January 2013 Update

Happy New Year!!! How are you???

We pray that this year has gone to a great start for all of you.

We are thrilled to share with you all that God has done this past month here in Nashville.  But before that we wanted to truly thank you from the bottom of our heart for all your love, support, sacrifice, and prayers.

We truly covet them and can feel it.  We truly couldn't be doing this without you, and we pray that you are as blessed as we are being a part of what God is doing here in Nashville.

January has been a blur but so much has happened.  We had a wonderful time in Nebraska with our family.

We were able to spend a lot of quality time with my family.  We have a new addition.  My niece Ariel gave birth to a baby boy Tavi.

He is absolutely adorable and you can tell he definitely is a Johnson.  My parents are doing really well.

As you know they both have had some health issues in the past, they are both still very active and recovering great.

Prayer and Fasting:

Every year we kick off the year by a week of prayer and fasting.  God showed up again and moved powerfully in our lives and the church.

The word that Samantha and I got in our private devotion as our theme this year was BREAKTHROUGH.  A prayer request that I had was that I really wanted to be a student this year.

I want to be more of a learner in every area of my life.  I wrote down on my prayer requests was that I wanted to take a class, specifically on theology.

The very next day I came to the office and I was greeted with two enormous books: Systematic Theology and Christian Theology.  I truly believe what He says in Psalm 37:4.  He will give you the desires of your heart.   It was one of many answered prayers that He gave us.

We are were also extremely blessed to have had the entire church pray for us for having children.  Samantha and I have been in a really peaceful place about this.

Obviously, we can't wait to have children.  But we are not in a rush and we know it will happen in God's perfect timing.  We just felt so much love.  

New Apartment:

We are also very blessed to say that God provided us a new place to live. We couldn't have asked for a better place, and location for what we are doing.

We are less than 5 minutes from the church and less than 5 minutes from two of the largest high schools in Williamson County:  Centennial and Ravenwood High School.

We live in a prime area and are looking forward to this new season in our life.  One of the coolest things is that from our balcony we face a beautiful view of the woods, where we are constantly seeing deer right in our front yard.

We absolutely love it.

New Series:

RUSH has been going fantastic. We took a couple weeks off over Christmas and New Year and we have already seen God move mightily.

We have seen over 20 new faces that comes through door the past 3 weeks.  Students are engaging their friends and inviting.

We know God has great plans for us this year and the key is that we are saturated in prayer. We are requesting all of our partners and anyone else who has a desire to pray for us 1 day a month.

We are believing that by the end of this month that we will have at least 2 to 3 people praying specifically for RUSH Franklin, its students and volunteers, and for us as we lead it.

Eventually I would love to know that we have at least 100 people praying for us every single day.  How cool would that be!

Discipleship Groups:
We have seen great breakthrough in the students, lives.  We restarted our Discipleship Groups on Sundays before RUSH.

I meet with key student leaders and Samantha will start meeting with girls this weekend. We find that Sundays at 4:00 PM before RUSH starts at 6:00 PM is the best time for our students during the school year.  We will revisit the best time in the summer.

If you live in the greater Nashville area / Franklin and would like your child/ren to be connected to a discipleship group, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us!

Basketball Coaching and Refereeing:
I have the great priviledge to coach The Warriors,  a 3rd grade basketball team.  It's great being able to pour into these kids lives.

We have so much fun, and I can already see a huge improvement in their skills and character. I am grateful how God orchestrated this opportunity.

I also get to referee every Saturday through the Williamson County Recreation Center.  I just love getting out there and am able to help serve the kids through reffing.

Not to mention it is great exercise.  I ref an average of 3 games a week.  It's a blast!

Open Doors: Three Key Highlights This Past Month

Franktown Open Hearts
I was invited to speak to the kids by their director former Nebraska running back and NFL player Dan Alexander.  We have started to build a friendship and look forward to serving our inner-city kids in Franklin.

They have an after school mentoring program where our kids will be a part of. Samantha and I are very passionate about giving back to the community. We continue to seek more opportunities such as this. When you get the chance, please visit their website.

Ravenwood High School
I was also invited to share to a group of student leaders through First Priority.  God answered another one of my prayers wanting to learn how to get campus ministry going on in high school campuses.

God put Steve Cherrico in my life. He is the director of First Priority of America.  Looking forward to getting together and be coached by him on how to build effective campus ministry.

I was also invited by one of the kids I help train in basketball, Jonathan Allen, to speak to the entire school for an assembly.  Not sure when that is, but believing it will happen.

I want to build solid relationships with the administration and teachers.  The Vice Principal is a friend of mine and looking forward to see breakthrough in that school.

Centennial High School
Centennial is also another school that we are believing God for.  We do have a few students that go to RUSH from that school, but we are believing for a breakthrough with key relationships in the administration and faculty as well.

One cool thing that happened this past month, is that I have been praying specifically for their basketball team and coach.  They got a new coach this year and have yet to meet him.

Well one day I went to the school to watch one of the kids that I am mentoring play basketball.  It was before a varsity game and God opened up a door for the head coach and I to speak.

We spoke for almost an hour sharing different stories about basketball and life. He is an avid golfer and told him I would take him out once the season is over.

I say all that to let you know that is only a few lives that have been impacted through your faithfulness. Please keep us in your prayers.

Prayer Requests:

Will you commit to pray for us for one day a month.  If so when?  This is our biggest need and desire.  We are believing God that we will have at least 2 people praying for us every day of the month.  Will you commit to pray for us.  If so what day?  We know God has extraordinary things in store for us and we need to be covered and saturated in prayer.

New Series
God + Dating this month

Louisiana Outreach Trip
We are going to Slidell, Louisiana to speak at a youth camp and bringing some of our kids with us. I was invited last year as their guest speaker and was invited again this year.  We will treat this just like a mission trip. It will be a great opportunity to develop the leadership of the older students to who have been serving in RUSH Franklin.

Fundraising
This year we are believing for a breakthrough in finances as well for RUSH Franklin.  Due to being a new church plant, we don't have a monthly budget for our youth ministry.

We will be doing multiple fundraisers starting this month. We are believing for van, a computer, and other things that we feel that will help RUSH become a better experience for our students.

Discipleship Now Weekend
We are also believing God to have "D-NOW" weekend.  Here is an overview of what we will do.

Friday Night:
Huddle up for prayer and worship.  

Dismiss to Host Families:
We will ask families in our church to host a group of kids and a leader for a night. There will be devotions in the evening and in the morning.

Saturday:
We will do a community service project to serve in the morning. There will be scavenger hunt in the afternoon. In the evening there will be a night of worship and breakthrough.

This will take some solid planning but please be praying for this as early as now.  We are still trying to finalize a date.  But it will be before the summer.

If you want to know how you can be involved and be on our team please click here.  We would be honored if you were with us.  We are making it as simple as possible and we are excited to share it with you.

We are believing that we will be fully funded in our ministry by the end of this year. We are going to be making a push this quarter for more financial partners.

$10 for TENnesee 

What this means is that if you are an existing partner we humbly ask you to increase your support by $10 a month. And if you want to join our team we are asking a monthly support starting at $10.

Again thank you for all you do and your continual support. We truly couldn't do it without you and are honored to be serving with you. The changed lives because of your faithfulness has been an incredible blessing to us. Thank you with all our hearts.

Love you so much,

 Rob and Samantha

Fasting + Prayer 2013

We are currently in the middle of a week-long prayer and fasting. This is something we do at the beginning of the year.

We are so grateful to be a part of a church that encourages everyone to fast corporately. It is a beautiful and encouraging thing.

We are committed to lift you up in prayer and believe for breakthroughs and miracles to unleash in your lives. As we spend the next days in communion with God, please let us know what we can pray for you. We really get excited when you share with us what you are believing for because we get to witness how God responds.

We love you all from the bottom of our hearts.

Our One Word for 2013: BREAKTHROUGH

OUR ONE WORD FOR 2013: BREAKTHROUGH

At the start of every year Samantha and I pray and ask God for a one word theme that would set the course of the year. The word I got in my personal quiet time with the Lord was breakthrough. Samantha got the same word during hers as well. 

My thought was, how neat it was that we both got the same word during separate times. This year is going to be a year of BREAKTHROUGH and we are preparing and positioning ourselves for it. 

I believe this word will not only set the course for our personal life but for our ministry as well. We are excited that you will take this journey with us. 

What are you believing for this year? How can we be standing with you? Please share it with us and we would love to be in faith with you.

 We love you, 

 Rob and Samantha

Goodbye 2012! Welcome 2013!

2012 is over. WOW-- we can't believe it. What a blessed year it has been!

 

 This year has gone by so fast and I can't believe in January it will be two (!) years since Samantha and I have moved here. Nashville has been really good to us and really feels like home. 

God has done some amazing things this year and want to thank you for being a part of our journey. We say this all the time but we truly couldn't have gone this far without you.

There have been a lot more highs than lows. No one said that this was supposed to be easy, but this has been the most fulfilling thing I have ever done, and I believe will ever do. 

I felt the first year was getting to know the students and building trust with the students and their parents. I feel this year we have earned their trust.

 I can only imagine what God is going to do next year. We are gearing up for an exciting 2013!

I feel as if God is forming an army of students in RUSH Franklin who are starting to understand what it means to know and follow Jesus Christ. More students are bringing their friends along with them and are on mission to to want to reach and impact theirs schools and community.  

 

I quote the words of the apostle Paul in Philippians 1:3-6:
"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."


Highlights of 2012

RUSH Franklin Outreach Events:
Acquire the Fire Conference | Parents' Vision Night | Crossfire Mini Camp | Good Friday Baptisms | Easter Barbecue | Hunger Games Summer | Senior Night | Summa' Slam | Ten Days: Baja | Summa' Camp | Lock-In | Friday Night Football Games | Father of Lights Movie Night | Costume Party | Thanksgiving Dinner + Worship + Communion | Ugly Sweater Christmas Party

 

Devotion | Diversity | Discipleship:

 

Travels:

Jacksonville, FL | Albuquerque, NM | New York, NY | Philadelphia, PA | Baltimore, MD | Atlantic City, NJ | Washington, DC | Atlanta, GA | New Albany, IN | Louisville, KY | San Francisco, CA | San Diego, CA | New Orleans, LA | Memphis, TN | Minneapolis, MN | Omaha, NE | Baja, Mexico

 

Time with Family:

Visits from Friends: 

 

Celebrated New Marriages:

Mark + Shirlena | Matt + Geni | Clarence + Maureen | Richard + April | Seth + Hannah | Spencer + Ashli | Joshua + Lindsay

 

Other Highlights:

Opportunities to speak in schools | Samantha's work with children  | A second vehicle | Finding a place in Franklin, TN {move date January 2012} | Coaching a 3rd-grade basketball team | Our marriage is as strong as ever!

Thank you for continuing to pray for us, standing along side with us in the Gospel of Jesus Christ as we continue to minister to the students in Nashville/Franklin, Tennessee. We are so blessed to have an amazing team behind us like you!

Serving with you in the new year,

Rob and Samantha Johnson

As 2012 draws to a close, please know that we need your help to continue this vital work. Thank to everyone who has generously supported us this past year and have given year-end gifts to help us start 2013 with additional support. If you have been waiting for an opportunity to give to our ministry before the year ends, now is a great time. If you are praying about being a part of our team, please click on this link to know the steps.

Praying that you have a blessed 2013! We love you.

Carried to Completion | October 2012 Update

Hi! Hope all is well with you today. I just wanted to give you an update on what has been going on with life here in Nashville.

This past month I have been spending more times in Franklin's high schools. I just love being around students and whenever I go out in faith, God will put people in my life.

I went to Centennial High School one Thursday after school and met a young man named JJ. JJ plays on the basketball team, and when I began speaking to him we immediately had a connection.

He and his family had just moved from Nebraska. We have mutual family friends and it just so happened that one of our church families have been taking this man in as their own.

I got a message the week prior about a guy named Jannique that this family had been reaching out to. I just didn't know him by Jannique, I met him as JJ.

It was the same guy. Pretty cool.

Coincidence??? I think not.

It's God sovereignty and He is at work. He uses imperfect people like you and me, who would make themselves available to accomplish His work.

To make the long story short, JJ and I have built a great relationship in a month. I have worked him out at 5:30 am before school and he has been going to RUSH Franklin.

Please pray for him and his family as he has 6 siblings, and they are living in a hotel at the moment. He is a great kid and he is the oldest.

----

I also have been going to Montgomery Bell Academy more frequently as well. I have a great relationship with the head coach, and one of the players goes to our youth group.

All the guys on the team call me "coach" and it has been great serving this team. I normally come on Thursdays for team chapel, and share to the team.

I try to get there one other time and just hang out with the guys and try and love on em' and encourage them. I am grateful to be able to serve this team and you can see God doing something really special.

I feel like this team reminds me of a modern day Remember The Titans. The team is pretty racially divided and the students come from very different backgrounds.

It's also amazing seeing God unite this team with one common goal. It's great hearing the guys saying "I love you man. I love you guys." It truly is amazing. 

----

This past month I decided to do something a little different for my birthday and celebrate it at RUSH Franklin. So my thought was to do it "Filipino Style". 

First, I must explain what "Filipino Style" is. 

I always loved my birthday growing up. It was a day I get showered with gifts and affirmation. 

When I went to the Philippines, they celebrated it a little different. If it's your birthday the way the celebrate is this thing they call a "blowout." 

I hated a "blowout" at first. A "blowout" was that you would invite all your friends to eat and the birthday celebrant would PAY FOR EVERYONE!!! 

I got tricked into a "blowout" once... but never again :-) 

However, the more I was there I began to appreciate it more and more, so I wanted to do the same for our students. My thought was I would get the food and watch a movie. 

But it backfired, we have such incredible kids and parents that they decided, behind my back, to celebrate me. So without my knowledge the parents prepared the food.

The students got me gifts and a basketball that they all signed and wrote encouraging messages. And they also made me video that made me cry :-)

They prayed for me and poured affirming words on me. It was a really special day. 

We had worship and my friends Ileia Luke and John Katina sang. It was an incredible night.

Then we watched an amazing documentary called Father of Lights. Hope that you find a way to get a copy of it because it will truly change your life!

Thank you so much for partnering with us. We truly are making a difference together. You have no idea how you have made an impact on many students' lives. We can't do it without you. 

We love you, 
Rob and Samantha. 

Special Requests: 

As we are approaching the holidays, Samantha and I are praying for three important things:

1) To be able to move to Franklin, TN and have more opportunities to be engaged in the community that we were called to serve in. We hope to find a place to live that are near the high schools. It is truly our heart to have a home that is open to teenagers whenever they need a safe place to talk about their walk with God. Right now, we live about 20 miles away from Franklin. It's been great staying where we live now but we felt a clear call from the Lord to move to where our "mission field" is.

2) To be able to go on a trip to the Philippines sometime next year or 2014. As many of you know, Nashville was not a part of our plan. Our heart was in the Philippines but God opened up a door for us here in Tennessee. After a lot of prayer and counsel, we took that step of faith. We were planning on going back to the Philippines January of 2011. Instead, we drove to Nashville and continued our journey here. We have yet to go back to the Philippines, to say our proper goodbyes and to get some of our belongings that we left behind.

3) Samantha's grandmother is critically ill. She currently resides in Atlanta, GA. It is our prayer that she gets better and that we all get to spend Thanksgiving together. This morning, we prayed for her and cried out to God for more time with her -- we immediately got a report that her vital signs started stabilizing again. Please pray with us during this time.

Would you consider giving a special gift of whatever amount to help us with moving and travel costs? It is a great undertaking but we believe God will come through to fulfill His will. We also welcome your prayers as raise enough support to cover these requests.

To be able to give, please click here.

To know more about being a partner in our ministry, please click here.

Summa' Camp 2012!

Greetings Friends and Faithful Partners:

Don't blink, summer is officially over. Hope your summer went well and it lasted longer than ours :-)

It really seemed like it was yesterday when school got out, and now we are back to school. This last month has been life changing for us and were extremely busy (in a good way).

It seemed like everything was happening one thing after another, nonetheless God was (and continues to be) so faithful. After coming back from our missions trip to Baja, Mexico: we are humbled and filled with gratitude to all who prayed and supported us while we were there.

We seen God move like no other. Right when we got back was RUSH's SUMMA' CAMP.

It was literally the week right after we got back, so it was an intense few days. Camp went absolutely AMAZING! 

We joined forces with RUSH Brentwood (another congregation) and had 160 campers. We had about 60 students from RUSH Franklin.

Here was our promo video (don't judge me!)

If you can't see the embedded video, please click this link.

The theme for camp was MORE.

Day 1 of Summa' Camp

We all gathered and boarded 3 charter buses on our way to Pisgah, Alabama. It was a 3-hour trip and I would be lying to you if I said it went smooth as can be.

We definitely had our share of battles and frustrations. All the more I knew God was going to move mightily if we responded in a way that He wanted to.

The enemy sure did his best to try and discourage us, and did a pretty good job. The first day we split people into different cabins and tribes.

We had two of our faithful leaders Jonathan Murrell and Moriah Nogoy who helped organized the games. They did a great job and was a huge help.

During the first day we had to shut it down a little early because it started thundering and lightening. We prayed and prayed that we wouldn't get discouraged and for God to move.

Pastor Brian, Pastor Verbs, and I huddled before our first evening session and had a great time in prayer. We then gathered all of our volunteers and had a powerful time of prayer and worship before the students came in.

We knew that night was going to be extra special, and it absolutely was. Worship was absolutely amazing and Pastor Verbs kicked it off with MORE ROOM: Creating more space in our lives for God.

We couldn't have gotten off to a better start.

Day 2

We played more team games and had a lot of free time. We had two sessions on this day.

Our first session was off the charts. The same energy and passion was there in the morning.

Justin Chapman spoke about MORE FAITH. He did a great job.

The evening was special. We had a guest performing group who has an exceptional dance ministry.

It was powerful and anointed. The cool thing is they were all one big family.

The youngest member was 12 if I am not mistaken. It was POWERFUL.

Then Pastor Brian knocked it out of the park talking about MORE POWER. We had a time of ministry after the message and it was a move of God.

Seeing teens weeping and weeping before the Lord. It was one of the greatest things I have ever witnessed.

All I can is I wish you were there, it was POWERFUL. We worshipped and prayed for an hour afterwards, and I really think the students could have been there all night. 

We did have a bonfire the capped off a wonderful day.

Day 3

Day 3 was our last day. There was something in my spirit that told me it was going to be a spiritual battle. 

I could not really sleep and found myself in a lot of prayer. The last two days were so powerful and I was honored to wrap it up.

My message was on MORE COMPASSION. As I went up to share an industrial ladder fell on Samantha's head.

(You can see the ladder in the photo above leaning against the wall)

Talk about WARFARE. I was shook to the core and tried to stay strong. 

As I was trying to be strong for Samantha, she started to cry because she was in so much pain. What was I to do. 

I hugged her and prayed for as everyone was dumbfounded. I had no idea what was wrong with my wife, and honestly no one in the room mattered anymore at that moment. 

I just wanted Samantha to be okay and you can only imagine what was going through my mind. I showed them a video of one of  my best friends Kevin Deese made for me. 

You can watch it here. 

I don't know where I would be without this man...this friend. I don't think I said anything that was on my notes, but did my best to get through the message. 

Afterwards I wanted the students to experience something different. I had met with the owners of the camp and they had showed me this special piece of property that they had recently purchased.

They showed it to me the day before and it was breathtaking. The kids had to see it.

So we organized some trucks and drove about 20 minutes to this place. The students then shared some powerful testimonies. 

It's amazing to see people's stories and how God moves in everyones lives. Afterwards we packed it up and went back home. 

WOW....that's all I can say about this camp.  We just want to let you know that YOU are a huge part in making this happen.

Thank you for all the support and prayers that you have poured on us throughout the years. It has changed many lives of young people in Nashville.

Love,
Robert and Samantha


If you would like to be a part of what God has called us to do in Nashville and want to know more, please click here.