FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH

CONTACT

Reverend Sid Johnson

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Hours: 

Sunday morning worship

Tuesdays (10 -2)

Wednesdays (4-8)

Thursdays by appointment

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Call:  (503) 852-7273 (Church) or (971) 312-6903 

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BIOGRAPHY

Growing up in Baker City, I had a childhood filled with church, camping, work, fishing, hunting, 4-H, FFA, choir, musical, and lots of misadventures. My early church experience was in the Presbyterian Church, which was quite a thrill for the church as there were seven children in our family.

Graduated from Oregon State University in 1975 with a B.S. degree in Agricultural Education. I taught for one year then returned to ranching and construction work.  

I met Debbie in Indianapolis, Indiana and we married in 1978. We have two adult children, Whitney and Evan, and 11 grandchildren. 

It was in a home Bible study in Baker that an old family friend first raised the question of a calling to be a pastor. At first, I was quite sure that it could not be God's plan for us, but we agreed to pray about it and two years later we were at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary just to test the waters. Shortly after, I was called to my first pastorate in an open-country church out of Marion, Iowa called Jordan's Grove Baptist Church, and served there until called to Carlton in January of 1988.

We soon found ourselves immersed in church and community life. To help bring in a few bucks, I started driving a school bus for YCSD in September of 1988 and ended up driving route 5 for 22 1/2 years. What an outreach!  I coached some baseball teams and attended many, many sporting events over the years. I enjoyed the open gym nights of volleyball and later, basketball. We even had a church league for volleyball.

Along the way, I met with the other pastors of Carlton and Yamhill for study, support and planning shared services for Thanksgiving, Holy Week, and graduation vespers.

Regionally, I served on the ABCUSA Small Church Renewal Team which later became a team experience when three members of FBC Carlton joined me as we journeyed to various churches around the nation to share in experiences of renewal.  This led the church to become involved in a regional renewal offering.  I also served for a few years on the regional camping board.  I worked in over 20 camps at Arrah Wanna, mostly with the youth. 

Locally, there were so many learning and sharing events that lasted from one day to 3 years (the later was a study on "The Celebration of Disciplines". I learned so much as we listened to each other, centered on the Bible and sometimes material for the study. They helped shape my life in important ways. I think the most important way was to learn how to listen and began to practice listening better. I am still on that journey. We developed a men's group that met on Saturday once a month to study and pray together. The most powerful aspect though was working together. There is something very special about the conversations that come while painting, scraping, and cleaning the church together. Sometimes we would go out into the community to give a helping where we could.  

I officiated over 100 weddings and 80 funerals while pastoring here. Wow, as I am thinking about it all again, I am overwhelmed with all we did: Turkey Dinners, Sweetheart Dinners. Secret Sisters that were revealed at a Mother's Day Tea, Vacation Bible School, youth groups and all their mission trips, Harvest Parties, Christmas Eve Services, dedications, baptisms, and Carlton Fun Days.

We moved to serve Spokane Valley Baptist Church in January 2011, having served in Carlton for 23 lovely years.

I retired in March 2021. Debbie and I moved to McMinnville where we enjoy a home life with our three dogs: Tessa, Susie, and Mya. In retirement, I continued to enjoy growing our own fruit and learning how to encourage bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds to thrive in our yard too. We enjoy family, walks, visiting, reading, music, trips and movies, and TV.

I know that in the last ten years we all have changed, the church has changed, Debbie and I have changed, and change is not a bad word, just the reality. Who we are growing to be is the most treasured change we can offer one another. Christ-likeness is our call to change in life-embracing ways. 

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Reverend
Sid Johnson