Eric's Testimony
I was born in Augusta, GA at a very young age to Michael and Donna Johnson.
Michael and Donna were married in February 1971 in Los Angeles, CA. Michael was drafted by the Army a week later in early March. I was born April 1972 in Augusta, GA and my brother, Matt, was born October, 1973 in Okinawa, Japan (picture to the left: my dad, mom, baby Matt, and myself as a toddler on sweet couch!). In October of 1976, Michael and his young family were stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, CO when he received orders to be sent without his family to Korea for one year to serve with an electronic calibration team. Michael was scheduled to return home on September 30th, 1977. On September 23rd, just a week before his return home, Michael fell over at the breakfast table due to a heart attack (acute myocarditis). They tried to revive him and rushed him to the nearby clinic for revival but it was too late (see Remembering Eric's Dad for more information). He was 26 years old and I was five when he passed.
It was also during my fifth year of life that my mother tells me that I made a decision for faith in Jesus.
During these formative years, I was privileged to be raised in a Christian home. From the time I was an infant, I heard about how much Jesus loved me. After my father passed away, my mother packed our family and we moved to be near my grandparents in Florida. They, too, were strong believers in Jesus. My grandfather, Robert Honnette (deceased 1996), served as a pastor and was a godly example to me as a young boy. I was also surrounded by a church body that demonstrated the love of Jesus in many ways, reaching out to two young boys who had lost their dad. I look back with gratitude to God for those people he put into my life, people who had an authentic faith in Jesus, who reached out to encourage me, and who taught me from the Bible.
When I was sixteen, I attended a high school conference held triennially called CHIC (Covenant High in Christ) where I confirmed my decision to follow and serve Jesus on August 8, 1988 (8/8/88). By this point, I had come to understand that I was a sinner, that I truly believed what I had been taught during my upbringing, and that I wanted my life to be lived in a grateful and obedient response to the fact that Jesus paid for my sin on the cross and called me to follow Him.
After high school, I attended a Christian college, North Park University, went to seminary (North Park Theological Seminary), and have taught school and served as a youth pastor before being called to serve as a missionary in Alaska. God has also richly blessed me with a beautiful wife, Meghan, and three children (see HERE for more information about our family).
Whether teaching in the public school, serving as a youth pastor, or in our current capacity, I believe God has given me a sense of call to encourage young people to follow Jesus, just as God placed people in my life to encourage me.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." John 3:16-21
May my life glorify God for his incredible gift!