The City of Refuge Story

The CCO staff and I recently traveled up to Atlanta, GA for the Drive Conference (a church leadership conference) at NorthPoint Church but we decided to go a little earlier than planned to get this amazing story on video. This is the story of how Bruce Deel followed the call of God and started the ministry "City of Refuge," a non-profit, outreach facility/church specializing in rebuilding the city of Atlanta. They work with homeless mothers, single mothers, drug addicts, the abused and much more. Listen to this story and be astounded by God's provision and possibility.

Selling my G5...

Well, I am looking to sell my PowerMac G5. It has been a great computer to me and has been such a great help in all my video editing projects and graphics design work. It is an outstanding computer but I am ready to let go of it and down size a bit. So if any of you are out there looking for a good machine....CHECK IT OUT! If you are interested...leave me a comment or send me a message via Facebook.

System Specs:
Apple PowerMac G5
OSX 10.4.11
Dual Core 2.0 GHz Processor
512 MB DDR Ram (8 slots available and only 2 being used)
150GB HD
Wireless Airport
CD/DVD burner
Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard
17" Apple Cinema Display

SOFTWARE Also Included:
Adobe Creative Suite
Microsoft Office
DVD Studio Pro
Final Cut Pro HD Studio
Fast DVD Copy
iLife '08
Stuffit Expander Deluxe
and much more...

Click on any of the images below to get a closer view

Judah Says "Dadda?"

Judah has been talking a lot of gibberish lately but I think he is trying to say "Dadda." It has been very hard to catch this on video because every time you lift a camera up to press record Judah just freezes and seems to be entranced by the camera lens. But, nonetheless, here are a couple sneak attack video shots that managed to capture. I apologize in advance for the shortness of video and the shoddy camera work; I had to be quick and sneaky as the butler from "Mr. Deeds." You be the judge or you can just flatter me by leaving a comment to give me your opinion.

   

Got My Mac On...

Lately, I have been getting much scrutiny from the people in my life because of my recent new purchase. Through much drama with a ridiculously crappy Blackberry Storm (DON'T EVER BUY ONE), that lost calls because it's software wasn't quick enough to even allow me to answer a call, and it's incapability to sync with my MacBook Pro (which I was promised that it would be able to do), I decided to make the hard vote to cancel contract with Verizon (who I had been with for 4+ years). Yes, being the Apple fan that I am, I made the switch to AT&T to possess the AMAZING new iPhone 3Gs. Granted, the wireless service is not quite up to par with Verizon's "Can hear me now" promise but it is still pretty good and the iPhone completely makes up for any other short comings. This phone is amazing and despite the numerous comments I get from all the youth in our student ministries and the silly jokes I get thrown at me by our staff I must boldly say that I got my mac on with iPhone 3Gs. Confused? Watch this and you will completely understand.

Blog Break Over...

I haven't been blogging much lately and I am sorry for those that actually read this thing from time to time but the blog break is over. I'm back and I will be trying to post quite a few blogs over the next week or so to make up for my blogging absence. I have lots to share; ministry resources, media resources, tips and tricks in various areas of work, and updates on life in the world of the Johnson clan. So please keep checking back, subscribe to the sites RSS feed, or check me out on my other various social media outlets.

Judah Trying to Crawl

This was a video I shot with my iPhone while spending the 4th of July weekend at my parent's house. Judah is about 6 months old here. Julie thought I was mean when I kept taking his toys away but I would just call it motivation to crawl.

Jesus is my friend

I couldn't help the title of this blog...this past weekend we went to see our friend Lester's show "The Last Adam" with our friends Erin, Mike, and Holly. It was a really great show and it was such great weather, considering that it was an outside theater. This was also the second week of Christ Church of Orlando's three service times. God is so good! It all started on Easter and a high attendance is always expected on a holiday like Easter. Our staff were all curious to see what a typical Sunday's service attendance would be like. We were all very excited to see the church full this morning in all three services. Later on Sunday night we had our church business meeting and our church got to reflect back on the year and see the accomplishments of our church and to catch our Pastor's vision for our church in the days ahead. Even looking back on some of this past year's video footage, while editing a promo video for our church wide outreach campaign "WE CARE", it made me realize how amazing our church is. You can view the video I made HERE or by scrolling through the Vimeo video widget at the top right hand corner of this page. After getting home, Julie and I both were beaming with pride and we had our own little reflection time by ourselves. We both just went on and on about how blessed we are to be apart of what is going on here in Orlando. We truly know that JESUS is our friend! And as a tribute to this post here is an oldie but a goodie "Jesus Is My Friend."

and then there were 3...

Yet, another crazy 3 day weekend for the Johnson clan....

DAY 1
We started with Friday night as we drove to Tampa to drop Judah off at Gammy and Papa's house so that they could watch him (which they never argue about doing) while we went to a concert. My lifelong friend Jerad Griffin was playing a show at his sister's church, Element Church. I was so excited to see him play a show since he just joined the band High Flight Society. If you haven't heard of them you should definitely check out by going to their MySpace page and buying their CD. Jerad never ceases to amaze me in his talents. He is currently singing backup vocals and playing guitar. It was so good to see Jerad, his wife, and some of the old Riverhills youth group crew from back in the day. After leaving the show it just seemed too late to drive home and so we had an impromptu sleepover at my parents house.

DAY 2
The next day was no less occupied. We started off by driving back to the O-Town to get ready for a wedding that I was scheduled to sing in. The wedding and reception lasted about 6 hours. Our pour little guy, Judah. He must be so tired of going and going and going. We are hoping to slow it down over the next 2 weekends. We'll see how that goes...lol

DAY3
Day three started at 5:30am as we got up early for the start of our new service times at Christ Church of Orlando. We have been toying with the idea of going to 3 services for about a year now and today was the day it all began. It took us a while to pick our actual times but through many discussions, surveys and phone calls to other churches that have 3 services we finally decided on 8:00, 9:45, & 11:30am. It was a scary step of faith but we knew that if we were going to grow any more then we had to do it and so we just trusted in God that He would fill the church and BOY DID HE EVER!!! Today, we packed the place out. 1st service was a full service, 2nd service was so full we had to pull out chairs in the isle, and 3rd service was packed too. If our numbers are right...we think we had 770 people in today's church services. I am so excited with what God is doing in and through Christ Church of Orlando.

Not only did our church have an amazing day but this was also Judah's first Easter celebration with our family. Julie and Gammy (Grandma Johnson) also had a little fun putting together Easter baskets for the little guy and Mimi (Grandma Watson) bought his Easter Outfit. Overall, our Easter weekend was jam packed full of GREATNESS. And if the numbers at church weren't enough to get excited about, many testimonies of God's goodness were shared today in service through Cardboard Testimonies, Song, and Dance and many lives were won to Christ and rededicated. I rustled up some video footage a lady in our church shot (Cynthia) to show some of what took place today at CCO.

Spring Break Madness

Spring Break has come and gone and it has taken all of my energy with it. I am so beat. Jules and I have been going nonstop since last week. First, we had another amazing opportunity to take our youth band to another youth rally here in Orlando called "Spring Break Free." They made us so proud. They have been allowing God to use them in so many ways and as they make themselves available their talents get better and better. Just this week we got another call to lead worship again at a "To Write Love On Her Arms" venue. God is so good! Without Him, none of this would be possible. For more photos of the ID Band's last worship experience click HERE.

Well, all of that was on Thursday and on Friday our youth group took their 2nd annual youth retreat in Lake Wales, FL at Lake Aurora Christian Camp. Let me just say..."IT WAS AMAZING!" Last year was our first time taking a retreat with our kids and needless to say...the entire youth group wasn't completely sold on the idea and therefore we only had 21 attend. Well, when they came back from the trip last year the impact was definitely evident and our youth were the best advertisement for this year's trip. This year we took 43. We more than doubled our attendees. We take a lot of trips with our youth throughout the year but this is the cheapest and by far the most impacting, in my eyes. This years trip was no different. We tell our kids the whole purpose of the trip up front. It's all about unity and relationship. It's our chance to bring those in from the outer edges and make them feel apart of the group. It's our chance to encourage each other while being encouraged by God in our times of prayer and worship. It's a time for good healthy competition to illustrate that we are all in this together and we need each other to win this race. And it's a time for us to unplug from the world and our electronics (we collect all cell phones a soon as we get there) and just get back to the basics; God and His body of believers.

This year we pulled some new activities out and had a blast with them. They include Cheese IT, Extreme Dodge Ball, Canoe Races, Obstacle Courses, Barrel Brawl, Slip-n-Slide Kickball, Flour Power Capture the Flag, Ropes Courses, Worship, and Baptisms. As you can see with some of the photos below our youth enjoyed every minute of it and seeing them have fun with no complaining, and no cliques or insider clubs was just AMAZING. You can check out more of the photos from our retreat HERE.

















But now that the weekend has come and gone we have to head back to reality and part of that reality is that Judah starts his first week of daycare. It goes without saying that Julie was not that happiest camper...lol...She had already been gone for 2 days away from Judah while my parents babysat during our youth retreat and the last thing she wanted to do was leave him with a complete stranger at daycare. He did great his first day and Momma Jules is learning to cut the umbilical chord...lol...Until next time, HOLLA!

Going and Going and Going...

Wow! I feel like we have been going nonstop. Every weekend we have either been going to Tampa for different reasons (family, etc.), doing church events, or planning youth events and we have barely slowed down to take a breath. Some people have asked how Judah has coped with all of it but I keep telling them, "If all He knows is a busy lifestyle then he won't know any different." Judah has been great. When we get in the car and go...He just rolls with the punches. We are so blessed to have such a good baby boy. Here is our last daddy/son outing to IKEA that we took today. I can't help to take some photos on our trips. Here are some extra photos that we took on our last trip to Tampa. This is in an open field next to an RV dealership off of I-4. They modeled this marketing scheme after the "Cadillac Ranch" in Amarillo, Texas. Here are the photos...

Back to Blogging

Well it has been a long time since my last post and much has happened; good and bad. To catch you up to speed, here is what has been going on in my life. Lots of my family made their way to Orlando to participate in the dedication of our amazing Judah Avery Johnson. It was a bittersweet moment for my whole family. We were so proud of our baby boy and we were so ecstatic that our family made the trip to join us in his dedication. But after the Sunday service we all went out to eat at Mimi's Cafe and as we were leaving, my Nana Bussell (grandmother) suffered a really severe stroke. In a previous post I wrote about the moments Judah met all of his great grandparents. Well, my Nana Bussell was not in that post because he had not yet met his Great-Nana Bussell. Judah's dedication was only the second time she got to see him. She met him just a couple days before that at our friends wedding shower. My Nana Bussell has been such an inspiration to me in all that she has done. She has been such a shining example of what a marriage relationship looks like and what it should be. She and my grand-daddy were married for so many years until he past and they both raised some of the most amazing girls that I know; including my Momma. We are just asking that everyone continues to keep her in your prayers as she goes down a long road of recovery. We know that God is more than able to heal her body and restore her health.

Well, our son's dedication hasn't been the only celebration we have enjoyed over the past couple of weeks. I also had the amazing privilege of marrying a childhood friend (Robert Noland) in Sarasota, FL this past weekend. It was the second wedding I have ever performed; the first being my other childhood friend, Eric Long. Funny enough, they have both been outside weddings. The first, being on the beach and the second, being under a massive oak tree on a golf course. It was such a beautiful wedding and it was so good to see so many friends and family that I haven't seen in years. Not that they wanted to see me....Judah took the spotlight in all of the conversations. Now that you have been caught up to speed and my life has slowed down a bit maybe I can get back to posting some more blogs. Until then, please help me pray for my Nana, Shirley Bussell's recovery.

Meeting the GREATS!

This past weekend Jules and I traveled to Tampa on short notice to see Judah's great-grandparents. My Papa Johnson has been in the hospital and isn't really doing too good. Please keep him in your prayers. We took Judah to see him for the very first time. What a proud moment for me. My Papa is someone that I have always looked up to and have respected all my life. He, in my eyes, has been such a great role model; as an example of great character, a faithful Christian, and an amazing do-it-all kind of guy. Ya know, a seize the day kind of guy. We have done so many great things in our life, from going fishing on the house boat all night long, to hunting for deer in the freezing cold, to celebrating the Johnson family Christmas in the old country barn. Visiting him this weekend was a proud moment for me because 4 generations of Johnson men sat in the same room; Me, Dad, Papa, and Judah. I was so happy to show Judah off to Papa and Nana Pat and to see him filled with joy while looking at my new son just made me so happy. I hope that I can live up to the standard my Papa set for being a great father and role model.

Not only did Judah get to meet his great grandfather but he made a trip to his spunky great-grandmother, Nana Faulkner. He just fit right at home in her arms. This woman has been such an amazing person in my life. She has been the best cook, the most welcoming and hospitable woman I know, and she has also given me the pleasure of living with her for a couple years. If you don't know her or if you have never met her....I can guarantee that she will make you laugh. She is everyone's grandma; if you know what I mean. That's just how she makes you feel. Even this past weekend....as we were leaving she tried to give me and Julie money for some food on the road. She is always trying to take care of you (like a Nana should) and she is always trying to fill your stomach with some food...lol...Papa and Nana, I just want you both to know how much I love, respect, and appreciate every minute I have with you. I'll love you always. - Justin

A Recent Update...

Things have been unbelievably AMAZING in my life lately. The family is doing great and our new addition, Judah seems to be fitting right in. Here is a recent shot of him sleep on the ottoman in our family room. But...WOW....I have just been on such an incredible high with God and I feel as if He is really doing some great things through us, our youth ministry, and our church as a whole. There just seems to be exponential growth taking place, not only in our church growth but also in the spiritual lives of the people that are attending. Once again our Identity Youth service was packed full of teens that are excited about God and excited about coming to youth. Each week, the newcomers from the previous week are back and they are bring their friends too. I just talked with some new teens after this weeks service (Nelson and Alisin) and they said, "We love this place. We are going to make it a point to bring one new friend every week from here on out." Needless to say, I am so excited about that.

This past weekend was a HUGE weekend for our student ministry. Not only did we have an AWESOME opportunity to lead praise and worship at a local youth rally here in Orlando but we had a pretty outstanding Super Bowl fundraiser on Sunday night that helped us raise a ton of money for our youth budget. Maybe we can finally break even from some of this past summers big events. But what was so cool about this weekend was I got to see our youth get outside of the four walls of our church and truly minister to our local community. After we were through leading praise and worship at the Orlando youth rally many other groups were excited to possibly invite us to lead worship at their future events. God just seems to keep opening doors for us to do the extraordinary. I was so proud of our kids this week. It's so cool to see them grow into such outstanding men and women of God.


But God isn't just doing great things in our youth ministry. He is also moving so pure in our Sunday morning services. Just recently we have been moving in a direction of multiple worship leaders leading simultaneously. After about a year and a half of leading worship on Sundays and Wednesdays it has been nice to have some of load lifted. But I have been co-leading on Sundays with a guy named Lester and the worship has just seemed to be heading in such a great direction. God is showing up so evident in our services and the layering of multiple leading voices has been unexpectedly great. God is good and I can't believe that He chooses to have a relationship with me. I love Him so much and I am honored to work for His kingdom.

Another Great Night...

WOW! God is just really blessing my socks off with how He is blessing our Student Ministries at Christ Church of Orlando. The Identity Students have really been grabbing hold of the evangelism concept we preach so much at Identity Youth. Our students are becoming some of the BIGGEST witnesses at our church. For example, just last weekend one of my youth, Morgan, was at the mall and she saw these girls walking down the sidewalk. She just went up to them to start a conversation and found out that they were waiting on the bus to get a ride home and she offered to take them home. While riding home she got to talk with them about God and church and one thing led to another...Well, all 4 of them came to Wednesday night's Identity Youth service and they loved it. They all said they plan on coming back next week. We have had such an influx of newcomers and they aren't just visiting. They are all coming back the following weeks. Last night we had 67 in the service and for a church of around 450 people....I think that is outstanding.

This weeks service was not only jammed packed with students, causing us to add more and more seats, but it was jammed packed with great stuff. We started off the night with a Crowd Control Game called "Road Race" and the kids loved it. It's a voice activated game that is controlled by the loudness of the crowd. It had me on the floor rolling and laughing. Then we moved into a time of worship. Our piano player wasn't there this week and so I was stuck playing keys during half the set but there just seemed to be such an atmosphere of praise to our God during our worship. We started off with "Break Free" (United) and then moved into "I Am Free" (Desperation Band). Then one of our students came to the stage and encouraged our youth to really press into God's presence and man, did they ever. We finished the PW set off with "Oh How He Loves Us" (John Mark McMillan) and "Saviour King" (United). God's presence was so evident. After worship our drama team performed "The Ledge Skit." It's a spoken skit on temptation and peer pressure. Then we continued the 2nd part of our new series on temptation called "Hooks" and used "The Select Fit" video clip from Mosaic Films. I used it to illustrate the dangers of taking scripture out of context to validate our sin.

Our church and youth has really been going through a change of seasons. A few months ago we had a lot of changes take place in our attendance and as a staff and church we all began to fast and pray during the Advent and Christmas Holidays. During that time our senior adults pastor gave a word of knowledge to our pastor. She said, "Pastor, I feel that God is taking us through a pruning process and when He is done pruning it will make way for great growth. It will be a [Healthier] growth that will produce an abundant harvest." I believe we are seeing the fruits of that today. I am so amazed with God. Aren't you?

2 weeks....Come and Gone!

Well, it's been two weeks since Judah has been born and we are still alive. Today was the first Julie and Judah's first day to the church. Everyone couldn't wait to see him and we felt so loved. Our church has been great during this whole transition. Ironically, Judah fits right in at church....He seems to just be so chill when he is there. Another funny fact is.....whenever he is in the car and he starts to get really fussy...all we have to do is turn up some David Crowder really loud and it just seems to put him to sleep. That's my boy! He's just like his daddy. You can't go wrong with some good ole' Crowder.

To mark his 2 weeks on this amazing earth we took some photographs of Judah the other for his birth announcements and I thought I would share them with you. So here they are...Tell us what your vote is for his birth announcement photograph. For more of our photos you can click here.