05/08/2026
As Johanna Moore prepares to become director of communications and editor of Connect magazine for the Arizona Mission Network of Southern Baptists on June 1, she looks back and sees God’s guiding hand.
“Stepping into this position really feels like stepping into something God set up a long time ago that I never could have anticipated,” she said.
From making magazines and newspapers with friends as a child to working at a real city newspaper after college to serving as communications coordinator at an Arizona Southern Baptist church, Moore sees how God used her interests and abilities to lead her to this position with Arizona Southern Baptists.
“From early in my career, I knew God had called me to share stories of how He is at work in people’s lives, and so this feels like the natural next chapter to that,” she said.
Moore graduated from the W.A. Franke Honors College at the University of Arizona, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and history.
While a student, she began writing as a freelancer for Arizona Southern Baptists’ Portraits magazine, precursor of Connect. Her Christian Challenge director at the U of A, Julie Newsted, connected her to Portraits editor Elizabeth Young, who will retire as editor and AZMN director of communications June 30.
“For 13 years, writing under her maiden name, Johanna Willett, Johanna has had a consistent presence in Portraits and now Connect,” Young said. “She has amazed me, turning in assignments ahead of the deadline — a rarity for writers — and handling complicated stories with ease.
https://azmn.org/news/called-to-tell-the-story-moore-joins-azmn-staff/