Musings of a Church Girl (Part 1 - Sister Willie Johnson)

 

Church Girl. That was the theme of a recent women’s conference at my church. The theme acknowledged the stereotype that labels a church girl with a long list of unrealistic expectations. And it clarified the real definition that a church girl is imperfect and accepted and called whatever God calls her.

The “church girl” theme has stirred my thinking about my own life as a church girl. Being a church girl doesn’t mean you were raised in a church, but I was. For my parents, church was more than Sunday mornings. Church was our whole life. Our church family became our extended family. If it takes a village, my village was the church. And there were a lot of other church girls in my village who influenced me.

One of my first such influencers was a traveling evangelist named Sister Willie Johnson. I was about five years old when she held a revival at a church in a neighboring town. I remember many evenings after my dad got home from work, my family ate a hurried supper and drove 25 miles to hear her speak at a church in Bay City, Texas.

Sister Willie Johnson was different than other ministers I had seen in my long five years of sitting and sleeping on church pews. She was the first female preacher I had encountered. Sister Johnson broke the stereotype that had already formed in my experience that women were Sunday School teachers and men were preachers. Her words may have been the same as the men, but her delivery was different. She was strong, soft, fierce and gentle all at the same time. She had gravitas. She wore a white dress with a dark cape that dramatically swirled around as she walked from one side of the platform to the other. I did not fall asleep on the pew during any of her sermons. I was captivated!

Sister Johnson also gave me my first experience with a leadership figure who had darker skin than me. She was bi-racial and I realize now that in the mid-1960’s her ministering in mostly white churches must have been a pretty big deal.

What I remember most about her is her singing. She sang before and after her sermon, accompanied by her traveling companion and organist, Charlene Day. Sister Johnson played the tambourine and sang with as much flair as she preached. The song that went on repeat in my mind this week as I thought about her is “We’ve Come This Far by Faith” by Albert A. Goodson.

We’ve come this far by faith,

Leaning on the Lord.

Trusting in his holy word.

He’s never failed us yet.

Oh, Oh, Oh – can’t turn around,

We’ve come this far by faith.

If you know that song, you just sang those Oh Oh Oh’s with your own visceral memory of what you’ve come through in your life. If you haven’t heard it, enjoy this rendition performed by the IGM virtual choir during the 2020 pandemic.  https://youtu.be/ifj0KIhZAdg

I have since learned about some of the things Sister Johnson had come through by the time I sat under her voice. Her story is told in the book “Through the Waters” by author Lori Wagner. Now I better understand how far she had come trusting in the Lord and leaning on His word. audible.com/pd/Through-the-Waters-The-Life-and-Ministry-of-Evangelist-Willie-Johnson-Audiobook/B07SBG7LJB

At five years old I hadn’t lived long enough to have “come this far by faith.” I had a stable childhood in a loving home. Life hadn’t thrown any curve balls my way yet. But I sang with Sister Johnson in the collective church voice because I was a church girl. And later, I would have my own voice of experience about how far I had come. By faith. Leaning on the Lord. Trusting in His holy word. And with a memory verse planted deep enough to take root that “we walk by faith and not sight.” [2 Corinthians 5:7]

I haven’t always been able to see where I was going, but I’ve always been able to walk there by faith. Thank you, Sister Willie Johnson, from one church girl to another.

In the next few blog posts, I will share stories of a few other church girls who influenced me, hoping that my memories will jog yours. Think beyond the ‘praying grandmother’ and those whose job was to mold you. What about those with a more distant or brief encounter. Who influenced you? Who are you influencing?