Bishop Raymond Allan Johnson [Raymond Allan Johnson]; is the Bishop of Governmental Affairs and Adjutant General for Kingdom Destiny Fellowship International. Bishop Johnson is also the Founder and Presiding Prelate of GlobalDestiny International Ministries – established in 2004 as "Destiny Fellowship" in Lorain, Ohio; and subsequently in Nanchang, Peoples Republic of China

Introducing Bishop Raymond A. Johnson

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  Bishop Raymond Allan Johnson

Bishop Raymond Allan Johnson accepted the call to the Ministry as a young man. Raised as a Jehovah's witness, Bishop Johnson – affectionately called “Pastor Ray” – accepted Christ in November 1974; and soon after joined the Bethel Baptist Institutional Church, in Jacksonville, Florida; where he preached his First Sermon on the Third Sunday of April 1975. He was ordained on Sunday April 9, 1978, at the New Mt. Vernon Baptist Church of Detroit, Michigan.

Pastor Ray’s earliest years in the Ministry were spent in Youth Ministry. He was the Minister to the YouthFellowship at Bethel, from 1975 until 1977; the Youth Choir Director at New Mt. Vernon, from 1977 to 1978; and directed Bethel's Annual Youth Retreats from 1979 to 1982. Pastor Ray has five years' direct experience in Urban Missions, which he gained during his tenure as the Executive Director of the Christian Mission Center – known today as the Jacksonville Help Center. From 1980 to 1982, Reverend Johnson served as Assistant to the Pastor of Bethel Baptist Institutional Church.

In 1983 he returned to Detroit, where he resumed his Ministry at New Mt. Vernon. A decade later he was led to join the Second Unity Full Gospel Baptist Church. In 1994 he became the Apostolic Adjutant to Bishop Gregory M. Davis – General Overseer of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship. After Bishop Davis resigned from Second Unity Elder Johnson continued as Adjutant to the new Pastor, Bishop Clarence L. Morton, Jr. – who was at the time the Bishop of Interdenominational Ministries for the Fellowship.

In 1993 Apostle Johnson established Elder Raymond Allan Johnson Evangelistic Ministries, Inc. (ERAJEMI), as a Ministry to churches and pastors, in response to changes in the federal tax laws applying to eligibility for tax exemption - particularly under the rules for Article 501 Section (c)(3). The goal was to create a Ministry that would specialize in providing guidance and professional advice to Pastors and other key church leaders, in all matters relating to church fiscal management, as well as web design and development.

In 1997 he helped his good friend, Elder Michael Berry plant a new church in Detroit, called Higher Ground Ministries. Since then he has devoted much of his Ministry time to Church Planting.

Bishop Johnson's twenty-three years' experience as a Jehovah’s witness afforded him special preparation for Ministry to people bound in cults, and other heterodoxical religious movements. In 1998 he established "XJW-Central" as a Ministry to Jehovah's witnesses and former Jehovah's Witnesses. The same year he also launched the first "Virtual Church," Abyssinian Church of the Living Word. Today this Ministry boasts members throughout the United States, as well as Berlin, New Zealand, Italy, Holland, El Salvador, Ukraine, Fiji, and – of course The Peoples Republic of China.

Through the years Pastor Ray has been blessed to share his gifts with the Body of Christ, in the areas of Evangelism, Urban Evangelism, Christian Apologetics, Ministerial Training, Christian Education, the Ministry of Protocol and Helps, and Church Administration. In April 2004 Abyssinian Church of the Living Word organized and incorporated in the state of Michigan, and began regular services in Detroit's Masonic Temple, under the banner. "Hope Fellowship: Home of the Abyssinian Church of the Living Word."

Hope Fellowship did not thrive, to begin with, but having the legal structure in place made it possible for him to carry the Ministry to Lorain, Ohio – where he organized in August 2004, under the name Hope Fellowship. With no funds for a building, Destiny held services all summer in the park, on Erie Road.

Hope Fellowship faced great challenges in finding a permanent home, early on. The weather, of course, forced Pastor Ray to find an indoor location; so services were moved to the Spitzer Plaza Hotel. But the church lost its home again, when the hotel closed without notice. But in February 2005 God again granted favor in providing an even larger meeting place in the Spitzer Conference Center, on the campus of Lorain County Community College.

In the fall of 2004 Pastor Ray began a series of messages in the "Destiny Series." These messages culminated in the first message of 2005 where he proclaimed "2005: The Year of Destiny." That launched us forward, under our new name: DESTINY FELLOWSHIP – In May 2005 the Abyssinian Church of the Living Word became “One Church in Two Locations,” Ohio and Michigan.

Truly, God is faithful to His prophetic Word, and 2005 proved indeed to be a year of destiny! From the second to the third Sunday in April, Pastor Ray celebrated his Ministerial Anniversaries – 30 years in Ministry on the 2nd Sunday, and the 27th anniversary of his Ordination, on the 3rd Sunday. Also, at the Beginning of the year, 2005, Bishop Thomas G. Mitchell approached Pastor Ray to write a protocol manual for the fledgling Apostolic organization he presided over – United Kingdom Builders International Ministries, Inc. The last week in April he was one of nine pastors elected to the office of Bishop at the UKB Spring Conference in Port Huron, MI.

In October, after the end of his assignment with Ford Motor Company at the Lorain, Ohio Assembly Plant, Pastor Ray accepted one of the biggest challenges of his life. He accepted an assignment as a contractor to – Jiangling Motors Corp., Ltd. (JMC) – Ford's Joint Venture in Nanchang, in the Peoples Republic of China; at the time not fully discerning why the Lord would send him on such a peculiar venture.

The year ended with a grand entrance to the next level of destiny, for Pastor Ray – now Bishop-elect Johnson. First, God began to lay the ground work for the launch of Destiny Fellowship – China. During his Christmas vacation in the U. S., Pastor Ray met Peter Leon and his wife, Patricia. Peter had previously also worked at Jiangling, and done Ministry at his home in Nanchang. After Pastor Ray returned to China, Peter introduced him to Pastors Immanuel and Sara Z. of Nanchang. At the beginning of 2006, Pastor Ray and Pastor Immanuel quickly set to work planting Destiny Fellowship – China. In the first four months, Destiny:

• Was blessed to grow to a membership of more than fifty members;
• Merged with the Chinese-language church formerly ministered to by Brother Peter, and gave the Church thename "City Conquest"
• Launched the web site for Destiny China and City Conquest, borrowing the URL that formerly belonged to Abyssinian Church of the Living Word: http://acolw.org;
• Began laying the groundwork for "Nanchang Language Institute" – a Ministry Center for training Chinese speakers to improve their English, and English-speakers to improve their Chinese;
• Baptized eleven new Saints in the bathtub in Bishop-elect Johnson's apartment;
• Held a massive pre-Easter rally and service for students from the 27 colleges located in Nanchang;
• Published its own songbook, entitled Songs of Destiny: Volume I. The first printing had 50 English-language songs and an MP3 playlist. It was not very long out, before its size doubled with the addition of another 50 Chinese-language songs;
• Established Nanchang Ministers' Institute for the training of men and women for Ministry throughout all of China;
• Anointed the first twenty NMI students, on May 6: the Inaugural Day of the Institute.

The two pastors agreed upon the vision for Destiny – “To Turn China Upside Down For Jesus Christ!” Furthermore, the day after NMI was launched; as Pastor Ray and Pastor Immanuel were walking along, when the Lord dropped the word "HARVEST!" into Pastor Ray's spirit. Pastor `Immanuel quickly responded, "Harvest, China!" Then the Lord said, "Harvest China Church!" And finally, before it was all over – as the two pastors reflected on the fact that Destiny China has members from India, Africa, China, and America, making it a truly international Ministry – the Lord settled on:

HARVEST CHINA INTERNATIONAL CHURCH Now the great anticipation began, in waiting for God to perform this next great new thing. Pastor Ray is fond of saying, "This is an AMAZING time to be alive!" And this is certainly true in China, where – despite what many may believe – there is an awesome burning hunger for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Nanchang Destiny was the name ultimately chosen for a house fellowship, comprised of English-speaking Chinese Believers; and Harvest China International Church for the Chinese brethren. These two Ministries would join many other Nanchang house churches to go forward with the two brothers’ vision. In October 2006 the pastors found a building in the heart of Nanchang, and dedicated it as “The Great Commission Center.”

Unfortunately the Enemy was busy, and in late 2007 local PSB officials began to watch the ongoing gatherings, and in late2007 came into a meeting of the Chinese brethren, and forced them to stop meeting.

It was a blessing that there were no “foreign friends” present; but one brother came under special scrutiny, and reluctantly left Nanchang. Many of the younger Saints have also scattered, out of natural fear – and perhaps some owing to family pressures. The Chinese brethren who have remained still meet in strategic locations – and there is a thriving foreign fellowship in another part of Nanchang – but currently Pastor Ray is looking for new “friends” to help us start anew … and listening for the Voice of God for His next great move. In the meantime he is a constant voice to the world outside China for the things that the Body of Christ must endure, here behind the Wall.

So the story continues...

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