By Susan Edmonston, Editor Emeritus
The Protection Methodist Church recently gained a new pastor and his family.
Chris Johnson, 40, of Coldwater began his service to the church in early May. His wife, Katelyn, joins him and the church as a song leader, sharing her musical abilities, and participating in the ladies Bible studies. Their two sons Denin and Samuel are also part of the family joining the Protection community.
The Methodist pastor desires to preach the Word of God faithfully. He enjoys visiting with people, praying with church and community members and watching God work in people’s lives.
He is available for visits at the church office generally Tuesdays through Thursdays during school hours. As a bus driver for South Central Schools, he continues to be involved in the community and enjoys visiting with people wherever they are as well. Johnson can be reached on Facebook or at (620) 635-0718.
Family History
He was born to Keith and Pam Johnson, of Wichita, in 1986. His father, now retired, was a building inspector for the city of Wichita, and his mother was a homemaker. Johnson has one older brother.
When he was nine years old, his family moved to the Towanda-Benton area of Butler County, which he considers his hometown. A Circle High School Thunderbird, he graduated in 2005.
Although his family was not regular churchgoers early on, Johnson learned about Jesus through Sunday School songs on cassette tapes. During his freshman year of high school, he began spending time with the wrong crowd. However, after his father was hospitalized with severe pneumonia, his family began attending Fairview Baptist Church north of Towanda.
About four months later, he began realizing he needed to be right with God. On April 7, 2002, while the Rev. Bill Bullard was presenting the gospel, Johnson felt deeply convicted during the altar call but did not initially go forward. After the service, the pastor noticed the teen and invited him to the altar, where Johnson prayed the sinner’s prayer and received Christ as his Lord.
Johnson says that was the beginning of truly knowing God, and he credits an older couple in the church who discipled him and his family with helping him grow in faith. Through that journey, he also began sensing God’s call to ministry and a desire to help others find Jesus.
Education, Preparation
After graduating from Circle High School, he attended Butler Community College in El Dorado, where he received an associate degree with an emphasis in marketing and management.
Following a volunteer trip assisting with Greensburg’s tornado recovery, Johnson learned about Barclay College in Haviland, where he continued his preparation for ministry. While at Barclay, he participated in several pastoral internships, including ministries on the Navajo Reservation, in Oklahoma City, and in Greensburg.
One of the most influential experiences came through an internship at Shepherd’s Cross in Claremore, Okla., a working sheep farm and Christian outreach ministry operated by Pete and Dr. Diane Dickinson. There, the focus was on Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Johnson says he learned two important lessons from that experience: a pastor is only an under-shepherd serving under Christ and ministry requires a willingness to work hard.
It was also during the summer of 2009 that Johnson preached his first sermon.
He graduated cum laude from Barclay College in 2013 with majors in pastoral ministry and Bible, along with minors in psychology and business administration. During that same time, he received his first level of ministry credentials with the Assemblies of God and met his future wife, Katelyn.
Family, Ministry
His wife grew up in Ashland and graduated from high school there in 2008. She graduated from Kansas State University in 2012 with a degree in elementary education.
She has served as a bank teller, special education para, middle school teacher at Bucklin Middle School and for the past several years as the high school English teacher at South Central High School. This fall, she will also serve as the SCHS librarian while overseeing online and college classes, scholarship applications and state testing.
Her parents are Bill and Sherry Neier, of Ashland. Many know Bill Neier through Stockgrowers State Bank and as a longtime firefighter, and Sherry as a teacher for USD 220. Katelyn Johnson also has one sister.
Johnson met his wife, Katelyn, at church while she was visiting her grandparents in Greensburg. After graduating from Barclay, he served as an associate pastor in Winfield, and the couple was married the following January. In 2015, he received his ordination with the Assemblies of God, and the couple moved to Coldwater.
Though Chris has always taken his calling to pastoral ministry seriously, he has also believed ministry is about faithfulness more than a title. After serving as an associate pastor, Chris and Katelyn moved to Coldwater where he continued serving, learning, and growing while trusting God’s leading.
For the past 10 years, Chris has served as a special education para and bus driver at the high school. He has also worked in construction, as a CNA, and as a substitute teacher. Chris says being bivocational helps him better understand and serve his community.
The Johnsons have experienced the blessing of small-town support throughout their years in Coldwater. That support has come during the adoption of their oldest son Denin; during Katelyn’s battle with thyroid cancer; and most recently with the birth of their son Samuel.
Chris says one thing he learned from Haviland is that small towns have a way of keeping people accountable and helping them grow. It is not always easy, but it truly is good.
The family will continue living in Coldwater, but Johnson sees all of Comanche County as one community and enjoys spending time with the people of Protection.
He enjoys landscaping, architecture and being creative with his hands, while his wife enjoys music. Denin enjoys track and cross country, and Sammy enjoys making messes, playing with wheels and meeting people.
Although Chris has Baptist and Assembly of God roots, he has always felt a strong connection to a Wesleyan understanding of salvation, grace and the Christian walk. He believes God’s grace not only calls people to faith but continually shapes them to become more like Christ. His journey through different traditions has been intentional, appreciating the Baptist emphasis on the gospel’s invitation to faith and the Assembly of God emphasis on the Holy Spirit’s help in ministry.
When Johnson preaches, he desires to preach text-driven sermons, letting Scripture interpret Scripture and focusing on practical Christian living and growth. As a pastor, he has a deep awareness of being an under-shepherd with Christ the head shepherd of His people.
He believes the Protection Methodist Church, and indeed all the churches of Comanche County, are not full enough yet because “the fields are ready for harvest, but we need to pray for more workers”
