Not long after Dennis and
Debbie Walsh met Dr. Aaron Johnson they became convinced his story needed to be told. So, a couple of years ago, through
their foundation, I received a grant to write this collaborative work with Dr. Johnson. I am honored that I have been
the one chosen to help tell this magnificent story....
How does the son of
a sharecropper and the great-grandson of slaves who was raised in poverty by a family of Democrats become a cabinet member
of a Republican governor--the first African American to be Secretary of Corrections? This same man worked years earlier,
sometimes undercover, for the cause of integration for a Democratic governor---he even orchestrated clandestine meetings with
both the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Panthers of the 60s?
This man was befriended later by a Republican U.S. President who
personally invited him to the 1980 National Republican Convention to lead the opening prayer, and who later helped another
Republican President’s chief of staff, who did time in prison, spread the good news of Jesus to prisons all over the
country. Oh, and who during all of this time, managed to be a full-time pastor at a Baptist Church—a church he
lead into ‘civic ministry’ at the age of 27 and from which he did not retire until 45 years later.
Dr. Aaron Johnson has had more than nine
lives and every one of them brought death threats, criticism, controversy and challenges. But, he’d be the first
to tell you, those lives have also brought him face down in the dirt at the foot of the cross-- surrounded by some mighty
winged friends and the awesome grace of God. Aaron Johnson’s life story is a sermon not told but vividly seen
by his acts of compassion and his humble leadership. This book can provide the framework for lives seeking courage--
courage to plant flags of faith in the face of overwhelming worldly resistance.
