Image above: Representative, now Speaker, Mike Johnson (Louisiana) was surrounded by Church United Pastors praying for him earlier this year. Senior Pastors Shane Brunner (Indiana), Des Desmond (California), Attorney Bob Tyler, Steve Crane (Idaho), Jim Domen (California), Lance Cook (California), Daniel Vasquez (California), and Jim Stewart (Kansas). Church United Awakening Tour January - February 2023.
Chosen as Speaker of the House on first vote
Johnson, 51, of Louisiana, swept through on the first ballot with support from all Republicans anxious to put the past weeks of tumult behind and get on with the business of governing. He was quickly sworn into office.
“The people’s House is back in business,” Johnson declared after taking the gavel.
A lower-ranked member of the House GOP leadership team, Johnson emerged as the fourth Republican nominee in what had become an almost absurd cycle of political infighting since Kevin McCarthy's ouster as GOP factions jockeyed for power. While not the party's top choice for the gavel, the deeply religious and even-keeled Johnson has few foes and an important GOP backer: Donald Trump. - AP
International reaction
Johnson's confirmation brought to an end weeks of Republican Party turmoil after three previous choices failed to win enough votes to replace Kevin McCarthy. But it is also the most significant victory to date for evangelical Christians' pro-Israel movement. – Haaretz (Israel)
Reaction in the U.S.
Pastor Jim Domen, involved in leadership with the Church United movement shares that he and others had prayer with Congressman Johnson earlier this year on Capitol Hill:
"I'm in shock that a Member of the House of Representatives we prayed over just nine months ago is now the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and according to the U.S. Constitution, he's second in line to the presidency. Please join me in praying for Speaker Johnson. He loves Jesus, and he's humble." – Pastor Jim Domen
Background from Louisiana
After the vote for Johnson, U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) released a statement congratulating “my good friend, Mike Johnson.”
“Mike isn’t just a consistent conservative — he’s a courageous one,” Kennedy wrote. “He loves God, his family, and his country more than anything, and he has devoted his life to serving them faithfully. American families share Mike’s Louisiana values, and they deserve his confident, principled leadership.”
Louisiana Baptist Convention Executive Director Steve Horn also expressed high praise for Johnson.
Horn told the Baptist Message, “This is an exciting day for Louisiana. This is an exciting day for Louisiana Baptists. More than anything, this is an exciting day for America.
“To have someone with Mike’s intellectual acumen, love for America, principled convictions, and Christian worldview as speaker of the House gives me great hope,” Horn said. “We need to be praying for Mike, Kelly, and their children.”
Meanwhile, Johnson’s pastor, John Fream, called Johnson “a tremendous man of God, a historian, constitutional expert, biblical scholar and great family man.” He also described Johnson as an “humble servant.”
“Mike and [wife] Kelly are stars and so willing to follow the Lord wherever and however He leads them,” he told the Baptist Message. “I am fired up for my friend and this nation!” - Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor
Fream added that his congregation is committed to praying for Johnson and his family “as they are called for such a time as this to lead.”
Here's Speaker Johnson's first address to the House, where his faith and belief in America is very apparent:
A 2020 podcast interview with Rep. Johnson reveals much about his faith in God: