Deseret News Authors

Jerry Earl Johnston

Jerry Earl Johnston is a former Deseret News staffer who currently freelances columns for Mormon Times and the Faith page. He’s from Brigham City, Utah, where he and wife Carol still live. They have a blended family of five kids and 14 grandchildren. While at the News, Jerry worked in sports, features, on city desk and was editor of the Religion section. He has been a columnist for the paper for more than 30 years. He has a Masters Degree in Spanish from the University of New Mexico and is the author of five books. He served an LDS mission to Bolivia.

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Recent Articles by Jerry Earl Johnston

Movies, miracles and the Mormon Trail

Published: Tuesday, June 11, 2013 4:22 pm MDT

Over the weekend, my wife and I caught “Ephraim’s Rescue,” T.C. Christensen’s latest film about miracles on the Mormon Trail.It’s the story of Ephraim Hanks, a pioneer with a hea...

The little desert church that could: Churchgoers rally after pastor unexpectedly dies

Published: Wednesday, June 5, 2013 1:01 pm MDT

In a tiny town in Eastern Nevada, a group of churchgoers have been rallying since their pastor unexpectedly died.

A place where every pauper is a prince

Published: Tuesday, May 28, 2013 3:56 pm MDT

More than once I’ve heard a person say that Mormon temples resemble castles. Well, why not? They are, after all, the dwellings of the King of Kings. And they are places where members of the church go to b...

Freshen, don't destroy, the old words and ways

Published: Tuesday, May 21, 2013 5:34 pm MDT

This new bunch of spiritual thinkers may, indeed, see the world differently, but they don’t undermine what went before. They try to expand on it. They don’t destroy our way of seeing things, they e...

The mainstreaming of Mormonism

Published: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 5:08 pm MDT

I remember, as a missionary in Bolivia, picking up a newspaper one morning and reading the word “Mormon” on the front page.I was stunned.

Desert church digs for Living Water

Published: Wednesday, May 8, 2013 1:06 pm MDT

I was motoring down the freeway through California’s high desert when, from the corner of my eye, I glimpsed a tiny cross in the wasteland, attached to a steeple. The church looked like a matchbox careles...

Teaching the legacy of the long view

Published: Tuesday, April 30, 2013 3:35 pm MDT

Kids today don’t need more information. They’re awash in it. What they need is a context for the information they already have.

Another brush with John Updike

Published: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 3:50 pm MDT

Years ago I sent John Updike, called "The Mozart of American Letters" by one critic, a novel for him to sign. I got a delightful keepsake for my efforts.

With missions — and life — we learn as we go

Published: Tuesday, April 16, 2013 3:44 pm MDT

I envy David Kraus not just because he’s 18, but because he’s heading off on a Spanish-speaking mission that will be awash in church resources and materials. And he already has a better sense of wha...

Why churches welcome Hispanic converts, with or without papers

Published: Wednesday, April 10, 2013 3:36 pm MDT

Church leaders aren’t in charge of the country, they are in charge of God’s Kingdom. And when a soul knocks on the gates and asks to come inside, a Christian leader is going to let them in. A Christ...

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