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Johnson Left Baseball to serve God
Article from Loris-Tabor City Tribune
by David Snipes
June 20, 2007
Owen Johnson was raised in a Christian home in the Southern
Baptist faith. However, when he went straight from high school
into a professional baseball career, Johnson admits to surrendering
to the many temptations that came his way.
That all changed when Johnson had what he describes
as a "dynamic encounter with Jesus Christ"
in his Rochester, N.Y. apartment in the summer of 1968.
A power-hitting catcher, Johnson was playing for the Baltimore
Orioles' Triple A farm team in Rochester. Johnson thought
he was having a heart attack. When the "dynamic encounter"
ended, Johnson had a heartfelt life change. "I got
outside my body," Johnson said. "I could see my
body lying there. I was above it. Death had no effect on me.
There was some kind of force; I couldn't go anywhere."
Johnson said three ladies were undergoing the same thing
when his out-of-body experience occurred. "I heard this
beautiful music way off," he said. "I saw a figure.
He came closer and closer. It was Jesus. He had His hands
stretched out. There was such compassion and love radiating
off His face and out of His eyes. At that point, I realized
I wasn't ready to meet Him. When I was in baseball, I lived
in sin. I never lost my faith. I just wasn't living right.
The temptations in pro sports are much greater because you
live in the limelight and there's so much available."
Johnson's belief that he was not ready to meet Jesus proved
correct. "The Lord filled the heaven," Johnson said.
"He was so beautiful. He sent an angel down. She appeared
as an ugly woman. “The angel appeared to one woman and
told her she was worthy to go to heaven. She was released
from the force and went up into Jesus’ bosom.”
The same thing happened to a second lady, Johnson said.
“It was my turn next,” he said. “The angel
walked right by me and ignored me. She went to the third lady
and released her.” “Then the angel started walking
away. I said, ‘What about me?’ She stopped and
turned around. She waved her finger in front of me and said,
‘You’re not ready.’ I then was back in my
body and my heart started back beating. It scared me so bad.
I was saying the Lord's Prayer over and over. I experienced
the emotion of dying and not being ready to meet the Lord.
Nobody would ever want to experience that feeling of dying
and not being ready."
Johnson said God later revealed to him why the angel appeared
to be so ugly. "The Lord one day told me it was like
I was looking into a mirror and seeing a reflection of me,"
Johnson said.
In the fall of '68, Johnson rededicated his life to God
while in a Cleveland motel room. "I walked over to a
mirror and looked at myself," he said. "I said 'Owen
Johnson, you're a sick man. You need help.' I knew if I didn't
cry out then, I was going to die." Johnson said he fell
on his knees, cried out to God and confessed his sins.
"I rededicated my life," Johnson said. "The
Lord knew I meant it. Before I could finish that prayer, I
felt something warm and peaceful come down over me. I believe
I was experiencing the application of the blood of Christ.
As it flowed over me, a peace followed behind it. I knew for
a certainty that I had been forgiven and my life was going
to change.”
A native of Greensboro, Johnson went home during the baseball
off-season. He bought a Bible and found a church. “I
fell in love with the Lord Jesus" Johnson said. "I
wanted to find out everything Jesus ever did, everything He
ever said and what he might be saying to me.”
Johnson’s final year in baseball was 1969. The Orioles
had traded him to the Houston Astros. He worked as a player-coach
in the Astros' organization that season at Coco Beach, Florida.
Then Johnson gave up his life-long love affair with baseball
to follow what would become a greater love in doing God’s
work.
“At the end of the season, I went in and told them
I was retiring,” Johnson said. “It was a lucrative
position they were grooming me for. I really walked away from
a great love I had. That (professional baseball) was my whole
life.”
Johnson had started his pro baseball career in the Philadelphia
Phillies' organization at Johnson City, Tennessee. In all,
he played 13 years in the pros. Johnson played in the spring
of 1966 for the Boston Red Sox and in the spring of '67 for
the Orioles. While playing for Rochester, Johnson's manager
was Earl Weaver. Johnson calls the fiery Weaver, who guided
the Orioles to several American League pennants and a 1970
World Series championship, "the best manager I ever had."
"Injuries (wrist) knocked me out of a starting job
with Boston," said Johnson, whose Topps baseball card
is displayed at Fowler's Grill in Loris. "I got a hit
off (New York Yankees Hall of Fame pitcher) Whitey Ford. I
never will forget that."
Johnson never turned back from his decision to follow God's
work. "I knew I had to give up baseball and go back to
school," he said. "That's when I surrendered to
the ministry."
Johnson attended Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
in Wake Forest and pastored several churches, beginning with
a church in Poors Knob community in Moravian Falls. Davis
and Marty Bruton, who had heard some of Johnson’s preaching
on tapes, asked him to conduct a Bible study in their Tabor
City, North Carolina home Thursday nights. He started making
the long drive in February 1976. “They just kept asking
me back,” Johnson said. “(Eventually) I knew I
was supposed to come down and start a church. The Lord told
us to come here and start a church.” In May 1977, Johnson
started holding church services in several area locations.
Grace Christian Tabernacle, where he is pastor, was built
in the fall of 1979.
Johnson had a support partner in his ministry. He and his
wife, Judy, were married in May 1976. They have six children,
daughters Westie Vaught and Lisa Petrone, plus sons Marcus
Clark, Mark Johnson and David Johnson. Another son, Jason
Johnson, died in a traffic accident.
Grace Christian School was started in 1980. A new gymnasium,
dedicated in memory of Jason, was built in 2000. The church,
located behind Twin Airport outside Loris, has purchased adjoining
land and plans to build a new sanctuary in the future.
Grace Christian’s congregation numbers 300. The non-denominational
church has members from several different faiths, Johnson
said. “We have Baptists, Catholics, Presbyterians, and
Pentecostals,” he said. Johnson described his church
services as being "charismatic" and "well-behaved."
He added, "We maintain an atmosphere of being free, come
as you are. We have good music. It's sort of contemporary
style. "We have a strong youth program. We have a strong
children's church. This has been a center when well-known
people have come in to speak and teach." Grace Christian
has a seminary in addition to its K-12 school. Johnson feels
God has used the church's ministry for great purposes. "He's
accomplished a lot through this ministry," Johnson said.
"A lot of lives have been touched through the school.
Through the seminary, a lot of people have been sent out."
Members of the church have appreciated Johnson's service.
When Johnson recently celebrated his 70th birthday, he was
rewarded with a new truck from the congregation. Although
leaving baseball was tough, Johnson knows he made the right
decision for his career. Being in the Tabor-Loris Community
(TLC) for more than 31 years also has been a special time,
he said.
“It’s been a thrilling experience to be in this
area,” Johnson said. “I’ve learned about
chicken bog and a lot of things. The people are good, honest
and hard-working. I have really enjoyed being here.”
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Grace Tabernacle Christian Center
