Senior Minister
Terry L . Johnson
“ Thirty Years ”
Thirty years as the senior minister of the Independent Presbyterian Church were completed as of December 31 , 2016 . It has become cliché to lament how the time passes so quickly . Thirty years is a long time . Yet to me , it doesn ’ t seem so long ago . Can it really be 30 years ago that Emily and I were married ? That we candidated for the pulpit of I . P . C ? That the pulpit committee , Session , and Trustees voted unanimously to call a 31 year-old assistant minister and his 20 year-old bride to lead the congregation ? How young we were , and naïve , and foolish … and grateful .
Looking back The early years in Savannah were both exciting and rough . We grew rapidly , adding lots of new members . Yet I have also termed these the “ seven years ' war .” We weathered those storms , brought five children into the world , nurtured and educated them , and now our nest is empty . About what am I most thankful ? I trust you won ’ t think me vain for listing them , as all the glory goes to God and none to his feeble servants .
* tone – that after 30 years I . P . C . is essentially a happy and healthy congregation . Though trials and disappointments have and will continue to come , we are a growing and God-honoring church . We are blessed with an exceptional concentration of merciful , gracious , thoughtful , sensitive , loving people .
* attendance – that we have raised the average Sunday morning attendance from the low 200 ’ s to over 500 , and tripled and quadrupled the Sunday School and Sunday evening attendance . Attendance is only one measure of impact , but it is an important one . It is unsatisfactory that we ’ ve been on the Sunday AM 500 plateau for eleven years , but it is a healthy number .
* means – that we have placed God ’ s word at the center of our congregational assemblies : – we ’ ve preached 46 books of the Bible – we ’ ve read a chapter of the Bible in each service , having now read together 63 of 66 books of the Bible – we ’ ve sung at least one psalm in every service , two every Sunday – we ’ ve administered the Lord ’ s Supper monthly – we ’ ve been content to have a simple , unostentatious , word-centered ministry
* church planting – that we have planted or played a significant role in planting seven churches in our area ( Golden Isles , Pooler , Richmond Hill , Kirk , Grace Church , Beaufort , Bluffton ) and five elsewhere in the nation . The Savannah area churches had a combined Sunday morning of 750 in 2016 , 50 % attendance greater than ours downtown . This may somewhat explain our own attendance plateau .
* auxiliary ministries – that we started RUF at SCAD back in the fall of 1996 when we approached the presbytery asking , “ We want to do college ministry through RUF . Are you interested ?” They jumped at the opportunity , we provided much of the funding , and the ministry thrived , especially under Tom Cannon and Michael Gordon . Still today RUF is reaching about 50 students a week with the gospel and we continue to partner with them by providing funding and facility use . Our hope is that this ministry will continue to grow and prosper . – that we have encouraged the efforts of Veritas Academy to provide a classical Christian education in Savannah since it started in 1997 , channeling Jenkins foundation funds in its support and allowing use of our facilities . After a failed attempt by some of our members to start a Christian school in the late 1980 ’ s and early 1990 ’ s ( the old Westminster School ) and after Providence School eliminated its tie to the Reformed Faith , it is encouraging to see Veritas thriving today . If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery , the existence of the Habersham
2