighted in several CBN news stories.[12][13] He was featured on the cover of Charisma magazine in August 2016 with a story titled "Born for Revival."[14] Johnson was also a guest on Sid Roth's It's Supernatural in October 2016.[15] Johnson was featured in the 2018 documentary American Gospel: Christ Alone as a prominent figure in the prosperity gospel movement, emphasizing supernatural miracles as evidence of salvation. Johnson has also been the subject of criticism.[8][16]
In 2016, Bill Johnson outlined why he voted for Donald Trump in a Facebook post, where he criticized abortion, open borders, the welfare system, same-sex marriage, socialism, political correctness and globalization, all as contrary to God's will. His wife and senior pastor, Beni Johnson, has also supported Donald Trump.[7] Johnson again endorsed Trump in 2020.[17]
Bill Johnson opposes homosexuality calling it a sin and "violation of design".[18] In a Facebook video blog he elaborated on the issue stating that "God did not make those human bodies to come together, to fit, in that way".[19][non-primary source needed]
In 2018, his church publicly opposed three bills in the California state legislature that would have restricted conversion therapy as they felt the bills might have restricted their ministry. Their opposition included a released statement, letters to legislators and encouragement of congregants to contact legislators through a sermon titled "What Would Jesus Do in a PC World?" by senior associate leader of the church Kris Vallotton and tweets, also by Vallotton, that specifically addressed those that had "come out of homosexuality".[3][20]
When Heaven Invades Earth (Destiny Image Publishers, 2003) ISBN0-7684-2952-8
The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind (Destiny Image Publishers, 2005) ISBN0-7684-2252-3
When Heaven Invades Earth Devotional & Journal (Destiny Image Publishers, August 2005) ISBN0-7684-2297-3
Shifting Shadow of Supernatural Power: A Prophetic Manual for Those Wanting to Move in God's Supernatural Power (co-author) (Destiny Image Publishers, August 2006) ISBN0-7684-2369-4