In the News
Strands of life, togetherness and faith
Curtis Johnson has taken over as senior pastor at Valley Brook Outreach Baptist Church.
ALAN DEVORSEY / Staff
Posted Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 12:06 pm
By Betty Solomon
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
As a child attending church with his family, Curtis Johnson heard many ministers, Sunday school teachers and family members prophesy that he would one day be in the ministry.
"My father was a deacon and my mother was a musician," Johnson said. "I was in church all the time." And in 1983 as a teenager he accepted Christ as his savior after watching the film, "The Burning Hell," on Easter Sunday.
Johnson didn't pursue the ministry after high school, choosing to join the military instead of going to college. But he never forgot the memory of the childhood prophesy that he would be a minister, even while spending four years in the Air Force stationed at Castle Air Force Base in California.
"For a while I lost my sense of identity," Johnson said. "I was so churched growing up that I didn't know any other life. And curiosity pulled me into the club scene and worldliness for a time." But Johnson said his spirit began to miss the relationship he had with God, and eventually he returned to his strong faith.
Johnson fulfilled his commitment to the Air Force and returned to Greenville to help out in the church that his grandfather, A.B. Sherman, had started in his living room in 1987."The church outgrew the living room and began meeting temporarily at Webbs- Settles Funeral Home in Greenville," Johnson said.
A small church building was completed in November 1993 near his grandfather's house where the original Valley Brook Outreach Baptist Church had begun. Johnson took over the pastorate from his grandfather in May of 1993. In December 2001 the church moved into its new 18,000-square-foot sanctuary set on 25 acres of land near Woodmont High School on U.S. 25 south of Greenville. Since then, membership has increased from 80 members to 1,800 members, with average Sunday attendance between 800 and 1,200.
Johnson said his goal for the church is to have "an outreach heart." He describes the church atmosphere as lively and dynamic and the worship as practical preaching with life application.
"We want to see unity in the body of Christ," Johnson said, "both racially and denominationally. Our mission statement is 'Building lives, relationships and community.' "
The church draws members from a wide geographic area, many from the Upstate, but also some from even farther away, including Columbia, Atlanta and Charlotte. "There are a lot of young families, young people and a good number of seniors in our church," Johnson said. "It's a young, energetic church that is loving and accepting."
Johnson's family is still a big part of the church, although his grandfather died in June. His father is the church's administrator, his mother is the minister of music and his wife, Charla, coordinates the praise team and has organized a dance ministry.
Johnson sees part of his mission at Valley Brook as influencing the lives of his church members beyond evangelizing them. "It's more than getting them to heaven over there," Johnson said. "It's getting them to quality of life here also." He sees many of the social problems that are so prevalent in the community - crime, drugs, sexually transmitted diseases - as many times being a result of what Johnson calls "the spirit of poverty."
"If we can address poverty, we can change some of these statistics. If we can show people a better way and give them hope to come out of the situations they are in, if we can give them a Christian alternative, we can turn many of them around."
The church offers members instruction on budgeting, home ownership and credit rehabilitation and also networks with Christian business owners in the church to encourage them to hire fellow church members when jobs become available.
Johnson also serves as the ministry chairman for the Upstate South Carolina Business Group, a consortium of businesses and churches that has the same goals that Johnson has for his congregation.
"One of the most rewarding things about the ministry is seeing lives changed. To see single mothers with messed up credit finally have a home, to see young men whose lives had been given to drugs and jail turn to Christ and now have families and jobs - these are the things that bless me."
Johnson looks to Revelation 11:15 as a key verse describing his ultimate goal for the church: "The kingdoms of this world are become (the kingdoms) of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever."
"I want to continue with the mission of the church until we have so impacted the kingdoms of the world that they submit to God."
A long-term goal for Johnson and Valley Brook Church is to build a school for kindergarten through eighth grade and a 3,000-seat cathedral. "It's absolutely critical for us to take the responsibility to educate our children. Although I appreciate and support the public school system, it's becoming more and more evident that our children need a solidly biblical foundation."
Johnson said he identifies most closely with the biblical character of David, whom he describes as both a worshipper and a warrior. "He had personal pain but also a passion for God. David wasn't perfect, but he had a heart for God. I know without a doubt that there is great favor on my life. I never feel worthy, but every day I'm amazed at the hand of God on my life."