A Conversation with Maggie Johnson Phillips: Leading Young Adult Ministry & Worship Arts
On June 16, the Village Church congregation welcomed Maggie Johnson Phillips as the new associate pastor for young adult ministry and worship arts. She hit the ground running at Village the very next day, currently with the title of director until she is ordained and installed pending her examination by Heartland Presbytery at the Sept. 10 stated meeting. We talked with Maggie about her family, her road to Village and her vision for young adult ministry and worship arts.
Maggie grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas. “My family is very close-knit. My parents are Michael and Carrie Johnson. My mom is a sixth or seventh generation Presbyterian. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t in a church because of this strong foundation that my parents created for me and my siblings. That was always Second Presbyterian Church, Little Rock. So, Sunday mornings we were there. Wednesday evenings we were there. Every member of my family had keys to the church at one point in time.
“My sister, Nora, lives in a suburb outside of Dallas now. She graduated from the University of Arkansas. My brother, Cade, is a junior at the University of Georgia. I’m the oldest and am a textbook oldest sibling in a lot of ways. A day doesn’t go by that I’m not talking to my family.”
Maggie earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Tulsa. Her first job out of college was at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church in Dallas. Maggie explains how she wound up on the path to ministry. “I love people and knowing more and more about people. When I was studying psychology, it was more from a clinical perspective. My senior year of college, I thought, okay, I could either go into clinical psychology and become a psychologist, or I could explore this love that I’ve always felt for the church. What is the place where I’ve always felt like I belonged? And that was always the church.
“I knew I loved my church, my home church. I didn’t know if I loved ‘THE’ church. So that’s what led me to think I need to go explore that more. An opportunity came up to work at Preston Hollow and I learned very quickly, oh no, I love ‘THE church.’ It’s funny how much my psychology degree comes into play with loving people. I mean, that’s our whole goal here in the community of faith.”
Maggie served as the director of junior high ministry and then also broadly, youth ministry at Preston Hollow. “I worked with Rev. Sarah Are Speed during that time. She was the associate pastor for youth and young adult ministry. We were a great team.”
During her time at Preston Hollow, Maggie began to sense a call to ordained ministry. “Preston Hollow was an amazing place in that it has a staff like Village that loves to mentor and nurture and really says, we notice something in you. Why don’t you explore that more and see what the Holy Spirit might be saying to you at this point? Then in the middle of the pandemic I decided, yes, seminary and ordained ministry is what I want to do.
“I had heard that Columbia Seminary was a place where people learned to be pastors, and I wanted to be a pastor. I heard the preaching professor, Anna Carter Florence, give a sermon. And I thought, if I could preach a part of the way she can, I need to go to Columbia. So that was that moment for me.”
Maggie started at Columbia Seminary in August of 2021. She met her husband, Sam, her first week there. “Sam graduated from Maryville College, which is a Presbyterian school right outside of Knoxville. Right after college, he went to Columbia. He was starting his third year, and I was starting my first year. A mutual friend said, ‘Hey, we’re all hanging out together. Sam, why don’t you come join?’ We met a week before classes started and started hanging out every day after that and haven’t stopped. We’re like magnets.”
Maggie and Sam were married on April 26 of this year. Maggie graduated from seminary in mid-May. She moved to Overland Park with Sam and their dog, Charlie, in June. The Village Church Associate Pastor Nominating Committee had already been in conversations with Maggie earlier this year, presenting her as their recommended candidate for associate pastor for young adult ministry and worship arts at the June 16 congregational meeting.
Maggie says it was the job description that first drew her to Village Church. “Village uses its resources wisely to look for where we see the church going in the future. Young adult ministry is one of those places. It is a missing demographic in more churches than not. Village is leaning into that and saying, we recognize that, and we want to use what God has given us wisely and put a position to that.
“Then over time, through conversations, the worship arts became a part of the position. Worship leadership is something that I love so deeply. Worship creates all the rituals of our lives. From worship, everything else flows. So, for me, there is no better job description than young adult ministry and worship arts.”
Maggie is developing her vision for young adult ministry. “Something that I am deeply committed to is retreat experiences or trip experiences because all of those are rooted in spirituality. I think young adults in the church and in the world are hungry for spirituality because there are a million different ways that you can try and seek meaning in the world right now. The church is one of the best places to wrestle with that. Why are we here? Why do we love the way that we love? Who is this God that we worship? The church has a great opportunity not necessarily to offer all the answers, because we won’t have all the answers, but to say, let’s go try and figure it out together. So, for me, retreat and trip experiences are vital in that.”
Having a pastor for worship arts is something new for Village Church. “The fun thing about having a new position that has never been before is we’re putting the roadmap together as we’re on this journey. There is a committed group of lay people who are doing the work, who are saying, this is what we could use support in. I love being able to support their ministry that is already vibrant and helping to provide a new lens and a new perspective.”
All are invited to Maggie’s ordination and installation at the Village Church Mission Campus later this fall. This will be the final element in her officially becoming a pastor of Village Presbyterian Church. Maggie wants the Village congregation to know, “While my emphasis is on caring for the 20s and 30s in our community, I am a pastor, period. I hope that people view me as someone who anybody can go to, that they find me approachable. My heart is for the whole of the congregation.”