SS 27 – ‘Lead Vertically’ with Craig Johnson

As Craig Johnson’s book describes, great leaders build up, not down. Join Jason Hartman and Craig Johnson, Director of Ministries at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, as they discuss the power in looking up to God to inspire great leadership, volunteerism, and goal-setting, whether in a church setting or business. Craig has served in full-time ministry for more than two decades. He is currently the Director of Ministries at Lakewood Church, the largest and fastest growing church in America, overseeing all pastoral ministries and staff. Most recently, Craig helped lead the team in the development of the Lakewood discipleship pathway “Connect, Grow, Serve and Give.” He also helped launch the Lakewood Internship Program as well as the Lay Ministry Program of Lakewood Church. Craig created Kidslife, the children’s ministry of Lakewood Church, which now operates in six different services in Spanish and English and has grown to over 4,500 children and more than 1,300 volunteers. In 2009, Craig launched the “Champions Club,” a state of the art facility for over 200 special needs kids that features a physical therapy room, sensory room, spiritual therapy room and an educational room. Craig is an advocate for special needs kids & families. Prior to coming to Lakewood Church, Craig served as the Children’s Pastor at Faith Community Church in California. He served as Co-chair for the Los Angeles Billy Graham Children’s Crusade. Craig is the creator of many programming tools for family ministry, including a new discipleship curriculum being launched by Kidmo in 2012. He is the author of a new book called “Lead Vertically: Inspire People to Volunteer / Build Great Teams That Last.” Craig and his wife of 21 years, Samantha, have three children: Cory, Courtney, and Connor.