Year of Destiny

Pastor Ray had begun a series of messages in the fall of 2004, called the "Destiny Series." These messages culminated in the first message of 2005 where he proclaimed "2005: The Year of Destiny." That launched us forward, under our new name: DESTINY FELLOWSHIP - In May 2005 the Abyssinian Church of the Living Word became "One Church in Two Locations," Ohio and Michigan, when we began to meet for worship in a little park on the shores of Lake Erie.

Truly, God is faithful to His prophetic Word, and 2005 proved indeed to be a year of destiny! From the second to the third Sunday in April, Pastor Ray celebrated his Ministerial Anniversaries - 30 years in Ministry on the 2nd Sunday, and the 27th anniversary of his Ordination, on the 3rd Sunday.

At the Beginning of the year, in 2005, Bishop Thomas G. Mitchell approached Pastor Ray to write a protocol manual for the fledgling Apostolic organization he presided over - United Kingdom Builders International Ministries, Inc. The last week in April he was one of nine pastors elected to the office of Bishop at the UKB Spring Conference in Port Huron, MI.

In October, after the end of his assignment with Ford Motor Company at the Lorain,Ohio Assembly Plant, Pastor Ray accepted one of the biggest challenges of his life. He accepted an assignment as a contractor to - Jiangling Motors Corp., Ltd. (JMC) - Ford's Joint Venture in Nanchang, in the Peoples Republic of China, not fully discerning why the Lord would send him on such a peculiar venture, Bishop-elect Johnson packed his bags and headed east – Far East! Although the assignment was in thesecular realm, God opened a pathway for a new beginning in Ministry as well.