Pastor Don Johnson
Thank you for your service!!
I was born and raised on a cotton farm Southeast of Corsicana, Texas; in the small community of Mildred. Our family attended a non-denominational church and my Dad was song leader and Mother played the piano. I was the middle child with a brother and two sisters older than me and two brothers and one sister younger. We learned at a young age not to ask if we were going to church on Sunday because we would be bluntly told: “Yes, we are going to church!”
My first encounter with Christ personally was when I was about 12 years old and I accepted Him as my personal Savior. When I was 15 or 16 years old, the Lord told me He wanted me to be a preacher. I RAN, away from the Lord!
We also learned at a young age how to pick cotton and various other task required to keep the farm operational. One of my duties from the age of ten or so, was to round up our small herd of cattle to feed, and milk one named “lady”!
I graduated from Mildred High School in 1957. I had joined the U. S. Navy reserves between my junior and senior year and committed to go on active duty after graduation. In August of
’57, Mother put me on a bus in Corsicana which took me to Dallas, Texas where I was sworn in and put on a flight to San Diego, California for assignment. I had already had an abbreviated boot camp the summer I joined. In about two weeks, my name appeared on the assignment board stating that I was to go to San Francisco and board the U. S.S. Ticonderoga CVA-14. A “huge” aircraft carrier. This was home for two years and during this time we made two Far East cruises which was to be a four month cruise for each one. They each lasted nine months! My enlistment was for two years active duty and four years inactive service. I was expecting to have monthly drills, but I received a letter saying I lived to far away to make the drills. The next time I heard from the Navy was four years later when they sent me an honorable discharge.
Back in Mildred, Texas, I was still running from the Lord with no thought of what else I would do with my life. For a year and one half I worked for Carlon Products; running a machine that made plastic pipe. During this time, (October ’57) I started visiting a young lady I had met when I was home on leave. She worked at a hamburger place in Corsicana. I ate lots of hamburgers!
On February 26, l960, the lady, Gay Nell Cates and I got married! Come February, we will have been married 66 years. I was still working at the pipe factory when we got married, but during this time I started working for a loan company. Presently this type of company would be known today as a pay day loan company. I even sold life insurance for about a year, but nothing I did was satisfying me. I was still running!
In 1969, I asked Gay if she would mind being married to a preacher! Being a good Baptist, when she recovered from the shock; she agreed. I obtained my license to preach through the Methodist Church by mail. I graduated from Texas Wesleyan University in 1974 and did graduate studies at Perkins Seminary in Dallas. My first appointment was as an associate pastor in Weatherford, Texas. I retired first time in 2006 after 15 years at St. Andrew’s UMC in Killeen, Texas. I retired 3 more times after serving several congregations in retirement. After saying ‘yes’ to the Lord and quitting my running, we have truly been blessed in every church where we served.
Abbott Methodist Church continues to be a joy and a blessing. We are so happy to be part of such a wonderful Church with its rich history which started in 1883! You can be a part of it also. Our services are on the first and third Sunday of each month, starting time is 10:45am. You can also watch it live on face book, or at a later time by following the link to you tube.