The Kathmandu-embrace

Steve and Lisa Johnson new adventure in the new movement has finally come to an abrupt end due to disagreement concerning church polity with the McKean’s. The Johnson’s want no man as a leader over them.

Douglas Arthur broke the news (August 29, 2008) about the Johnson’s turnaround and it was widely publicised by other websites hosting anti-McKean sentiment. Surely the Johnson’s decision to embrace the ICOC will greatly contribute towards church growth within the ranks of the anti-McKean faction. An official report has come forth from the Sold-Out Discipling Movement.

The Johnson’s heroically sided with the McKeans early in 2006 while on the same day the Portland Church appointed their first elders, Bob Bertalot and Tony Untalan. McKean praised the Johnson’s loyalty - Steve and Lisa, truly your “colours are clear!” Welcome home!

The Johnson’s decided to join the Portland movement better known today as the Sold-Out Discipling Movement after making an announcement in the Savannah Church of Christ on December 22, 2005. Lisa and I are moving our family to Portland, Oregon to work with the church there for a while. This news has stunned many at the time due to the massive anti-McKean reaction derived from the Portland Story.

Prior to that, Steve’s Kathmandu-embrace with Kip McKean started in a period where he was personally trained by Kip back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. The friendship endured and suffered little ill-effects despite being tested by enormous outside pressures such as the decentralisation of the ICOC in 2002 at the Long Beach Unity Meeting and the anti-McKean September 2005 Seattle Conference response. Here both men have stepped in and supported one another.

Let us consider the decentralisation of the ICOC in 2002. McKean offered the Johnson’s financial support.

The Johnson’s according to Kip’s view had to resign their position as World Sector Leaders during the 2002 Unity Meeting in an article entitled, The Portland Family Welcomes Steve and Lisa Johnson! Here McKean exert his viewpoint that many “Kingdom teachers and elders” falsely believed a central Kingdom leadership (World Sector Leaders), lead evangelists and overseeing evangelists were unscriptural. They also introduced “autonomy” into each congregation of the International Churches of Christ, thus the elders began leading the local ministries without the direction of an overseeing and/or lead evangelist. Therefore, Steve and Lisa, similar to Elena and me, resigned as World Sector Leaders. It seems that the Johnson’s never questioned the McKean’s position on unbearable doctrine.

The New York City Church declined the Johnson’s a pulpit position and they returned to the fulltime ministry a year later – 2004 - serving the Savannah Church of Christ in Georgia. The call for Steve to serve as an Associate Lead Evangelist in the Portland International Church of Christ followed 23 months later. Steve gladly accepted. The McKean’s elders made special arrangement for the Portland congregation Missions Contribution on March 12, 2006 to sacrifice at least ten times their weekly contribution to aid the Johnson’s salary.

Roles reversed. The Johnson’s offered the McKean’s emotional support.

The Portland Story article released on August 21st 2005 (some think as early as August 19th, 2005) has divided the ICOC for good. Perhaps some today will be surprised who were responsible for the content. Steve Johnson was little conflicted during his address to the ICOC leadership gathered at the September 2005 Seattle Conference. Here Johnson was shielding McKean from many angry stares during the Conference. Clearly Kip had few sympathisers during the Seattle Conference due to the August 21st release of the Portland Story. Some speakers were prepared to boycott the Conference if McKean would preach. The organisers barred McKean from any contribution other than being an observer and he was not allowed to participate with any decision-making processes.

Johnson called Kip my friend. He never hesitated to affirm his loyalty to Kip and some ownership regarding the controversial article, which now has split the ICOC. Johnson also implicated Douglas Arthur contribution to this notorious article saying the fact of the matter is, Doug Arthur and I worked on that article with him [Kip] for four hours before it was released. A transcript from McKean’s Friday night, August 19th sermon of the Portland Jubilee, God Became a Dying Man mentions McKean’s annoyance with Douglas and Steve’s involvement. Now that may tick them off… well, that’s OK. Y’know, people who changed my life ticked me off the most. I mean, Doug and Steve did it last night for four hours. I had my whole bulletin article [The Portland Story] written exactly the way I wanted it, and they made me go change it.

Perhaps the most controversial dilemma the neutral ICOC had to face was their apathy concerning discipleship. Johnson assured his audience in Seattle that in Savannah Church of Christ people will once more embrace discipleship exactly in the manner Kip is doing it. In Savannah, I want to do exactly what I did in Boston in 1979 or in New York in 1983 – in regards to teaching people how to teach people to become disciples. I’ve not come up, and I haven’t seen anyone else that has come up with a better mousetrap. And I assure you that when I see one, I’ll adopt it just like I did when I moved to Boston to be trained by Kip back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth.

Johnson further affirmed at the Conference his logic in pursuing a friendship with McKean right or wrong. …wherever Kip goes, I go. And that’s not because Kip is ever always right or sometimes even close to right – Kip’s my friend. Doug’s my friend too. And I believe if your friend takes you in the wrong direction, you’ve got to straighten him out, but you can’t do that if you’re not together. I needed Kip for the first few years of ministry… but I feel like he needs me now, simply as a friend. And whatever he does, I will support it as best I can and continue to keep a clear conscience.

Johnson made in 2006 an emphatic statement of loyalty to the Portland group which one blogger suggests it is nothing more than schizophrenic babble when reading the article entitled The Portland Family Welcomes Steve and Lisa Johnson!. Here Steve almost sacrificed his soul on the altar of human friendship. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

Needless to say, the true colours of Steve Johnson’s loyalty towards Kip McKean’s belief system have been severely tested. In 2006, McKean made a decision to break all ties with his former fellowship, the International Churches of Christ, and start his new “Sold-Out Discipling Movement” with its headquarters in Portland. Surely McKean’s isolation and that of Steve Johnson bobbing conscience were driven to breaking point as the aggressive church policies of the Portland Story ensued throughout 2006 and 2008.

Near the end of 2006, November 19th McKean lost his friendship with Douglas Arthur. Perhaps others have hoped the Johnson’s might contribute to a positive change keeping Kip in check, but they clearly have failed.

Is it really the end of the Kathmandu-embrace?