by Ava Swearingen, student writer
Harding School of Theology houses the graduate theological studies programs at Harding University. Here, church leaders and scholars fortify their faith and grow in their skills, becoming better able to guide disciples through God’s word. HST challenges its students to be active in ministry throughout their programs, bringing knowledge and experience into the real world. Those pursuing the Doctor of Ministry must defend a dissertation based on an active ministry project they are involved in. This April, the 2026 D.Min. cohort returned to campus to defend their dissertations.
On any given Sunday, faith transcends the barriers of race, culture and language. Charlie Johanson knows this well. Johanson preaches at the Brentwood Oaks Church of Christ in Austin, Texas. His journey to becoming a preacher started in the pews of a small church in South Texas and continued, until, one day in 2004, he felt pulled to this ministry for reasons he still can’t fully explain.
Johanson’s daily life is likely unsurprising to anyone familiar with the work of a preacher. It involves careful study of scripture, sermon development, administrative tasks and finding moments to create connections with his local community. He credits his time in HST for challenging and energizing him to strive for more.
“My experience has been exactly what God knew I needed in advance,” he says. “I have a much wider view of God’s mission in this world along with the acquisition of several tools for my ministry toolchest.”
One of the ways Johanson has been inspired is related to his dissertation project.
Back in 2021, Johanson’s congregation began working with a local school, mentoring fourth graders. The school is 95% Hispanic and 80% disadvantaged. Through this program, their eyes were opened to the immigrant population that surrounded them, and they realized that their church services were not set up to serve that community well.
They began to make a change. As a first step, they started singing hymns in Spanish once a month. This show of hospitality led to a Spanish-speaking congregation finding space to worship through Johanson’s church. More recently, they installed screens at the front of their auditorium that display Spanish captions in real-time to serve Spanish speakers attending services.
They still lacked a clear vision for what the Spanish-speaking ministry should look like, though. To remedy this, Johanson took seven members of Brentwood Oaks to the communities of Spanish-speaking neighbors. They were guests at the Spanish-speaking congregation they had aided. They also visited homes, took tours of neighborhoods and listened to many stories from their Hispanic neighbors.
Through these experiences, Johanson and his group were learning how to become more hospitable and understanding as a congregation. Now, they have next steps to explore.
Johanson wants to add more intentionality to this ministry. He plans to create opportunities for storytelling and relationships with their Spanish-speaking guests, educate his congregation on culturally appropriate greetings, give greater responsibilities to Spanish speakers in the worship assembly and offer Spanish Bible studies outside of worship.
These goals will be an undertaking, but Johanson feels up to the task. When asked what he hopes the long-term impact of this ministry will be, he said, “If other congregations learn something from what we are doing, may God be praised. We certainly learn from our sister congregations. … I hope and pray that Brentwood Oaks will continue to grow in a hospitable spirit toward Spanish-speaking neighbors … to become a trusted and loving presence in the neighborhood.”
Johanson’s calling to ministry has only been bolstered by his cohort at HST. He thinks of them fondly and will be eager for reunion as they continue to help each other grow into ministers that go above and beyond to live and lead for God.
For more information about Harding School of Theology, visit harding.edu/hst.
Information for 
