Longtime Peoples Church pastor G.L. Johnson dies

The Rev. G.L. Johnson, longtime pastor of Peoples Church in northeast Fresno, died this morning. He was 83.

The Rev. Johnson, who was battling cancer of the bile ducts, died about 5:30 a.m. today with his family at his side, church officials said.

He served as pastor of Peoples Church for nearly 45 years, shepherding it into the largest congregation in the central San Joaquin Valley. He retired in February 2008.

In recent years, the Rev. Johnson was Peoples’ pastor emeritus, spoke at other churches and taught a weekly Bible study for civic leaders. He was bedridden at home for the past couple of months; church officials asked many congregants to stop visiting because he was too weak. Some chose to post endearing messages on a website that provided updates on his health updates in the final weeks.

“I doubt there’s anybody in town who doesn’t know G.L.,” the Rev. Tim Rolen, pastor of New Hope Community Church in Clovis, said earlier. “I don’t think anyone has ever said anything bad about G.L.”

Even after his retirement, the Rev. Johnson continued to serve the church at funerals, weddings and visitations.

He will be remembered for his slogan that Peoples Church exists to “Reach, Win, Train and Send,” church officials said.

George Lee Johnson grew up in Houston, Texas, the son of a Baptist minister. He came to Fresno in 1961 to work as associate general director of the Latin American Orphanage. He and his wife, Jackie, began worshiping at Peoples Church, which was a small congregation of 200 at Cedar and Dakota avenues. In 1963, he became Peoples pastor and set out to preach the Gospel and reach out to congregants.

“He was personable — and that was not the common denominator in those days,” said Rolen, whose father, Lonnie Rolen, was pastor of Ashbrook Church, less than a mile from old Peoples Church location. Tim Rolen, a teenager at the time, visited Peoples Church monthly to hear the Rev. Johnson preach.

“He was energetic about the message he was going to share,” Rolen said. “You could show up discouraged and he would give you a lift.”

So many people felt uplifted that Peoples Church grew rapidly under the Rev. Johnson’s leadership. In 1978, the congregation moved into a sanctuary accommodating more than 2,000 at its current site at Cedar and Herndon avenues in northeast Fresno.

“He was a great leader and very much in charge and had definite strengths in pulling people behind him,” remembered the Rev. Don Anderson, a Peoples senior associate pastor under the Rev. Johnson from 1990 to 2005.

Peoples Church added two education buildings — the Ground Zero youth building and the Worship Ministries Center — and attracted a mix of civic leaders and everyday members. Attendance climbed to about 5,000, the largest in the central San Joaquin Valley.

Anderson said the Rev. Johnson lived out his faith, routinely beginning each day at 6 a.m. with an hour in prayer. The Rev. Johnson’s favorite scripture was Proverbs 3:5-6 — “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

“I remember many times gathering with him before services — and it was just his undoubting, unwavering trust in God and his reliance on God, realizing he couldn’t do anything without the Lord,” Anderson said.

The Rev. Powell Lemons, pastor of Bethel Christian Center, said the Rev. Johnson’s influence extended to the area’s other clergy members.

In 1992, the Rev. Johnson helped organize a Pastors’ Prayer Summit at the then-Episcopal Conference Center of Oakhurst, where 45 clergy prayed for God’s intervention in diminishing Fresno’s rising crime rate and other problems.

That event’s success led to the Rev. Johnson helping to organize a weekly Citywide Pastors Prayer Meeting in 1993 and a No-Name Fellowship pastors prayer luncheon in 1994. The citywide prayer event continues to meet at Bethel Christian Center, where Lemons said the Rev. Johnson reached out to other pastors.

“A pastor would break down and say he was having trouble — and G.L. would bring him to the center so everyone could pray for him,” Lemons said. “You could feel very protected, spill everything that you knew and it would die there. People trusted him. … He didn’t have an enemy.”

In 2005, Peoples Church completed remodeling of its 2,100-seat sanctuary. The following year, the church opened the G.L. Johnson Chapel for weddings, funerals and prayer meetings.

Doug Larabee said the Rev. Johnson’s influence reached several generations at Peoples Church, including Larabee’s family. Larabee and his wife, Mary, were among a small group of families helping to start Peoples Church, which was incorporated in 1955. The couple’s two daughters worshiped at Peoples Church, followed by the daughters’ families before they moved to different Valley cities. Doug and Mary Larabee continue to worship at Peoples.

“He has done so much for us,” Doug Larabee said. “The man saw something good in me and always encouraged me. The influence goes on and on.”

The Rev. Gordon Donoho, president/CEO of Christians in Action missions organization and founder of the Fresno/Clovis pastor clusters groups, noted the Rev. Johnson’s long friendship with the Rev. Bufe Karraker, pastor of Northwest Church. Karraker teamed with the Rev. Johnson in organizing the Pastors Prayer Summit and No-Name Fellowship groups. Karraker died in February 2001.

“G.L. was the spiritual guide, mentor and adviser to the city,” Donoho said. “There is no G.L. or Bufe around. It’s a different landscape now

“The bible says to finish well. G.L. finished well. No question about it. He taught us a lot.”

Visitation will be 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday at Peoples Church, 7172 N. Cedar Ave. A memorial service will be at 6 p.m. Sunday at the church. There will be a private internment.

He is survived by Jackie Johnson, his wife of 61 years, daughter Cindy Pine and granddaughters Chyresse Hill and Jill Sanders.

By Ron Orozco / The Fresno Bee