Ray Johnson is coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Florida and Caribbean Islands.
- Where did you grow up?
My dad was in the U.S. Navy, so our family moved around a lot. Basically, though, I would say that I grew up in San Diego; Hatfield, Pennsylvania; and Palatka, Florida.
- What is your favorite verse, book or story in the Bible? Why?
My favorite passage of Scripture is Genesis 1-2. There is so much literary, theological, cultural and linguistic richness in the first two chapters of the Bible, upon which nearly every subsequent biblical story and teaching depend.
- What is your favorite movie? Why?
Today it is “Fiddler on the Roof.”
Largely because of Tevye, one of my favorite characters in all of cinema, whose personal friendship with God, whose love for his daughters and his wife, and whose friendships and faith invigorate my own understanding of living life well.
- Who are three people you admire?
Jimmy Carter, Abraham Joshua Heschel and Malala Yousafzai.
- What is one little-known fact about yourself?
My mother never knew her real father, not even his name, but, as a result of my daughter taking one of those DNA tests, we found living cousins whom we had never known and who eventually led us to discover the real identity of my mother’s dad. Turns out, just like in one of those commercials, that we are Hungarian, not Italian, as we had always been told.
