About The House of the Lord’s Vision and Purpose

The House of the Lord loves you where you are and walk with you as you become who God wants you to be. Our church's purpose is to glorify God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, by winning the lost at any cost.

We accept them to our local community in God and make disciples of all who choose to follow God, equipping them for ministry in Akron and around the world.

We pray that God would continue to open doors for our community as we seek to minister to the Akron Community, Northeast Ohio, and the world.

About Our Pastor

Bishop F. Josephus Johnson, II, better known as Bishop Joey Johnson, is the presiding bishop of The Beth-El Fellowship of Visionary Churches. He is the organizer and senior pastor of The House of the Lord in Akron, Ohio.

He is a renowned bible scholar, counselor, educator, conference speaker, and workshop facilitator. Bishop Johnson is also a certified grief recovery specialist since 2002.

His experience in leading one of the city’s largest churches for 49 years has equipped him to impart wisdom for issues related to church growth and development, business management, leadership, and team building.

Bishop Johnson is happily married to Pastor Cathy Johnson.

Our Vision

The vision of The House of the Lord is to glorify God by providing saving and restorative healing and support for those in Northeastern Ohio who are consciously hurting, through the Good News of Jesus Christ, offered in a relational environment, so that these people may develop significant relationships with God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and other believers.

We strive to do this primarily through services that are celebrations of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which are built around the Spirit-filled preaching of the Word of God and a sense of the presence of God.

This is experienced in two predominant impressions:

  • God’s transcendent greatness - experienced as a sense of awe or excitement when we sense He is present.
  • God’s immanent closeness - experienced as a sense of God’s love often manifests itself in a corporate worship experience with sensations of community and love from other people in the community.

This sense of the presence of God would be accompanied by a freedom to express mature emotions, which would result in the conviction of sinners who are present and Christians who are built up, committed to Christ and His church, challenged to grow towards His vision for them, and demonstrating all of this in evangelism.

We also strive to realize our vision through Christian Education and discipleship. This entails maturing people in the image of Christ through Sunday School, educational events, and one another's ministry of believers.

These believers exercise their spiritual gifts, through the power of the Holy Spirit, one-on-one and in small groups. Through these acts, the local body of Christ may build itself up in love.

We continue to pray that God would open doors for our continued expansion as we seek to minister to the Akron Community, Northeast Ohio, and the world.

Our Purpose

THOTL, where: “We love you where you are and walk with you as you become who God wants you be”

  • “We” – a collective body of believers who are all called to work publicly and /or privately to achieve the intentions that God has for this local community
  • “We love” – because God is love and as His church, we must love to be an accurate reflection of Him and His love for the entire world (1 John 4:7-11, John 13:35, Matt 22:37-40, John 3:16).
  • “We love people where they are” – Location: We go out into the world to find people to love just as Jesus did when He came out into this world and found us (Luke 14:23, John 6:44, John 12:32). Condition: We love people just as they are without judgment and full of grace in recognition that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23, Matt 25:35-40)
  • “and walk with you” – by entering and remaining in relationships with them even when we’re hurt and disappointed because 1) we believe each person is worth it and 2) because God didn’t walk away from us, despite the mistakes we’ve made, so we’re committed to not walk away from others (Gen 2:18, 1 John 4:7-11, John 13:35).
  • “as you become who God wants them to be” – we believe that we can only reach our full potential by being in Christ and becoming more like Him. Therefore, we commit to preaching the gospel to see souls saved and commit to providing discipleship mechanisms to allow each person to grow into the person God wants them to be. (Luke 4:18-19, Matt 28:18-20, 2 Tim 3:16,)

Our Motto

Loving, Inspiring and Hospitable

What do we mean when we say Loving, Inspiring and Hospitable? This is how we are called to live out the reality that relationships are everything. Relationships are everything is the foundation we are building upon by being a church that is loving, inspiring and hospitable.

  • Loving: Love is the quality and main characteristic that defines our relationships with each other. Love also motivates us to minister to the needs of each other.
  • Inspiring: This defines our relationship with God, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We want our relationship with God to be so genuine and authentic that it inspires us to serve and walk with people who desire the same relationship with God, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
  • Hospitable: This is about making room for strangers. There is a place at The House of the Lord for you because we will make room for you.

Our Distinctives

There are many churches in any town, city, county, state, or region of the United States of America.

Although the diversity of churches can be confusing, especially when they fight against one another, we believe that God has allowed such diversity in churches⎯because there is such a diversity of people.

Since churches are made up of people, they are − in a sense – like people, i.e. each church has its own personality and identity. To get along with people, you have to learn their idiosyncrasies, personality quirks, and distinctions.

The same is true of churches. Particular distinctions make each church different from every other church.

In order to minister and serve the Lord effectively, you must be united with a local church. That is the New Testament pattern.

To work effectively in a local church, i.e. a local manifestation of the body of Jesus Christ, it is important that you understand the distinctions of the local church where God has placed you.

It is with this understanding and motive that we set forth the distinction of The House of the Lord.

The House of the Lord is a church working to be a:

Our Team

Bishop Johnson

Bishop Joey Johnson

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Founder and Preaching Pastor

Pastor Cathy Johnson

Pastor Cathy Johnson

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WWTIC Director

 

Herman Matherson

Pastor Herman Matherson Jr., M.A.

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Chief Operating Officer

Pat Butler

Pastor Pat Butler

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Executive Assistant to Bishop Johnson

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Pastor Linda Isaiah

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Funeral Ministry

Daren Brake

Pastor Daren Brake

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Lead Pastor

Mindy Brown

Mindy Brown

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Graphic Design

Website

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Minister Pat
Reese

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Secretary/Receptionist

Alan Pickett

Brother Alan Pickett

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Maintenance

Audio/Video

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Deacon Lynda Parker

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Finance Administrator and Administrative Manager

Dara Winchell

Dara Winchell, CPA, MBA

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Controller

 

Angela Gibbons

Pastor Angela Gibbons

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Pastor of Worship, Celebration Arts & Audio Visual