Charles Johnson's Legacy of Leadership
Johnson Serves Forty-four Years and Counting

Pastor Charles Johnson moved in 1961 to a fledgling six-year-old church in Meridian, Mississippi, and he is still there. Only thirteen persons-three adults and ten children-attended the first service. Now, 44 years later on homecoming Sunday, 479 people gathered to honor Johnson's years of service to Christ and the community. The church has grown to a membership of 564 with an average attendance of 320.

Son of the church - In preparation for his first pastoral assignment, Johnson was shaped and encouraged by four key mentors, all persons of significant influence in the Church of the Nazarene. C. R. Smith, a faithful layman in Orlando, Florida, led Johnson to Christ in Orlando; he later helped Johnson go to the Nazarene Bible College at Institute, WV. Smith was one of the first persons in the denomination to start a compassionate ministry center, and he did it mostly with his own money. Then when Johnson went to college, President R. W. Cunningham and Dean Clarence Bowman became teachers, friends, mentors and models. And Dr. Warren Rodgers, district superintendent of the Gulf Central District at that time, placed Johnson in his pastoral assignment at Meridian and became Johnson's lifelong friend, colleague, and cheerleader.

Difficult start-up - Consider the stony ground in the early days. Johnson, the young new pastor, had no experience having recently graduated from the Nazarene Bible College at Institute, West Virginia. The tiny one-room church building was located on an out-of-the way side street among small, poorly built, dilapidated houses-residents simply had no money to maintain their homes because their wage scale was typically $10-12 per week. Because of the apparent hopelessness of the situation, two previous pastors had concluded this church could not survive and left for other fields of service.

In those start-up years, racial tensions ran at fever pitch all over the nation, and Meridian, Mississippi, was no exception. To make the start-up efforts even more stressful, African Americans had never heard of the Nazarenes; neighborhood rumors spread false information that Nazarenes were a cult or an all-white church.

Bi-vocational challenges - Due to serious financial limitations, Pastor Johnson was forced to serve the Meridian Church as bi-vocational pastor for twenty years. Just like many other bi-vocational ministers, he found the pay low but the ministry needs as demanding as any full-time pastorate. True to his perspective of life and ministry, Johnson decided to turn this difficulty into a possibility.

So he took employment with civic agencies that offered development programs to assist poverty persons to help themselves; his ministry and outside employment complemented each other. He worked during those years as a teaching assistant and then teacher. Later he was given leadership assignments that helped participants improve their reading skills, prepare themselves for taking GED exams, and helped them register to vote. He also served as a job placement coordinator between newly trained individuals and businesses that needed workers.

A continuing expression of a partnership between church and community is happening again. An aged funeral home owner has recently given his business to Pastor Johnson, so Johnson continues to follow the Apostle Paul's advice: "I have become all things to all persons so that I may by some means win some."

Ministry across many miles - Across 44 years, hundreds have been led to Christ by Pastor Johnson and the Meridian church. Though official membership has grown consistently, the statistics do not tell the whole story. Because of the effectiveness of various developmental programs offered by the community and church agencies, many persons have been trained and then relocated to take advantage of greater economic opportunities. Neither does the membership roll tell the amazing story of 25 persons who have been called into the ministry.

Pastor Johnson has been recognized as a leader by his denomination. He was awarded the Doctor of Divinity degree from Trevecca Nazarene University. He has served as Mississippi District Church Schools Chairman for seven years, served on the advisory board since 1978, and given years of service to other interests on his home district. He has served as chair of the National Black Church Leaders Conference.

Commitment to racial reconciliation - Johnson's accomplishments in the civil rights movement includes leading the Meridian Action Committee and directing the local Opportunities Industrialization Center of America. Mississippi Governor Cliff Finch appointed him to the Colonel's Council. President Jimmy Carter appointed him to serve the nation on the President's Council of Human Resources. And on several occasions he met with Dr. Martin Luther King. In many ways, Charles Johnson has had a front seat on the whole civil rights movement.

Camp meetings, revivals and church plants - In addition to all these labors for Jesus, Pastor Johnson and his wife, Shirley, are in demand for revivals and camp meetings. They have held revival meetings in several places where the revival efforts provided a nucleus of people to start new churches.

A fitting summation for all Pastor Johnson does comes from a letter from President Bill Clinton: "Your efforts make a positive difference in our world and our future."

by Neil B. Wiseman