Special speakers for Harvest House events this week Jason and Janelle Johnson join us today. They discuss their family and foster parenting ministry.
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Episode transcript:
Chris Harper: Welcome to Harvest Time. My name is Chris Harper, and our host on this program is pastor Gary Walton. Every week, we spend these 25 minutes together telling you the stories of our church by interviewing our members and other friends of the ministry. We’d like to invite you to join us at Harvest Baptist Church this week. There are 2 services every Sunday at Harvest.
The first at 8:45 AM, the second at 10:45 AM. We have Japanese and Korean translation available during that 10:45 AM service, and we also bring you that service live on hbcguam.org, hbcguam.org. This week, it’s orphan Sunday at Harvest Baptist Church. Jason Johnson will be our special guest speaker on true or false faith from James chapter 2 verses 14 to 26. Let’s begin today’s Harvest time by welcoming pastor Gary Walton.
Hi, pastor Gary.
Gary Walton: Hey. Hafa adai, Chris. It’s good to be here. I’ve been off island for a few weeks. It’s good to be back on campus and back on island, and we are looking forward to a great Sunday, coming up this Sunday.
Annually, about this time of year, we have a special emphasis. We, We call it orphan Sunday. We’re not the only church that does this. I mean, churches across, the country, around the world, spend some time just thinking about the real need that James talks about about, true religion is to care for the fatherless and the widows. And so we’re burdened to fulfill God’s command for us.
And so this Sunday, it’s orphan Sunday at Harvest and it’s a special time. You’re going to be able to come and hear a little bit about the needs particularly of foster kids on Guam. And then just as always, we’re going to open up the scriptures and find out what God’s word has to say about our lives and about the world that we live in and, you know, living lives of purpose and meaning and direction. And so we’d invite you to come. If you’ve been, you know, part of your walk has been just sort of I’m not sure where I’m going.
I don’t know what my direction is. I’d invite you to come, to Harvest this Sunday. We’re going to talk about things that matter, and it’s going to direct us back to the scriptures. So, Chris gave you the details on the time. We’d love to have you come.
And, he also mentioned that, Jason Johnson is going to be our special speaker. And, Jason and Janelle Johnson are with us in studio along with their son, one of their kids, Preston. And so first of all, I want to welcome you guys to Guam, to Harvest and to KHMG.
Jason Johnson: Thank you very much.
Gary Walton: We’re so glad to have you. Jason has been a pastor for 20 years?
Jason Johnson: About 12. Okay. Close enough.
Gary Walton: 12 years as a pastor working with teens, family ministry, and then God’s given them a very unique their own family ministry over the last years. We want to talk about that in a minute. And, Jason and Janelle here are both here to speak at a conference that we’re hosting for foster families. And that’s happening, Friday, Saturday of this week, and then they’ll stay over through Sunday and be a part of our services. So we’re so glad, that you’re here.
Thank you for taking the long trip.
Jason Johnson: Yeah. Thank you. We’re very happy to be here.
Gary Walton: I’ve known both of you actually for a long time. Janelle, I’ve known you since you were young. Our parents knew each other. Actually, our parents are close friends.
Janelle Johnson: Yes.
Gary Walton: And so we were kind of in some different age groups, but I’ve known you and your family. Jason, I’ve known you since you were probably in middle school. Yeah. I think it was, like, about 9th grade. You were a basketball coach and soccer coach at the school I was at.
Yeah. And I knew your father, your dad, was a long term pastor in Minnesota, which is where I went to seminary. Actually, you and I went to the same seminary. Yeah. And then I was coaching basketball and your older brother was on a team that I coached.
And I don’t know I don’t know that I coached you, but
Jason Johnson: No. I think I almost didn’t make the basketball team. I think my my freshman year. I was like an alternate. And then, I didn’t almost I almost didn’t make the JV basketball team.
You coached the varsity, but
Gary Walton: Well, I know your family and thankful for that long term. I’ve watched your family together actually, Janelle from, you know, a little bit of familiarity with your fostering journey, and then God brought you guys together. And so lots of cool things I wanna talk about. And we’ve got Preston here in the studio. Janelle, tell us about your family.
Introduce us to Preston. Would you do that?
Janelle Johnson: Sure. So our 3rd child, Preston, is here with us in Guam this week, and we’re so grateful for the opportunity to bring him and let him experience more than just Green Bay. But he is a twin. He has a twin brother who is a freshman at Emmaus Bible College in Iowa. And then we have a 22 year old daughter who as a is at a special school for adults with disabilities called Shepherds College in New York.
Gary Walton: Familiar. Right.
Janelle Johnson: And then we have a daughter who is 18 named Anna, Kiana, and she’s at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. And then we have 2 boys, age 16, and they are juniors. They are not twins. They’re 4 months apart.
Jason Johnson: Mhmm.
Janelle Johnson: And then we have an 11 year old daughter, Mamie, and she is able to, stick up for herself and be very assertive. But would you like me to share from the beginning or where
Jason Johnson: are you
Gary Walton: wanting me
Janelle Johnson: to start? Okay. Yeah.
Gary Walton: That’d be great. Well, let’s do this. Jason, tell me a little bit about you grew up in a pastor’s home. We already mentioned that. Tell us about, you know, real quick your spiritual story, and then I’d like to know you just do the same and tell us about kind of the your journey as a family.
Jason Johnson: Yeah. So, I grew up in a pastor’s home, heard the gospel from a very young age over and over, gave my life to Christ when I was young after family devotions one evening. And I’m so grateful for the spiritual heritage that I have. My dad was a pastor in Saint Paul and then South Minneapolis, and the west side of this, Minneapolis. And then, so saved and then baptized really kinda under his ministry.
He was an associate pastor. And, and then he was a pastor for several years and some really hard things happened in his church. And God actually used that to kinda call me to ministry. Mhmm. I remember some people not being very nice to my dad, and my dad just responded in such grace and love when I was like, no.
This is not right. Yeah. But I’m I’m very thankful for that, for his his testimony there. And then, I went to Bible College, but I didn’t really know exactly what I was gonna do. And I was working at a camp over the summer in Minnesota, and God just brought I I was really wrestling with the idea of a full time ministry, and what God would have me to do.
And he he just I thought, I don’t know. I can’t do it. I I don’t have the words to say. I’m not a great speaker. I can’t, I’m a sinner.
All these excuses came up, and God just kept bringing up men from the Bible. Moses, and he couldn’t speak and I used him. Paul, he was a sinner and look at the change I made in his life. And so God kept bringing up these men and I finally came to the point where I was like, okay, God, I’ll follow you wherever. And I never thought that following God wherever would mean 7 kids.
But I went to Bible College and then I went to seminary. And while I was at seminary, I was ministering in a in a North Minneapolis church, Very inner city. Baptist Church, very inner city church.
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Jason Johnson: And that’s where I met Janelle. And Janelle was a foster mom to 2 boys, Marco and Antonio. And they were 7 and 8. And just, I thought she was pretty cute and I liked her but like I don’t think she liked me and that was okay. But, after I separated my shoulder after my 1st semester in seminary on a snowboarding accident, I started coming over to like cut their hair or hang out with them while she could go and take, like, a little, break or go hang out with friends or whatever.
And God just kinda drew us together. Yeah.
Gary Walton: Janelle, tell us about that. I want you back up to your family and then how you got to that place as, you know, fostering 2 2 boys and Mhmm.
Janelle Johnson: So I was raised in a home with godly parents who taught me the gospel and lived out the gospel as early as I can remember. I made some sort of a profession, prayed to receive Jesus as a little girl, that I was telling as my salvation story but I lived in so much fear, believing that I didn’t pray the prayer right or that I wasn’t really sincere. And so for years, I struggled with that doubt and that fear. And when I was 15, the Lord allowed me to, push aside my pride and take some time to talk to a friend about my struggle. And she said to me, Janelle, are you looking to that prayer as your salvation?
Are you looking to Christ to be your savior?
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Janelle Johnson: And that was so clarifying, to me that and that is when I put my faith in Jesus Christ and what he did for me, that there was nothing I could do but trust him, and just surrender my life to him. And I’m so grateful. I was actually baptized by your father. Oh, wow. We have pastor Walton.
And, and I’m so thankful, that the Lord started that work in my life and that personal relationship with him instead of wearing that I crossed all the t’s and dotted all the i’s. And, I’m so thankful for how the Lord has walked with me through my life and led me each step of the way. I went to Northland and I when I finished school, I knew deep in my heart that I was called to do foster care, but I didn’t know anybody who did that. And the people that I shared it with had a lot of doubts about my idea. I moved to Minneapolis and lived with my older brother for a few months till I was able to get a job.
And then I eventually was able to get my own place with a cousin with a 3rd bedroom and I applied to get my foster license. And, my very first placement, 2 boys, Marco and Antonio, they were ages 7 and 8, moved in. And after day 1, I was in love. I loved them so deeply. And we had a beautiful journey together.
There was highs and lows. God provided so many things, specifically Jason to come and support me, my aunt Mary. There was a time where my parents came to me. I was actually waiting for a court hearing where they terminated parental rights and they asked me to sign my intent to adopt in that hearing. And my mom and dad approached me and said we feel like God is calling us to adopt And that hit me really hard because that wasn’t something on my radar.
And that was really hard. And I was like, they’re they’re my sons. I love them so deeply. And, I believe I’m supposed to go through with this. But, through circumstances over the next year, the Lord made it really clear that my mom and my dad were actually who God had prepared to be their parents all along.
Gary Walton: Wow.
Janelle Johnson: And that I wasn’t necessarily equipped for this situation and that they did need both my mom and my dad to parent them. And so I ended up moving to Wisconsin with the boys and they, adopted them in 2005. And so now they’re my brothers. I praise God for the work that he has continued to do in their lives. It’s beautiful to see his sovereign hand of grace providing godly wives and beautiful children for them and it’s just beautiful to see what God did.
Mhmm. So I married Jason. Shortly after we were married, I was like, Jason, I believe God just calling us to do foster care. And he said, let’s wait till after our first anniversary. And I, missed the boys tremendously.
Like, that was even a time of a lot of emotion just missing them. Shortly after our 1 year anniversary, our pastor approached us and said, you’re you’re aware of this situation. There are 4 children ages 5 months and 33 year olds who need a home and we were hoping you and Jason would take them. And we both knew or they asked if we would pray about it, but we had been. And so our answer was yes.
They were able to reopen my license and move them in on an emergency basis a week later. And so that is Kaylin, Paul, Preston, and Anna. And we loved them deeply. We are very attached and right away, they knew that they would not be able to be returned back to live with biological parents. And so they asked us right from the beginning if we would be open to permanency, which was an overwhelming feeling but we didn’t plan on starting our marriage out with 4 children
Jason Johnson: Right.
Janelle Johnson: But we were so attached and so in love and we were willing and wanting to do anything to care for them. 7 months passed and we got very hard news that somebody out of state who had a connection with them, was qualified to take them and they moved them within about 10 days to live in another state. And so, saying goodbye, not knowing if we would ever see them ever again, was heartbreaking. It felt very devastating. But we knew that we could we knew that God would go with them.
We prayed that the things we taught them, the songs that we taught them, that they could remember, and that the Lord would work in their lives wherever they would go, that He would protect them.
Gary Walton: Amen.
Janelle Johnson: During that time, I would say that we grieved deeper than I mean, the grief that as a foster parent, if you wanna jump in.
Jason Johnson: Yeah. No. It is really like a death. Like, that you don’t know what’s gonna happen to them and you really hope like, you’re you’re you want them to go back with biological family if it’s all possible, and if it’s safe. And you’re just like, I don’t know if this is safe.
I don’t know if this is a good situation. But you really you’re rooting for it. You want that to happen because that’s the goal of foster care is to get them back reunited with fam biological family of
Gary Walton: In a healthy situation.
Jason Johnson: Yes. In a healthy situation. Absolutely. But when you don’t know Yeah. And you’re like, oh, I have the suspicion and this is not, we don’t feel like it’s real great or whatever.
That that’s really hard. So we that summer I was still going through seminary. I was a youth pastor at our inner city church, the one where we met and, we got pregnant with our first biological child. And then midway through the summer no, no, no, Fall. So we got a call from our county that said, hey, we have an infant that was just born, and we were wondering if you would be able to foster him.
No, her. They said it was a her. So we we said yes and, went out and bought some girl clothes.
Janelle Johnson: And At first we said,
Jason Johnson: Oh, yeah.
Janelle Johnson: If if things fall through with our other children, are you gonna say that our home is too full to be able to welcome them back? Because truly, I had never been able to let go of that and probably Jason too. And they assured us, oh, sure. Absolutely. We will make it work.
Yeah.
Jason Johnson: And our home was about, you know, 1100 square feet. We had 2 bedrooms, bathroom upstairs and like a main floor and then a basement that I was finishing off a little bit. But it was a 100 and 10 year old house about. So
Janelle Johnson: And I was, 5 months pregnant at the time also.
Jason Johnson: Yeah. So Amos came into our home and it wasn’t a girl, it was a boy. And so we went out and bought some different clothes. A lot of times, kids who come into foster care, don’t come with anything. Right.
And so, what Bethany is doing over here at Harvest House is is really amazing to be able to help, kids get clothes and and things like that right when they come in. Because sometimes it’s like whatever you can shove in a plastic bag and they’re out the door.
Gary Walton: Yeah. We’re really doing everything possible to help families say yes. I mean, that’s the idea. Yeah.
Jason Johnson: So, Amos came into our home. And then when Janelle was 8 months pregnant, the, child services called us again and said, hey, these 4 kids are coming back to Minnesota, would you take them? And we said yes. Well, she said, are you sitting down? Yeah.
Okay. They’re coming back. And so we said yes. And so we went from 0 kids oh, this was my senior year of seminary. So 0 kids to 5 kids.
And Janelle was 8 months pregnant. We packed up a car, went and drove and picked them up and brought them back to our house. And then, a month later, Janelle gave birth to our 6ths. So in 1 year, we went from 0 kids to 6 kids.
Gary Walton: From what ages, Janelle? From baby, baby to
Janelle Johnson: The oldest was 5. Okay.
Gary Walton: Yep. Six kids from 0 to 5.
Jason Johnson: 0 to 5. And, you know, the church that we
Gary Walton: were That’s not that’s not normal
Jason Johnson: for that
Gary Walton: to happen that fast. Right? Those many kids.
Jason Johnson: No. Definitely not. Amazing. Our church was really great and they they helped us. We had a lady come over every Sunday morning because I had Sunday morning responsibilities.
And she would help Janelle. She would bring her to Starbucks and help her get kids in the car, get them ready and get them in the car and get them to church. And that was really a huge blessing. We had a a lady small group at our seminary that just blessed us with with a huge diaper shower. It was like this amount of diapers, because we had so many kids, in diapers and it was just a little overwhelming.
But God took care of us every step of the way. Yeah. And you look back and you’re like, how in the world did I do that? I so, my wife and I moved to the basement. We had kids upstairs.
We had someone in the kitchen. We had someone in the living room, like sleeping in pack and plays. I, they they kind of overlooked a few things I think to to get them back in our home, but they were really desperate to get them Sure. Back with us. So we’re very thankful for that.
But I would study by the light of a little headlamp on the couch at night. I had a Greek or Hebrew quiz every Monday morning at about 7, 7:30 in the morning.
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Jason Johnson: And I studied more for those quizzes than I ever did for any test in college.
Gary Walton: I remember those days. Yeah. It’s really an amazing a beautiful story, you guys. And I want to ask you both this. Janelle, maybe I’m going to start with you.
So, you know, beautiful story of love, compassion, I think godly compassion. What drives that? I mean, you said earlier, you said, I’ve just felt called, then we felt called to this. What does that mean?
Janelle Johnson: I don’t know if it was a specific time in my life where I felt the Lord show this to me.
Gary Walton: Right.
Janelle Johnson: But, maybe just an urge that the Lord put in my heart. Like, I don’t know how to explain it, really. It wasn’t anything specific that influenced me other than I believe that the Lord gave me that purpose and pushed me in that direction and opened doors.
Gary Walton: That’s beautiful, actually. It’s this sense of purpose and open doors, I think, is really powerful in God’s will. Jason, anything to add to?
Jason Johnson: Yeah. Well, I I think I really saw it for the first time when I saw Janelle interacting with, Marco and Antonio. And it’s like you don’t see foster kids. You know there’s a need. There’s 400,000 kids in foster care in the US right now.
Gary Walton: Right.
Jason Johnson: A 100,000 of those kids are waiting actually to be adopted, which is a a crazy statistic. Kids anywhere from 0 to 17 waiting to be adopted. 20,000 kids will be aged out of the foster care system every year without a family.
Gary Walton: Right.
Jason Johnson: So those are just crazy statistics. So God really opened up my eyes, like, there are these kids, but you don’t always hear about it because of privacy issues or privacy rules or things like that. But when you finally come in contact with a foster child, you realize, I can do this. Like, God has called us as Christians to care for orphans and widows in their affliction. And I see this need now.
And so God just used Janelle to open my eyes to that. And once I saw it, I realized this is something that we need to be doing.
Gary Walton: That’s so good. Yeah. Thank you guys for sharing that story. I know that’s just a little part
Jason Johnson: of the whole thing. Yeah. The story is not over. Yeah.
Gary Walton: For sure. We’ve got just a couple of minutes left, but, I wanna ask you this. You’re here for a couple of different reasons. I mentioned at the beginning, but one of them is out of a burden on your heart and a burden on our heart to help, foster families that are in the the middle of, some of the challenges that come along with it. In fact, in your little bio, you know, you wrote down that foster care and adoption have been a roller coaster.
And so, you’re here talking about some of the challenges that many kids in these situations face and then the the connections that that has with the foster family. So could you just give us a little summary of that?
Jason Johnson: Yeah. So when when it talks about in James, care for orphans and widows in their affliction, it’s not a weekend trip.
Gary Walton: Right.
Jason Johnson: It’s not a a week long missions trip or, you know, going to give a meal once. We’re really seeing that in their affliction could be decades.
Janelle Johnson: Mhmm.
Jason Johnson: And so that roller coaster of of behaviors, of, working with the system, of working with, other, social workers or whatever is is really can be difficult and challenging. Foster care can be really difficult on marriages. It can be really difficult to you you’ve brought maybe some some situations in your home that you’ve never experienced before. Maybe kids who have experienced trauma and neglect and abuse. So there’s different tools that you need, when you care for these children, that it didn’t come right away to us.
Like, we we had to kinda stumble along because no one was really talking about trauma when we first started fostering 18, 20 years ago. It’s it’s it’s a big part where they’ve actually done brain scans on children who’ve experienced neglect, versus children who are may maybe grown up in a normal household, and they can see areas of the brain that, are not making connections. And so how can we help children to heal? How can we help foster parents have tools to help them to heal? And then, if possible, you want you want these foster children to be able to go back to biological family if it’s safe.
And so, you wanna help their biological family and parents to have maybe tools to help these children also and to learn these parenting skills too.
Gary Walton: Janelle, what about just the roller coaster on a mom’s heart? I mean, can you speak into that?
Janelle Johnson: Well, I believe, as a mom, I have incredibly deep love for every one of my kids. Mhmm. And my desire is to see them have healing and freedom in the relationship with Jesus. And, I can’t fix all of their struggles. I wish I could.
I wish I could heal all their wounds. But I have hope, that God can and I believe God will. And his timeline looks different than mine. But I know that he will continue that work. And I remember 8 years ago sitting in a counseling office with another adoptive mom while my son was in therapy or where a few of my kids saw and I just remembered feeling doom and gloom about our future because it just felt so hard.
And I remember it was a Christian woman sitting next to me and she said, grace for today, bright hope for tomorrow. Amen. One day at a time. And that was so hard because I wanted to jump ahead to the future and I wanted to know that everything would be okay. But, God truly gave us grace every day like manna.
He doesn’t give us tomorrow’s grace today And, he will continue to do that and he will continue to do the beautiful works in each of their lives, and I’m grateful that he’s allowed me to be a part of this.
Gary Walton: Thank you guys for, for your journey together and then being willing willing to share it. I have been so excited. I’m thrilled about this conversation. Even this conversation, the the impact that it’ll have on those that are listening. And then the weekend together as you’re investing in the families that are here and the ones that have walked the journey alongside you, there’s a kindred spirit.
I think you maybe have already felt that. And so
Janelle Johnson: Yes.
Gary Walton: Thank you guys for serving. Thank you guys for being willing to come. And, minister, thank you.
Jason Johnson: Yeah. Thanks for having us.
Janelle Johnson: Yeah. Thank you.
Chris Harper: And thank you for listening to Harvest Time. Of course, at this point in the program, we always wanna personally invite you to services this weekend at Harvest Baptist Church, 8:45 AM, 10:45 AM, Sunday. We have Japanese and Korean translation during the 10:45 AM service. You can hear that service live here on 88.1 FM and khmg.org. We do hope to see you this Sunday.
Thanks again for listening to Harvest Time.