“I WANTED TO DO SOMETHING ‘GOD- SIZED’, SOMETHING BIGGER I COULD DO ON MY OWN”
-Phil Johnsey, President/Founder
How It All Began
After serving as a pastor for 30 years, Phil Johnsey began praying about where God was leading him next. Through eleven months of prayer and bible study, Phil felt led to start a faith based ministry with the vision of networking churches to serve together and provide resources to bring the gospel to Africa. We sat down with Phil to find out more about the start of CMN and how he has seen God work through the last 12 years of ministry.
How did you get involved in missions?
“I participated in my first international mission trip in 2000. The church I worked for partnered with other churches for a mission trip to Honduras. As our church grew, we became the lead church in these international missions endeavors and my role changed from going to leading. Through these trips I was moved by how much God loved these people, and how little they knew about His love.”
When did you know God was calling you to start this ministry?
“As God prepared me for my next role in ministry, He began to redirect my heart. After nine years as Executive Pastor at Gladeville Baptist Church, I began to ask the question, “What if”. What if we had a network of churches in the USA that wanted to do serious mission work around the world, and what if they did that work through an organization that planted churches to change the lives of the communities long-term?”
What was your initial vision for CMN?
“At the age of 53, I began to picture what the last chapter of my ministry might be. I wanted to do something that was “God sized”, something bigger than I could ever do on my own. After months of prayer and study, I felt led to plant 500 churches with trained pastors around the world within fifteen years. The only way to do this would be to start an organization that would continue long after those fifteen years and would continue planting hundreds of more churches.”
Why did you choose the model we use? Specifically, why medical clinics?
“The model we use was taken right out of scripture. What we see in the New Testament’s example of ministry from Jesus and the apostles was when you meet a physical need it opens the door to sharing the truth. As our ministry grows, we continue to learn and adapt to the culture of the areas we work in. We use several strategies for evangelism and church planting, such as, ”The Jesus Film”, crusades, and door to door witnessing. However, we’ve found the most effective tool in producing a crowd as well as producing results is mobile medical clinics. We take our clinics to the rural areas of Africa where many of our patients have no other access to medical care. “
How did K4K start?
“K4K was an eleven month journey of discerning what God was leading us to do to take care of orphans. God gave me a vision of Kare for Kids in Africa as I studied the four accounts of Jesus feeding the masses. In Mark’s and Luke’s gospel, it says He sat them down by 50’s and the other account 50’s and 100’s. It dawned on me that each church had 50 to 100 orphans and we could care for our orphans through the local church. The widows could fix the meals and then pastors would have the opportunity to share the gospel. Some of our churches are feeding over 350 orphans and widows now. God kind of “super sized” the idea He had given me.”
Where do you see CMN going in the future?
“My original dream for CMN was that we would plant 100 churches on five different continents. Once we started, God gave us a focus of specifically East Africa. There is no doubt that God is moving in East Africa and He continues to put new pieces in place to allow CMN to multiply church plants. Through the structure we have now we have gone from planting 30 churches a year to potentially planting over 200 churches with trained pastors a year in the future.”
What are some of your favorite experiences of last 12 years?
1. Seeing 300 orphans line up to eat a meal of rice and beans still brings tears to my eyes. The Bible instructs us to care for hungry people, orphans, and widows. Jesus often cared for those left out in society.
2. Attending a Sunday service the day after a medical clinic was there. To see people who came with physical pains the day before come to praise God for answering their prayers, it’s an incredible experience. It’s humbling to realize that community will never be the same because CMN and hundreds of incredible volunteers answered God’s call to go, heal the sick, love on kids, and share the truth of God’s love.
3. Attending dedication services for newly constructed churched. I once had the honor of attending a dedication service where I heard a group of ladies say they had prayed to God that He might give them a building for worship. They looked at me, smiled, and thanked me for being the instrument God used to make this happen.
