Called to tell the story: Moore to join AZMN staff

As Johanna Moore prepares to become director of communications and editor of Connect magazine for the Arizona Mission Network of Southern Baptists on June 1, she looks back and sees God’s guiding hand.

“Stepping into this position really feels like stepping into something God set up a long time ago that I never could have anticipated,” she said.

From making magazines and newspapers with friends as a child to working at a real city newspaper after college to serving as communications coordinator at an Arizona Southern Baptist church,

Moore sees how God used her interests and abilities to lead her to this position with Arizona Southern Baptists.

“From early in my career, I knew God had called me to share stories of how He is at work in people’s lives, and so this feels like the natural next chapter to that,” she said.

Moore graduated from the W.A. Franke Honors College at the University of Arizona, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and history.

While a student, she began writing as a freelancer for Arizona Southern Baptists’ Portraits magazine, precursor of Connect. Her Christian Challenge director at the U of A, Julie Newsted, connected her to Portraits editor Elizabeth Young, who will retire as editor and AZMN director of communications June 30.

“For 13 years, writing under her maiden name, Johanna Willett, Johanna has had a consistent presence in Portraits and now Connect,” Young said. “She has amazed me, turning in assignments ahead of the deadline — a rarity for writers — and handling complicated stories with ease.

“I’m looking forward to serving alongside her for the month of June and then turning everything over into her capable hands. I can see how God has prepared her to take this step, and I will be her biggest cheerleader as she takes AZMN communications to the next level.”

Moore will be a “great fit” for the AZMN team, said Monty Patton, AZMN executive director.

“While she has huge shoes to fill following Elizabeth, we are confident that Johanna will be able to move us forward communicating the work of our churches to connect with God, Mission and Each Other,” he said. “ have known Johanna for multiple years and have seen her grow in her leadership and in her competency. We are excited to have her serving as our director of communications.”

During her sophomore year of high school, Moore and her family started attending Mountain Ridge Church in Glendale, where Patton was pastor at the time. They had recently moved to Phoenix from Salt Lake City, where she grew up.

Because of Mountain Ridge, Moore attended Zona Camp as a student, and because of Zona, she got involved in Christian Challenge. It was at Christian Challenge that she met her husband, Jared, who is now associate pastor at Mountain View Baptist Church in Tucson, where Johanna has served as communications coordinator.

“God really opened my eyes to grace at Christian Challenge,” Moore said. “That’s where my faith really became my own personally.”

After college graduation, Moore participated in the World Journalism Institute, a several-week crash course in journalism offered by World magazine.

“That program shaped how I viewed journalism as an opportunity to report on God’s work in people’s lives,” she said. “And from there all the way through my work at the newspaper and now at the church, I think God has been putting pieces in place to prepare me and get me ready.”

Moore worked for about eight years as a features reporter with the Arizona Daily Star, the daily newspaper in Tucson.

“God used my time at the Star to teach me what a privilege it is to steward people’s stories, and then when you when you think about the story of how God is at work in someone’s life, even more so,” she said. “It also helped me think creatively about telling stories. … It really taught me that everybody has a story and to handle them with care. I try to never take it lightly when people are trusting you with their story.”

Moore’s experience as communications coordinator at Mountain View will provide a valuable perspective for her as AZMN director of communications.

“God has given me a love for the church community just being a church member,” she said, “but then, being on staff gives you a really unique perspective. I know personally what goes into making church happen. I have personal experience with the last-minute scramble before Easter or a big outreach event and all of the details that have to happen to cultivate a healthy church community.”

The view from serving on a church staff includes seeing the value of being part of the larger Arizona Southern Baptist family.

“I have personally filled out an Annual Church Profile for my own congregation, and I have written emails telling people about the impact of the Arizona Mission Offering,” Moore said.

“Because we participate in the [Zona] Men’s Retreat and Arise and Zona and lots of these big events that the convention supports, I’ve seen how these things impact people that I know. … For us as a church to be able to point people to resources and events that the convention offers that we know are quality and that we didn’t have to put together ourselves is a huge blessing.”

From personally experiencing Arizona Mission Network ministries to seeing close up how Arizona Southern Baptists work together to make ministry happen, Moore knows there are stories to tell. Now, it’s her privilege and responsibility to share them.