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Reverend
Joe T. Johnson
1926 - 1942
Served during the dark days of the depression. Remodeled church with brick external; increased seating capacity to 900.
...moving forward in Faith...
In 1926, Dr. J. T. Johnson, the seventh pastor, accepted the call of the membership of Zion Hill Baptist Church and under the guiding hand of God assumed the leadership of the congregation. Immediately he began the great task of paying off the Church debt and was doing a marvelous job while the country was prosperous and employed.
Things changed drastically, though, when, in 1929, the Stock Market in New York crashed. While President Herbert Hoover spread the slogan, “A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage,” a full-scale depression stormed across the nation. People lost jobs at an alarming rate, suffered tremendously, even to the point of standing in soup lines for food. During these dark days, the Church almost lost its building. However, Reverend Johnson and the deacons went to Mr. Smith, the man who held the mortgage, and he agreed to eliminate the interest and permit the congregation to pay on the principle at the rate of $100.00 a month. Reverend Johnson remembered God’s promise that He would never leave or forsake him, so he kept moving forward in faith.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt tackled the problem of the Depression with his “New Deal” program, making life considerably better for many. It took a long time for some of the government money to reach the Church, however. But Reverend Johnson never gave up and he had a faithful and loyal set of members who stood by him. Through stress and strain and the commencement of World War II, the Church stayed, worked, and prayed together under the protection of God and the leadership of Dr. Johnson, who guided the Church in paying down its debt to $22,000. Before the burden of the Depression could be fully lifted from the tired shoulders of Dr. Johnson, he was stricken with a long spell of sickness and finally passed on to his well-deserved reward in 1942. Succeeding generations have thanked Pastor Johnson for publishing the first Zion Hill Directory that includes a crucial history account up to that point.
