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This should really be called OUR STORIES. They can be told in short or long versions. We'll give you the short version and as you visit the various pages of this Global Love In Action website the long version will come into focus.
First, this "story" is not about Dean or Ron Johnson, co-founders of Global Love In Action. It is about the miraculous way God answers prayer and puts together a puzzle with seemingly impossible pieces to form a beautiful unique tapestry which displays His hand at work.
The Johnsons have been married for over 30 years and both were serving the Lord in various capacities before they met each other. Their first date was to go to church together. Skip forward several years and they found it apparent that they had different spiritual gifts. Some of Dean's gifts are mercy and hospitality. She is an RN by profession (retired) and has actively participated in over a dozen mission trips (about half medical trips, about half evangelical). Some of Ron's gifts are administration and discernment. He is a general contractor (retired) by profession and has also participated in several mission trips. As CEO of his construction company he built numerous churches at what essentially amounted to "cost" of construction. Since retirement Ron has served the Lord by taking over 3 years to build a large church (for no compensation) and Dean has served the Lord by starting a mission program (that today is very active with a full time Missions Pastor) at one church and revitalizing the missions program at another church. They have taken several mission trips together since their secular retirement.
Both have a passion for the lost. They had been praying in their devotional times for the Lord to give them a project that they could do together (since their gifts are not the same) and that the project or work would directly involve working with a lost people group. The joint prayer, literally repeated hundreds of times, was "Lord give us work to do for you in which we can work together and in which we can finish strong together". If you are Christian, you know what "finish strong" means.
That prayer was answered in late 2006 when Don and Chryssie McBrayer (missionaries to Ecuador) visited Metro church in Birmingham and Ron and Dean heard the McBrayers' vision of building a church for the Shuar Indians of Ecuador. Ron (and two other men) went to Ecuador at the McBrayers invitation. The result of that trip was that Ron immediately felt the Lord's calling to buy a piece of land that was available and to start a ministry on that land. With Dean's agreement they did so and and then the planning began.
The project has grown to much more than the original idea of a small church for the Shuar Indians. As you puruse through the pages of this website you will see a little of what God has done in 3 years. One thing He has done is to work through His servants (not just Dean and Ron) in such a way that over 3,000 Shuar Indians have come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. There are thousands more to be saved.
Look through the pages of this website and you can't help but observe that the work being done and the work being planned is such that it calls for use of both Dean's spiritual gifts and Ron's spiritual gifts. They are working together and this project is going to be what is known as a "legacy project" -- they are definitely going to "finish strong".
Hopefully this short testimony of the power of prayer will inspire you too to continue to actively and prayerfully seek God's will for your life. He will answer your prayer, probably in an unexpected way and in a way that makes you know "this can only be from God". That's how He works. We thank you Lord and we invite you to help us by supporting our ministry.
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