Barry Lee Johnson

Barry Lee Johnson, 70, went home to the Lord on February 27, 2025, in Deer Lodge, Montana.

Funeral services will be conducted at 1:00 pm, Saturday, March 8, 2025 at North Summit Church with Pastor Chad Wilks officiating. Interment will take place in Pinecrest Memorial Park.

Born March, 24, 1954 in Glendale, California, to Barry B. Johnson and Audrey Lee Yanz, Barry spent his early years in Riverside before moving to Sandpoint, Idaho, in 1966. There, on his family’s 65-acre farm, he developed a love for the outdoors—hunting, raising farm animals, boarding horses, and, most of all, fishing. He remained an avid and successful fisherman his entire life.

From a young age, Barry’s faith in Jesus Christ was the foundation of his life. He had a heart for sharing the Gospel with friends, a passion that remained central to everything he did.

A graduate of Sandpoint High School in 1972, Barry was deeply involved in Future Farmers of America, later serving as the FFA President for the state of Idaho. One of the highlights of this time was meeting President Gerald Ford while enjoying tea and cookies in the White House Rose Garden.

Barry pursued a deeper knowledge of the Bible by attending Judson Baptist College in Oregon before completing his Biblical Studies degree at Inland Empire School of the Bible (later Moody Northwest) in Spokane, Washington. To put himself through school, he worked cutting and selling cedar shake blocks. This, along with fighting wildfires and planting trees for the US Forest Service, began his love of logging and working in the woods.

During his early adult years, Barry began ministering to others by serving as a youth leader at Carey Memorial Church in Spokane and co-founding a thriving community Bible study.

Throughout the 1980s, Barry served as a youth pastor at Trinity Baptist Church in Walla Walla, Washington, and First Baptist Church in Kennewick, Washington. It was during this time that he took two life-changing mission trips to (then) Zaire, Africa, igniting a lifelong passion for global missions.

In 1989, Barry married Cari Gintner, and together they returned to Sandpoint, where they would spend the next 33 years, apart from a brief season in Othello, Washington, where he served as an interim pastor at First Baptist Church.

Barry's calling to ministry never wavered. In Sandpoint, he logged and later founded his own construction business before co-founding New Song Bible Church in Sagle in 1997. He served as pastor there for 21 years, pouring his heart into his congregation and community.

In 2002, Barry and Cari were blessed with twins, Joel Thomas and Halee Lynn. Heartbreakingly, his daughter, Halee, passed away at just one month old. Through his own grief, Barry used this as an opportunity to minister more deeply to others.

After retiring in 2019, Barry and Cari moved back to Kennewick in 2022. Where he spent time catching sturgeon on the Columbia River, tending to his garden, playing pinochle and taking his nieces and nephews to Wendy’s. He remained active in local church and small group discipleship.

Barry’s life was a testament to the love and grace of Jesus Christ. As a pastor, friend, and mentor, he touched countless lives, officiated weddings and funerals, led Bible studies, and championed global missions.

Barry is survived by his loving wife, Cari; his son, Joel (Lindsea) of Richland, Washington; his brothers, Bruce (Shelly) of Sandpoint, Idaho, and Kevin of Spokane, Washington. He was preceded in death by his father, Barry; his mother, Audrey; his daughter, Halee; and his brother, Brett.

Barry’s leaves behind a lasting legacy of faith and generosity and will be deeply missed. We rejoice knowing he is now in the presence of the Savior he loved and served.

The family suggests that those wishing to honor Barry’s memory may consider making a donation to Shriners Hospital or St. Jude’s Hospital, causes that were close to his heart.