(from the January 2003 issue)

by Reggie Johnson

“You think about having people’s lives in your hands; you think about the responsibility that you’ve been given,” Don says of his job. “You don’t think so much about the danger until after it’s all over.”

Don felt compelled to preach when he learned about the Lake Union’s 2002 evangelistic series theme, and served as one of three speakers for Hope for the Homeland at the Niles (Michigan) Philadelphia Church. You see, Don’s job and his faith have a unique interaction. His religion keeps him from becoming hardened to his job, and his job has instilled a sense of urgency for sharing his religious experience. The compassion that Jesus has shown for each of us has inspired Don to feel greater compassion for every individual who has been affected by the disasters he is called in to work on. And knowing that any day could be the last, especially in his line of work, has given him a passion for telling others about the salvation that God freely provides, before it’s too late.

“After 9-11 our mortality became a little more real, just thinking about what could happen,” says Don. “We go in after accidents, we go in after people do things on purpose to hurt other people, and being a firefighter in that atmosphere just made it all the more compelling for me to get involved with Hope for the Homeland.”

Don sees Hope for the Homeland as an experiment, with people who have no training in speaking or preaching delivering messages while the Holy Spirit convicts hearts. “When you have somebody who doesn’t do this for a living, and who’s nervous the whole time, and even messes up during the message, it doesn’t matter, because it’s the Holy Spirit that is touching the hearts,” he says. “We are able to see firsthand how ‘casting bread upon the waters’ does not come back void, empty (Eccl. 11:1). You can’t deny what has happened here.”

“With Hope for the Homeland, you have a series that is so well written that anyone who has the slightest bit of talent, the smallest bit of faith, and wants to share this message can do it,” Don says. “I was amazed at the simplicity and the power that is contained in those messages (the New Beginnings DVD series) and how they’re constructed. They’re not heavy-handed, and by the same token, nothing is being left out.”

His excitement for Hope for the Homeland is contagious, just like the message being presented. “I don’t even know the numbers yet,” exclaims Don. “I know that there are plenty of baptisms, and I know that there are going to be plenty of testimonies and people not only saying, ‘I found this truth’ and ‘I came into this truth,’ but also, ‘I now need to share what I’ve learned.’ That’s the way this thing is constructed, and I appreciate it so much.”

Don hasn’t been an Adventist his whole life. Twenty-three years ago he attended an African Methodist Episcopal church in Battle Creek. His church repeated the Ten Commandments on most Sundays, including the entire fourth commandment. “I never gave it second thought until we were getting close to Easter time, and I read for the first time that Christ rose on the first day of the week,” he recalls, “and that hit me like a ton of bricks.” Don did the math, and, realizing that if Sunday was the first day then Saturday must be the seventh day, he turned around to the guy behind him in the choir, and asked, “If Christ rose on the first day of the week, what are we doing here then?”

Don went to the Adventist church down the street the next week, and that was it. He stayed there.

Don’s faith was tested early, as within weeks of his baptism into the Adventist Church he was offered a job that would require him to work on Sabbath. It was during a time when jobs weren’t plentiful, and this well-paying job was a good opportunity for Don who was 20 at the time.

When he shared his religious concerns, his prospective employer told him to go and talk to his pastor and see what he could work out. “I talked to them (the church), and instead of someone telling me what to do, they said, ‘Well, read this: here it is.’ I read it for myself from the Bible, and there were no two ways about it, no way to get around this.”

The management tried to work around his beliefs, but ultimately it was the other employees who were unhappy with the idea of Don receiving special treatment. “Eventually I had to turn that job down,” Don says. “At that time I had no faith of my own, I had no experience in standing up for the Lord in that way and having it turn out alright, because I never had to do it before.”

“It was difficult at first, but getting an opportunity to try the Lord and see that God comes through for you—it’s just a magnificent feeling and experience!” Don took another job that wasn’t as good, but allowed him to make ends meet. In the process, his faith grew and he learned something important about his new church. Everyone he talked to directed him to the Bible. There was no one telling him what he had to do. “I appreciated that kind of teaching, and that’s how I try to teach,” says Don.

“I had a Bible that I had owned for a couple years that looked as new as when I first bought it,” Don recalls. “A few months in the Adventist Church and I had to get a new Bible. It couldn’t stand the strain!” Don has applied this philosophy in his preaching, telling his listeners, “This is not something that I’m telling you— we’re reading it here right from the Word of God!”

“I’m kind of looking at the last 20 years as my wilderness experience,” Don says. “After having lived a little bit, I am able to talk from an actual point of reference.” And because of his “wilderness experience” he is able to witness with a sincerity that cannot be counterfeited.

Don moved to Niles after marrying Patricia Stewart in October of 2001, and began attending the Niles Philadelphia Church. He is in his 13th year as a firefighter, and God’s leading has been clear in his life. His faith has made him a better firefighter, and his firefighting has increased his faith. “God is very much in control,” he says, “ and I thank Him for this opportunity to share this message. I thank Him for what He’s done in my life. I thank Him for the opportunities that are yet unseen that I know are coming because of being prepared like this. Being prepared all those years isn’t just for nothing, it is for something. And whatever it is, it’s going to be wonderful for me and for those who benefit from God’s working through me.”

Don’s job is to help in the aftermath of accidents, but in his own words, “It’s no accident that I’m here now. It’s no accident that all this came together at this particular time in my life.” And it’s no accident that there is hope for the homeland.