Thursday, October 12, 2000 Older Editions

Johnson heads South: ABC medical editor to address church

By Neil Fater

ABC News' Dr. Timothy Johnson will make a house call this Sunday to one of Andover's houses of worship.

Johnson, the ABC medical editor perhaps best known for his TV work on Good Morning America, will deliver a sermon at South Church entitled "You Must Be Kidding."

Dr. Timothy Johnson to give sermon Sunday.

Johnson is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Covenant Church, and will be a guest preacher at the 10:30 a.m. Oct. 15 service celebrating South Church's 289th anniversary.

South Church Senior Pastor Cal Mutti says the sermon focuses on the "often quoted-out-of-context" statement by Jesus that it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter heaven.

" 'You must be kidding' is the response that a lot of people would give," says Mutti. "I think most people would say, 'What!? Isn't the idea to get richer?' The idea is to get richer in spiritual things."

Johnson has ties to South Church and Andover because friends attend the church and he is on the advisory board and has been adjunct faculty at the Andover Newton Theological School, says Katherine Kallis, South Church's minister of spirituality and vocation.

Johnson spoken in Andover before. In 1997, he debated C. Everett Koop on the issue of physician-assisted suicide.

"That was my first personal introduction to him, but I'd watched him on TV, and appreciated his approachability," says Mutti.

After meeting him once or twice after, that is what made Mutti comfortable in asking Johnson if he would speak at the church.

"I've always had high respect for him and regard for him, and I thought, 'What have I got to lose?' " says Mutti. "I just like what he represents both in the medical field and with medical ethics.

"I think he represents a good bridge, someone who's conversant in both (religion and medicine)."

Mutti remembers the Phillips debate between friends Johnson and Koop.

"(Johnson) represented the side that viewed physicians assisting people who do not want to prolong their life to be a viable ethical option," says Mutti. "The two of them are both congenial, and it was a little like watching the vice-presidential debate the other night."

South Church is located at 41 Central St.