Seeley Lake Baptist Church welcomes new pastor

SEELEY LAKE – Because his wife Terry could no longer drive, Jim Johnson begrudgingly drove his wife and three sons to Clearview Baptist Church each Sunday. Every Sunday he would wait in the car. However when the weather got too warm, he was forced to join them.

"I heard a message that I had heard before in a way that I hadn't heard before," said Jim. "The Lord really worked on my heart. It took me eight months of really reading the Bible to make sure. Then one Sunday I just went I'm yours and I walked the isle and gave my life to Christ."

Once Jim walked into church he never walked out. He became an ordained minister in 2001 and is the new pastor of the Seeley Lake Baptist Church. He looks forward to teaching and preaching the Bible and helping Seeley Lake Baptist Church expand and grow in their outreach within the community.

* * * *

Jim calls himself an "old country boy." Jim spent his childhood growing up outside of Wink, Texas, a community of less than 1,000. After high school graduation, he received a management degree in engineering and served in the U.S. Army from 1972-1975.

While serving in Germany, Jim's mother told him about a girl named Terry that she wanted him to meet.

"I told her 'I'll find my own girl, Mom,'" said Jim and smiled. "Thank goodness Mom didn't listen to me."

Jim married Terry in 1975. Terry believed in Christ but Jim did not. He had had a lot of bad experiences with religion.

Jim said they would get into discussions about religion after they were married. She would tell him, "'One of these days you are just going to have to trust in the Lord because you are going to hit the end of your rope,'" said Jim adding that her favorite verse was Proverbs 3:5, 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart.' "I felt like I was a good man, a good husband, a good father and I didn't see the need [for God]."

In 1985 his wife Terry was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Johnson said that she went from totally mobile to bedridden at times and wheelchair bound, losing sight in one of her eyes.

"I kept saying, how can this God that you say loves you allow this to happen to you? Terry kept telling me, you've just got to trust in the Lord. God's not doing this to me, it is just happening but it is how I'm responding to it that is important to Him. She was right," said Jim. "Watching her started me really searching. That is what the Lord used to bring me to salvation and faith in Him was dealing with that."

After starting to attend Clearview Baptist Church with his wife in Oklahoma, he submitted his life to Christ in 1988. He plugged into the youth program and loved it. The pastor encouraged him to take a preaching class that he was teaching through Oklahoma Baptist University Extension Center.

"I did and I found what the Lord wanted me to do," said Johnson who the church licensed to preach in 1990. "Religion isn't good but a relationship with Christ is always good."

In 1991, the Johnsons moved to Phoenix, Ariz. after Jim took a job as a controls engineer for Honeywell. They became active members at Hillside Baptist Church and Jim started to fill in as a preacher at different congregations that needed it. He gained experience, studied, learned and prepared for 10 years before becoming an ordained minister in June 2001.

Jim's first pastorate was for a 25-person southern Baptist church in Maricopa, Ariz. He was paid $50 per week, an amount that didn't cover his gas money for the 114 mile round trip. He and his wife lived in the nursery of the church while they built a house in Maricopa. Maricopa's population exploded from 1,500 when they started until 2008 reaching 58,000 residents.

Jim continued to pastor after retiring from Honeywell in March 2015. At the end of 2016, Jim stepped down from the congregation so he could care for Terry full time since in addition to the MS she had Alzheimer's Disease. When he left, the congregation had grown to 195 people attending two services each week and a lot of children's programs.

Terry died in May 2017. "She was a great pastor's wife. She ministered to a lot of people at the church – men and women who saw how she was dealing with her disease," said Jim. "She was special and I miss her a lot."

Jim went back to school in July 2018 at the Master's Seminary in Los Angeles, Calif. His old testament professor Michael Grisanti's wife is sister to Martin Cahoon of Seeley Lake. Grisanti mentioned the opening for a pastor in Seeley Lake but Jim wanted to finish his studies. However after spending three weeks in Israel together, Grisanti urged Jim to check it out.

When he returned from Israel, Jim applied. He was invited to spend the weekend in Seeley Lake and preached on Aug. 18. The following Thursday he was offered the position.

"I'm here because I feel like the Lord has brought me here through the circumstances of how I even knew about this," said Jim. "I knew the Lord's hand was on this through the whole process of interviewing and being looked at with the search team. That weekend that I came here I just felt at home."

While Jim is still working through Master's Seminary online to get his Masters of Divinity, he has moved into the parsonage and looks forward to getting to know the community of Seeley Lake.

Jim said that because he didn't find a relationship with Christ until he was 35-years-old, he has a soft heart towards people and wants them to know Christ.

"I understand the fight and the logic. Being an engineer, you are very logical. It is either black or white. You don't have to understand it all, but you need to realize what the Bible teaches is the truth," said Jim. "Once you come to that truth, it is not a rose garden path. I prayed every day for my wife to be healed, up until the day she died."

Jim believes reaching all age groups from children and youth to seniors for the kingdom of Christ is important. He has a heart for teaching about Biblical marriage and ministering to caregivers since he said he would not have made it through caring for his wife without the Lord by his side.

Also bringing nearly 16 years of experience pastoring during a time of transition and growth in Maricopa, Jim said he knows what it takes to grow a church and "turn it around." He looks forward to working with the church leadership to set the direction for the church and the outreach to the community. He hopes to start a Sunday evening church service and Wednesday evening prayer meeting as well as children and youth programs and teach discipleship, evangelism and marriage courses.

Along with the teaching and outreach, Jim hopes to foster reconciliation and love.

"The apostle John said the world will know that we're disciples because of the love that we have for one another. That needs to be seen [within the church body]."

Jim continued, "I'm preaching the word of God. It is sufficient for everything that we need. God is who the Bible says he is and Christ is Lord and Savior. It is a matter of getting that truth out about God."

Johnson considers himself a proud veteran. He co-founded an American Legion Post in Maricopa and served as the chaplain. He loves anything outdoors especially fishing and looks forward to getting back into hunting. He also loves to read biographies and enjoys spending time with his three sons and their families including nine grandchildren.