BY WILLIAM G. JOHNSSON

WJ: Is it true-that this very day, July 1, marks 50 years of your marriage to Kari?

JP: Yes, that's right.

Congratulations! You two seem very comfortable with each other. What is the secret of your relationship?

When you have lived together for as long as we have, and found a good life in it, you become very comfortable with each other. I think the fact that we have so many shared values, not just in faith-though, of course, faith is the first one. We have shared values, shared interests, shared children. The more you can share, the closer you get to each other.

Looking back over the years, is there one highlight that stands out?

There are some intersections that came to be important as we look back. Going to Africa 43 years ago when we were a very young family, that opened to us a world that we had not known before. It's the world of the global church. We since discovered there are many, many other doors that you have to walk through, but that first one took us into the world, away from our more sheltered community in Europe.

Even though that experience exposed you to medical conditions that seriously affected Kari? Yes. It did. It's the risk and price that you sometimes pay. But Kari was always strong. Her mind is stronger than her health at times, but she has never looked back with regrets on that time we spent in Africa.

You married and you went into ministry immediately, right?

Well, we married and went into a study period. For the first four years or so after we married we were in studies. She supported me. I pursued full- time studies, and she was in full-time work.

She has a good theological mind.

She does. We met at our training school in Denmark. We were just 17, 18 years of age, beginning theological ministerial training. She has a very good, very sharp mind. Her mind was early on conditioned for these kinds of things.

Does she interact with you in your speaking and sermons?

She does. She is the only one to this day who can tell me the truth without intimidation. We often talk together about the message and so forth, and she will sometimes give a human dimension to it that I would otherwise miss, thinking just biblically or theologically.

What is your vision or dream for the next five years?

I want the church not to be distracted from what we have already determined is our focus. I want the church-I want us as leaders-to be constantly focused on mission. Mission is our objective. The benefits that accompany it are the benefits of renewal. As you spend yourself, exhausting your energies and they get replenished, this is how spirituality complements an active life of mission. Also, I think it very important for each of us to become involved. Particularly to sharpen the sense of ownership among those who are young and to give to them a sense of being trusted.

Many members will continue to pray for you and Kari. Is there a particular focus you would like them to have in their prayers?

That the Lord will give us the strength of mind, the Spirit, to do what He has in mind. I would ask them also to pray for the church, to pray specifically for this rapidly growing international global family to hold together as one. The family does best as we strengthen the bonds that tie us together.