One of My Heros

Filed in Thoughts on December 08, 2008



About twenty five years ago, I remember standing in the foyer our church when a visitor came through the door.  I remember very well that it had snowed that day and I remember him stomping snow off his feet.

He turned out to be a man named Rick Johnson who was candidating for youth pastor of our church.  The church was then called Triana Village Baptist Church (now it is Friendship Baptist) and it is in Huntsville, Alabama.

Rick Johnson is one of my heros.  He was a man who reached out to me (an unpopular "nerd") and made me feel special.  But he did much more than that.  He was in his early twenties at the time, but shortly after arriving at the church, he had to take over the pastorate because of an indiscretion of the existing pastor.

The church had a private school which sucked enormous resources and generated a massive amount of debt.  Eventually, the year after I graduated, it had to close.  Of course, when it did, the debt remained.

About a year ago, I attended a service at Friendship Baptist Church to celebrate twenty five years of service by Rick Johnson.  He is still the pastor and the church is thriving.  At that service, they announced that the debt from the school had finally been paid off (fifteen years after the school closed). 

The church facilities have suffered greatly because of that financial strain.  Until now, the church has chosen to focus on debt retirement and has not done any expansion or unnecessary maintenance.  Now that the debt is gone, they are actively improving the property again.

Rick is a conservative pastor but is one of those men who rises above the pettiness and bickering over minor issues that often characterizes our movement.  He is very balanced and very focused on the things that matter.  Though I have rarely seen him since graduating, I have learned a lot from him over these past twenty five years.  He is a model for what a pastor should be.

I have often found myself doing things that I never would have imagined doing.  For example, when I was in high school, I would never have dreamed that I would some day perform an entire concert at Friendship Baptist Church.  Last year, I had that incredible honour.  I am quite sure that it would never have happened without the influence of Rick Johnson in my life that goes back twenty five years.



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