Ministry makes impact with worldwide outreach

One day in October 2007, David Johnson said he woke up at about 2:30 in the morning with a message given to him by God.

Johnson said God told him he had a “new mission” for the pastor and former businessman, who was 51 years old at the time. The mission was to move from what Johnson called “micro-ministry” to “macro-ministry.” That is, instead of focusing on one church, God wanted Johnson to be involved with a global church-planting effort.

“[God said], ‘I want you on every inhabitable continent,’” Johnson said.

Along with Scott Gurosky and Wayne Myrick, Johnson started Doulos Partners, headquartered in Vestavia Hills, which provides funding, training and other support to pastors in countries across the world, helping raise native church leaders.

“We looked at denominational sending agencies, and we had seen some effectiveness in Western missionaries, but we were seeing a growing challenge for Western missionaries in particularly closed countries [countries that do not allow Christian missionaries], where it was more and more difficult for a Westerner to go,” Johnson said.

The word “doulos” is a Greek word meaning “slave,” referencing the Christian’s willingness to submit to Jesus Christ and obey his commands, something Johnson said he and his partners take seriously. 

Doulos Partners works with three domestic missions agencies: World Link Ministries, Biglife Ministries and Reaching Souls International.

Doulos invests in those ministries, which then send money to indigenous pastors and church leaders in the field in various countries. In addition to financially supporting the ministries, they also go on mission trips to help train pastors and share the gospel.

“The best people to reach Cubans are Cubans,” Johnson said.

While Western missionaries play an important role in the spread of Christianity, Johnson said it’s almost impossible to enter some closed countries, such as Iraq or Afghanistan, as a white man.

Doulos also puts checks and balances into their work, ensuring the money donors give them is used responsibly and that those they are training are teaching the word of God accurately, Johnson said.

Today, Doulos is in 36 countries and supports between 7,000 and 8,000 missionaries in some way, Johnson said.

At the end of the month of January, Johnson said Doulos had seen more than 6 million people become Christians as a result of their work, and more than 21,000 churches have been planted.

While most people think of the church as a building, Johnson said the church is a “gathering of God’s people,” so many of the churches they plant meet in uncommon locations for Americans.

“I’ve preached many times under a tree in Africa,” Johnson said.

The board of directors at Doulos pays 100 percent of the ministry’s administrative costs, allowing Johnson and his staff to empty the bank account every month, dividing the donated money into thirds to go to each ministry partner.

“I’ve never been a part of an organization as healthy as this one,” Johnson said.

Succession is also a key at Doulos, Johnson said. A junior board was created to allow younger partners to have a role in the ministry. Josh Clarke, who joined the junior board a few years ago, is a key part of that succession and became president of Doulos in March 2018.

“They’re helping us to see how to reach millennials,” Johnson said of the junior board.

For every 52 cents a person gives to Doulos, someone becomes a Christian, Johnson said.

Donors are loyal to Doulos, allowing the ministry to flourish, Johnson said. In 2018, the ministry’s donor retention was 99.4 percent and they added 100 new donors, Johnson said, creating an additional $250,000 to go to the field.

Doulos has been rated as one of the most effective and financially ethical ministries by companies such as ROI (Return on Investment) Ministries and the Evangelical Counsel of Financial Accountability.

“We don’t know how to be more open-handed than we are,” Johnson said.

Johnson said in the future, Doulos wants to spread the gospel to refugee camps as they continue to pop up all over the world, as well as move toward sharing with unreached and unengaged people groups. That partnership has already started with Biglife in Cameroon, with 14 such groups engaged. 

Missionaries traveled more than 1,000 miles to reach the Bumwali people, who heard about Jesus for the first time, Johnson said. Seven of the Bumwali people indicated they had decided to become a Christian.

“It’s almost impossible to describe,” Johnson said. “Every day, I see the hand and the movement of God like I’ve never seen before. In our Western affluence and apathy … we miss the miraculous.”

Although the call to start Doulos came when Johnson was a little bit older, he said he’s excited to see what continues to happen with the ministry. “For me personally, it’s been the most productive 11 years of my life,” Johnson said. “At 62, I’m more excited about the future than I’ve ever been.”