W. Talmadge Johnson (born 1937) is a

minister Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

and emeritus general superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene.

Biography

Education

Johnson graduated from Bethany Nazarene College (now Southern Nazarene University) in 1958 with BA and MA degrees in religion.

Career

Johnson served as an

evangelist Evangelist may refer to: Religion * Four Evangelists, the authors of the canonical Christian Gospels * Evangelism, publicly preaching the Gospel with the intention of spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ * Evangelist (Anglican Church), a c ...

in the denomination 1958 until 1961 and served as the pastor of churches in

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

from 1961 until 1975. In 1975, he was elected to serve as the district superintendent of the Mississippi District and served in that capacity until he was elected to be the District Superintendent of the Tennessee district in 1980. Johnson was the District Superintendent of the Tennessee district until 1994. While still in the pastorate and district superintendency, Johnson served on the denominational level. From 1972 until 1976, he was the general Nazarene Youth International president. He was the chairman of the World Mission Department from 1986 until 1994. He also served on the General Board of the denomination from 1972 to 1976 and from 1980 to 1994. In 1994, Johnson left the superintendency of Tennessee and the General Board to serve as the denominational director of

Sunday School A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. Su ...

Ministries. He served in this capacity until June 2001 when, at the 25th General Assembly of the Church of the Nazarene, Johnson was elected to the denomination's highest office: General Superintendent. Johnson served only one term as General Superintendent because of the denomination's mandatory retirement age, He attained emeritus status at the 2005 General Assembly.

Authorship

Awards and recognitions

Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ran ...

–

Trevecca Nazarene University Trevecca Nazarene University (TNU) is a private Nazarene liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1901. History TNU was founded in 1901 by Cumberland Presbyterian minister J. O. McClurkan as the "Pentecostal Literary ...

conferred the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree to Johnson in 1983. Southern Nazarene University granted him the same honorary degree in 2000. * In 2003 Southern Nazarene University awarded Johnson the Heritage Award which is an award granted annually to a prominent

alumnus Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

of the school.

References

1937 births American Nazarene ministers Living people Nazarene General Superintendents Southern Nazarene University alumni {{US-Christian-clergy-stub