August 14, 2000
Rather than running away from
problems, pastor runs for them
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___ODESSA--This David is still a giant killer.
___"It ought to be a normal thing to face the giants we come up against in the world as a part of lives," said David Johnson, who recently ran his first marathon at age 46 as a way to lead his chuch to financial and spiritual victory.
___Soon after Johnson came to Central Baptist Church in Odessa as pastor last year, one of the most pressing and obvious problems of the congregation was a $77,000 debt. While that might not seem like a large debt to some churches, it was quite an adversary for the congregation that averaged about 50 in Sunday School, he said.
PASTOR DAVID JOHNSON holds a symbol of his achievement at the finish line of the Cowtown Marathon.
___Johnson and the church began a Together We Grow program last July to attack the debt. But the leadership wanted the campaign to be about more than just debt reduction. The church also began discipleship classes and launched FAITH classes to train members in evangelism.
___The results have surpassed his greatest expectations, Johnson said.
___"We think we'll probably have the debt retired by the end of July, our missions giving has quadrupled and we have a surplus in the budget," he reported. "What's been exciting is when you're trying to retire debt, other things usually suffer, but this church has not allowed that to happen."
___Not all the plusses have been in the ledger, however.
___"When I came here, the baptistry hadn't been used in awhile, and the first time we filled it up it had three leaks and had bugs in it. But now we have celebration Sundays on the last Sunday of the month and have baptized people almost every month."
___Having the extra dollars has made a difference as well, though.
___"It's made business meetings a lot more fun. Before it was, 'Boy, we've got all these bills, and which do we pay and which do we hold on to.' Now, we have the responsibility of spending the surplus in a way to do the most ministry."
___One of the things that has helped turn things around at Central is Johnson's decision last year that he was going to run a marathon. While he had run for fitness before, he never had run a marathon.
___"I had always wanted to run in a marathon and had that as one of my goals, and I finally decided that if I was going to do it, I needed to do it now," Johnson said.
___He registered to run in the Cowtown Marathon in Fort Worth and mentioned it to his college roommate. His friend told Johnson he would pay $10 to the debt retirement fund for every mile he completed--and $20 a mile if he finished.
___Johnson told his congregation about the challenge, and some of them got involved as well. By the time it was over, Johnson realized he was running for about $200 a mile.
___The pastor finished the race in four hours and 31 minutes.
___The money raised from the first race far exceeded the pledges--Johnson prefers to call them "encouragements"--with almost $8,000 donated.
___He since has run a second marathon, and the donations for the two races together totaled more than $11,000.
___"I've preached to our congregation that you can't defeat a giant until you decide to face it," he said. "The first race my giant was 'Can I make it?' The next time that giant had been defeated so it was 'Can I beat my previous time?' But you can't move on to the next giant until you defeat the first one."
___He also was concerned because he had agreed to have his head shaved if he did not finish the race.
___That still would have kept him in good biblical company, though. David slayed the giant, but Samson got the haircut.
___
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