tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775Sat, 24 Oct 2026 16:53:12 +0000story of God2009God's loveartchurch plantingcreatecreativitycultureeaster campfaithfearfriendshipgospelidolsimmerseleadershiplovemateshipmediummessagemoneymovementservingstate of originstoryingthankfulworld... a tinkering prophethttp://www.travjohnson.com/noreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)Blogger175125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-1804576899112130056Mon, 24 Aug 2026 02:04:16 +00002026-08-24T11:45:57.376+09:30A few weeks ago I sat in a room filled with other pastors.The guest speaker begins with an anecdote about a leadership coach observing how so many clients weep in their sessions - more than ever before.I’m hooked. The landscape for leaders is shifting, and when you’re a part of the landscape rather than viewing it from a distance, it can be hard to know why it’s shifting. Harder still is http://www.travjohnson.com/2026/08/more-to-gethsemane.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-4895582051186372859Sun, 05 Jul 2026 13:02:16 +00002026-07-06T08:47:40.065+09:30Dear Church,Isn’t it time to beat swords into plowshares?What might it look like to pour energy and resources into the work of cultivating rows rather than defining battle lines?Today I hear of your decision to continue to not formally recognise the wisdom of female elders among your people.How long before you see that your conversation is not about what you think it is?This conversation is not http://www.travjohnson.com/2026/07/female-elders.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-8258184255486151871Mon, 18 May 2026 01:59:46 +00002026-05-18T11:29:46.136+09:30Exile invites me to humbly bless my adopted home through a life established in courageous and irresistible love.Today I visit my previous home church for the first time in 3 and a half years, and the pastor speaks about exile.Oh the irony.I love being able to connect with some old friends, but it is also hard.Hard to be in the place associated with a deeply challenging season in my life.  A http://www.travjohnson.com/2026/05/thats-not-exile.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-6124190572016305561Sat, 24 Jan 2026 01:20:00 +00002026-01-24T12:04:26.115+10:30Outside the back door of Junktion is a small strip of garden that was inspired by my mother in law. What I mean by ‘inspired’ is that she did most of the work - reinvigorating the soil, selecting the succulents and ground covers, and doing the most of the tending. Pixi and I water it once and a while, and creatively place broken bits of brick-a-brack throughout the tiny landscape. A broken http://www.travjohnson.com/2026/01/sacred.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-797862022519482407Thu, 27 Nov 2025 23:18:00 +00002025-11-28T09:48:21.447+10:30‘Why isn’t Verge listed as one of our projects?’It’s the right question.And after a pregnant pause, I respond in the board meeting: ‘because I think it’s time to put a line under it.’This week-long experience turned interactive bible resource has been central to our activity. In fact, Verge was the key program around which AccessTheStory was formed.  Six years on from running our last http://www.travjohnson.com/2025/11/renewed-vision.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-181377512700343819Thu, 20 Nov 2025 22:22:00 +00002025-11-21T08:52:04.555+10:30Ok, calling it 'pesky' is unfair - remaining above this threshold is actually an incredible kindness.September 2024.I start tracking my funding with a little more earnest.What's coming in? What's going out? What's being accrued?  What's the margin?And I arrive upon this threshold.  'If the balance of the margin available dips below this amount, then I need to make the choice http://www.travjohnson.com/2025/11/my-pesky-threshold.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-2277617814815085244Thu, 13 Nov 2025 21:50:00 +00002025-11-14T09:28:06.932+10:30One Thursday night in April, a text comes up on my phone while I’m sitting on the couch.Earlier in the day I have withdrawn my application to drive buses, so the timing of this message has a flavor of providence.An approach to talk to me ‘in the capacity of elder’ turns into a meeting the following day.Over the last 16 years Ive been ‘not quite a pastor’.AccessTheStory brings me close enoughhttp://www.travjohnson.com/2025/11/not-quite-pastor.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-8738262915583878095Thu, 06 Nov 2025 21:20:00 +00002025-11-07T09:42:37.830+10:30Application. Check.Driver-test. Check.Interview. Check.Medical.  Check.License classification.  Check.Employee onboarding. Check. (Well, nearly).After months of monitoring my personal support with AccessTheStory (and months of it remaining frustratingly just above the threshold required for me to remain fulltime), I think, 'Why not? Driving a bus part-time as well as doing ministry http://www.travjohnson.com/2025/11/almost-bus-driver.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-3152883966553196172Thu, 29 May 2025 20:00:00 +00002025-05-30T20:41:34.703+09:30Last weekend I was voted into an interim pastoral role in the local church I’ve been attending.  I’m pretty excited to be involved in the work of God in my local community in this way.As part of the meeting where the vote happened some conversation emerged around a book AccessTheStory is selling on our website, and apparently it led to a bit of a kerfuffle (I wasn’t in the room!)As a http://www.travjohnson.com/2025/05/jesus.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-1216124660099868920Mon, 28 Apr 2025 12:39:00 +00002025-04-28T22:49:24.025+09:30Today I attended the funeral of my brother-in-law’s dad.He was described as a simple man.  Resilient.  Hardworking. Kind. Loving. His first job in the small wheatbelt town in southern WA was a postie. Then overnight worker in the local telephone exchange. Then eventually he started up his own business as a landscape gardener - building a reputation for gardening awards http://www.travjohnson.com/2025/04/i-never-knew-i-knew-him.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-9084786270728543205Tue, 21 Jan 2025 23:19:00 +00002025-01-23T16:46:39.392+10:30I have a good friend who leads a church close by.  He sees his role as a calling and loves seeing the fruit of changed lives as people engage in the story of Jesus.  He is also saddened and frustrated by what he calls ‘church gravity'.He often gets caught up — or slowed down — by keeping things running.  When the desire to respond to societal injustice or human isolation is http://www.travjohnson.com/2025/01/church-gravity-pulls-both-ways.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-8454483550251731163Sun, 19 Jan 2025 01:06:00 +00002025-01-19T12:14:43.978+10:30It’s been a few years since I had a ‘word’ for my year.I’ve always found it to be a good practice — articulating a theme that anchors my story for the year.More recently I’ve resisted the urge to manufacture an overlay for my experiences — between some traumatic events and creative fatigue ‘my word for the year’ hasn’t been something I’ve pursued.After a few years of allowing my year to just ‘be’http://www.travjohnson.com/2025/01/increase.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-7961296992504854712Thu, 03 Oct 2024 01:22:00 +00002024-10-03T10:52:21.753+09:30Driving west.Hanging out for Siri’s next unhurried instruction. Threading the line between speeding b-doubles.Resisting the urge to panic.Glancing at the rearview mirror, I catch it.The Melbourne skyline.The shape of the city shaping you.A misty eyed smile.The thought emerges how you might be shaping this horizon in my rearview mirror.http://www.travjohnson.com/2024/10/rearview-skyline.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-4696533013497764896Tue, 01 Oct 2024 23:16:00 +00002024-10-02T08:46:45.056+09:30Last weekend we had the privilege of being guests at a good friend’s wedding.In recent years deep grief has been a part of her story.This is what I saw on the day:A Dragonfly.Darting.Hovering.Drifting with the wind, then returning.There above the people.Drinking in the joy of each moment.Watching over her.She walks to her groom on the arm of her Mum.Dress glistening in the warm spring day, face http://www.travjohnson.com/2024/10/dragonfly.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-1892727360576897037Wed, 18 Sep 2024 01:03:00 +00002024-09-18T14:11:48.300+09:30I've never been comfortable asking for money.  Yet, it's a big part of how I spend my time -- it comes with the territory of leading a not-for-profit.And there are some unique aspects to the registered charity I lead.  Firstly, the technical reason the organisation exists is for the 'advancement of religion'.  Needless to say, a good portion of the Australian population won't http://www.travjohnson.com/2024/09/asking-for-money.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-272030585357306642Fri, 13 Sep 2024 03:56:00 +00002024-09-13T13:26:03.622+09:30I find it hard not to be drawn into a rhetoric of persecution.  Where my middle class faith does not hold the same place in society that it did seventy years ago. And with this shift of the church from the centre of society to the margins, I conclude that I'm being persecuted as a Christian.Maybe.Or perhaps this shift just unearths my insecurity.  A latent desire to protect the system http://www.travjohnson.com/2024/09/recovering-sanctimaniac.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-5060060471376663775Tue, 20 Aug 2024 00:58:00 +00002024-08-20T10:30:52.211+09:30This last weekend I participated in a men's retreat with the church I've recently been attending.  The leader has us think through the value of our identity and where we find it.  To help us reflect we are given a poetic template called "I am from'.Here is what I put together:I am from the baling press.From wool and wheat.I am from the blue weatherboard along the hidden dirt track - http://www.travjohnson.com/2024/08/i-am-from.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-3306839603563263517Fri, 21 Jul 2023 05:42:00 +00002023-07-22T10:58:41.267+09:30Me having a ‘sin nature’ might be responsible for all that is wrong in the world.Increasingly, I find the idea that the ‘core of who I am is evil’ to be deeply problematic. I know I need the intervention of divine love, but when I see myself as only born with a sin nature, my default understanding of original self is that I am marred, deficient, and incapable of giving or receiving love.Thishttp://www.travjohnson.com/2023/07/human-nature.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-3174740304311508548Wed, 19 Jul 2023 03:12:00 +00002023-07-19T12:46:54.896+09:30The life story of Keith Green was a formative read for me in my early 20s.His prophetic voice and artistry still bring an emotive response — my faith story is indelibly marked by the no-holds-barred perspective of many of his songs.An unmistakable call for those who identify as followers of Jesus to awaken and orient themselves to a radical life of love.Fresh off the movement of the Jesus people,http://www.travjohnson.com/2023/07/no-compromise.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-4780978312005757640Mon, 17 Jul 2023 03:22:00 +00002023-07-17T15:07:47.404+09:30A step forwards in love might mean no regrets, but it can also involve a trail of unexpected consequences.Loving in a particular direction can mean rushing headlong into complexity and occasional confusion, yet I remain compelled to love.And as love compels me to step forward it creates distance with what I leave behind.I hadn’t anticipated that.Yes, the distance of people’s capacity to http://www.travjohnson.com/2023/07/loving-forward.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-5318242598885251633Tue, 11 Jul 2023 00:08:00 +00002023-07-11T09:38:05.534+09:30You can’t argue with the response to a food allergy diagnosis. The person’s diet needs to change.  No doubt, the person is responsible for the choices for what they eat, and in the case of a child, the parents also carry this responsibility.  They change the system of their food preparation at home, and they begin to make more informed decisions as to how they source their food — and http://www.travjohnson.com/2023/07/dietary.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-248295877169145793Mon, 10 Jul 2023 06:27:00 +00002023-07-11T09:32:04.208+09:30Rachel Held-Evans writes of a conference she hosted in 2015 having invited ‘a dozen speakers’ to respond to the question:“Why Christian? Why, with all the atrocities past and present committed in God’s name, amid all the divisions ripping apart the church, in spite of all their doubts and frustrations and fears about faith, are they still followers of Jesus?  What makes them continue to http://www.travjohnson.com/2023/07/why-christian.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-8093059748434193654Tue, 24 Jan 2023 10:37:00 +00002023-01-24T21:10:56.255+10:30Today our third child Jackson has announced their preference for the use of she/her pronouns.As parents we know this has been a significant decision and we want to affirm Jackson in her desire to be at peace with who they are, and she will never not have a place in our family.As long-term followers of Jesus we believe that a resolute love is the only lens through which to view our children, and http://www.travjohnson.com/2023/01/pronouns.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-168753045620300098Sat, 21 Jan 2023 00:34:00 +00002023-01-21T11:57:59.800+10:30 Today marks the end of an era.Never again will my eldest son need to make up a witty response to a customer’s lame attempt at humour: ‘do you guys have a sale on?’ (Referring to the over-the-top store merchandising that EB Games are renowned for).It was just over 10 years ago, that the Marion store manager flipped a coin on two resumes brought in by hopeful teenagers. It landed on Tom.In http://www.travjohnson.com/2023/01/do-you-guys-have-sale-on.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855631238554868775.post-4248059164118963362Mon, 16 Jan 2023 00:07:00 +00002023-01-16T10:37:56.616+10:30God is doing a new work of holiness in me. Not a work of blandness or restriction, but an expansion of horizons — a broadening.Having been undone by a larger vision of God as Person, the ember of Isaiah 6 hovers before my lips and the purification from sectarianism and ‘truth drained from mystery’ is in the midst of doing its cleansing work.  “But holiness is in wild and furious http://www.travjohnson.com/2023/01/holy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (trav johnson)0