Speaker Mike Johnson Vows to Rekindle ‘Principles That Guided Our Founders’

House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 5, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Commentary

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson recently sat down for an interview with Pastor Greg Laurie, and the result was a refreshing, behind-the-scenes look into both the Speaker’s life and the temper of the times on Capitol Hill. Pastor Laurie is best known for being the inspiration behind the 2023 hit movie “Jesus Revolution.” Most recently, he joined other evangelical leaders at the White House to discuss the “spiritual state of the country.”

During their relaxed discussion, Speaker Johnson gave the pastor a brief overview of his journey from that quintessential Southern city, Shreveport, LA, to the powerful corridors of Congress. He discussed the unshakable faith that guides his leadership, defines his worldview, and equips him as he navigates the contentious landscape of Capitol Hill.

A Day in the Life of the Speaker

Johnson’s schedule is grueling; a reflection of the modern speakership’s all-encompassing demands. “It’s a 24-hour operation,” he said, describing his role as requiring constant engagement with a deeply divided Congress. With the Republican Party holding a razor-thin majority—often a one-vote margin—every day is a high-stakes battle to advance the aggressive agenda American’s voted for. Johnson called this a season of “extreme sacrifice and service,” adding that “one day we’ll rest … sometime in the future.”

His early morning and late-night phone conversations, including frequent calls with President Trump, underscore the intensity of his role.

Illustrating his point, he recounted how Trump recently called him at 11:30 at night—from a dinner he was having with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo—putting Johnson on speaker phone to discuss a “big, beautiful bill.”

The Turbulent Road to Capitol Hill

Johnson’s path to Washington was anything but conventional. Born to “high school sweethearts” in Northwest Louisiana, he says he was the product of an unplanned pregnancy. His father, an assistant fire chief, was severely injured in a 1984 explosion at Dixie Cold Storage, miraculously surviving the third-degree burns that covered 80 percent of his body. Johnson said his father was “severely disabled after that but he recovered miraculously.“ ”It’s a long story, a great testimony about God’s protection and favor,” he added.

While the Speaker did not elaborate during this interview, his father, Pat Johnson, cofounded a “private nonprofit organization that helps make burn services available to patients and their families in the Shreveport-Bossier City area.” The organization bears the name of Pat Johnson’s partner, Fire Captain Percy R. Johnson, who was killed in the same explosion. (Percy Johnson was one of Shreveport’s first African-American firefighters.)

This experience deeply influenced the Speaker’s faith and life-perspective. While he originally wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps, the accident caused him to choose a different path. He pursued constitutional law, litigating religious liberty and pro-life cases and working for groups like Alliance Defending Freedom. A unique series of opportunities led him to politics—first as a state representative in Louisiana, then to Congress in 2017, providentially coinciding with Trump’s first term in office.

Faith as the Cornerstone of Leadership

Speaker Johnson’s faith isn’t constrained to personal conviction—he said it’s the cornerstone of his leadership. “I don’t know of any person in public service who speaks as openly, freely, and naturally about their faith as you do,” Pastor Laurie remarked.

Johnson was raised in a Christian home and baptized in a horse trough behind a country church at age 7. He credits his ability to handle the challenges of his speakership to his biblical worldview. He quoted President John Quincy Adams (in office 1825–1829): “Duty is ours; results are God’s.” He explained how this perspective liberates him from worry and empowers him to press forward, often against raging opposition. He leads a growing faith community on Capitol Hill, hosting a weekly prayer group in his office. “We meet regularly. ... There are multiple Bible studies going on with some small subgroups on The Hill, and it’s growing because when people stand like that together, it inspires that in others,” he told Laurie.

Additionally, Speaker Johnson encourages new members to integrate their beliefs into their work. He said he urges the freshman Republican senators, all of whom happen to identify as Christians, to consider what it means to be a person of faith: “Is that something you should leave outside the building, or should you carry it with you? And if you did, how could it change the atmosphere of Capitol Hill?”

“Those principles guided our founders,” Johnson said, adding that, apart from Israel (being the cradle of Judaism and Christianity), there’s never been a nation like America with such strong spiritual roots. The Speaker went on to reference a quote from British author and philosopher G.K. Chesterton, which reads in part: “America is the only nation in the world that is founded on a creed. That creed is set forth with dogmatic and even theological lucidity in the Declaration of Independence.”

Building Bridges With Biblical Principles

Navigating Capitol Hill’s divisions requires what Johnson calls “prayer and patience.” He practices New Testament prescriptions for conflict resolution, such as loving one’s enemies and blessing those who persecute you. “The magic of this is really not magic,” he said, stressing a conciliatory approach that prioritizes reconciliation over retaliation. This mindset allows him to build bridges, even with adversaries, earning him a reputation as a “mental health counselor.” “There’s so much conflict, and so much emotion, and so much stress around [Capitol Hill],“ he said. ”And so what I do is I sit down like this with members all the time ... Republican colleagues ... then all the Democrats on the other side ... I say “What’s concerning you? ... I saw you’re upset ... let’s talk about that.”

Yet Johnson is not afraid to take a firm stand when necessary, as seen when he decisively directed Representative Al Green to be removed from the chamber during a State of the Union address. It was the first such interruption/removal in history. “I took no pleasure in it,” he said.

While the full interview also touched on global threats from Iran and China, the Speaker acknowledged that even such overwhelming geopolitical challenges can be combated with “crystal clear wisdom and discernment,” underpinned by prayer.

Johnson’s commitment to biblical principles rekindles a lost model for American leadership. “These are the principles that guided our founders … guided previous generations of leaders, and we ought to do the same thing,” he told Pastor Laurie. “It seems foreign to people now, but this was common in previous generations, and I’m trying to bring it back.”

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.