HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — “If it means me dying and lost people coming to know Christ, I'd die.”
Those words were spoken by 16-year-old Nathan Johnson at summer camp, just weeks before he lost his life in a car accident.
His wish has come true. Weeks after the death of the popular Hendersonville, Tenn., football player, hundreds of other teens who knew him or knew of him continue to make professions of faith.
In more than 240 remembrances written in notebooks by visitors at his funeral service, friends made clear they saw in Johnson a passion for Christ.
“God shined through him.”
“He had a full life with God at the center.”
“God's Word — he lived it.”
“He loved God — everyone knew it.”
And on and on.
Nathan's father, Chris, who is pastor of Central Baptist Church in Hendersonville and an employee at LifeWay Christian Resources in nearby Nashville, says that on one of the worst days of his life he remembered one of the best days of his life.
When Nathan died July 28, he said, he remembered the day nearly 10 years ago when he got a call from his wife, Kathy, informing him that 7-year-old Nathan had gotten off the bus from school and told his mom he had been thinking about Jesus and he was ready to pray to receive him. “I talked to him about it and asked him questions and it was clear to me that he was ready and he understood,” said Chris Johnson.
And since that time, Nathan made it the passion of his life to share Christ with everyone with whom he came in contact.
“Nathan was an incredible kid,” said Jeff Lovingood, youth minister at Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville, where Nathan worshiped. “He got it. Wherever he went, he shared Christ. He was a special kid. When he entered a room and flashed that million dollar smile, it was evident he was different.”
By all accounts, Nathan had everything going for him. He was a gifted athlete — the place kicker and punter for Beech High School.
He was also a gifted musician. His band, “Through a Glass” — named after the passage from I Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see through a glass, darkly” — was scheduled to perform the night of his death. Representatives of three major record labels were slated to be at the show at RocketTown, a popular Nashville music venue.
And, he was gifted with the good looks of a model. He had a smile that was infectious and looks that would make the girls drool, according to one entry from the funeral books.
“He had the 'it' factor,” said Jeremiah Barnes, Nathan's friend who shared the spotlight with him in the band. “I'm not sure what 'it' is, but he definitely had it. Everybody was attracted to him — girls and guys. He wasn't friends with just one crowd; he was everybody's friend, to all kinds of kids.”
Nathan used those gifts to share with others his passion for Christ. “His freshman year in high school he was attending his first football camp, and he called me and told me he had led two guys to Christ the night before,” said Kathy Johnson. “He said he was reading his Bible to them and talking and he looked up and the whole team was looking at him, and finally someone said 'hey everybody, shut up, Nathan's talking about God.'
“That night, two guys prayed to receive Christ, one of whom he had been concerned about for a while.”
Two girls Nathan had met in Florida this summer drove down from Indiana for his funeral because Nathan had made an impact on their lives. “They told us that they had only known him for a week, but he had changed their lives,” said Chris Johnson.
Nathan easily did what many of us make so difficult. “We make it [sharing the gospel] hard,” his mother said. “Nathan let it be part of who he was. He lived it. He would just start talking to people and say 'Hi, I'm Nathan Johnson. Do you know Jesus?'”
On Aug. 8, 2005, Nathan made the following entry into his personal journal. “Today…He has enlightened the eyes of my heart to His will in which He has with no doubt called me…. His will for me is to radically impact my school for Him…. This will be the start of a revolution at my school for God and by the grace of God.”
Nathan toyed with the potential possibility of fame through his band. With three record company representatives present for the July 28 performance, there was a real possibility for it to happen. But he told one friend that if the band became famous and started touring, he wouldn't be able to fulfill his mission to start a revolution for God at his school. So he said he would forfeit the fame.
He didn't have to make that choice. Lovingood, who's been youth minister at Long Hollow for almost five years, says he's never seen anything like the responses that have occurred since Nathan's death. “At visitation, it took four hours to get in and just say something to his parents,” he said.
“The morning of his funeral I woke up in a cold sweat wondering about what I would say,” added Lovingood. “I knew I had to give an invitation — if I didn't, Nathan would be mad at me.”
In 24 years of ministry, Lovingood says he's never seen anything like it. After the invitation to the 1,000-plus attendees at Nathan's funeral, 30 to 40 people came forward and prayed to receive Christ. He added that, in just the first week following Nathan's death, more than 150 people had prayed to receive Christ. And more are being reported every day.
“Last night [Aug. 23], 25 people prayed to receive Christ,” Lovingood added. “We had 800 to 900 youth last night. He's still having an impact. It's like he's still alive, and he is, through all the people his life and his story are continuing to touch.”
Someone who had met Nathan briefly wrote the Johnsons from New Zealand and told what an impact Nathan's life and now death had made on him. “I was given an opportunity to witness to a person down here … the day after I heard of Nathan's accident. I bought the person a Bible and used what happened to Nathan as a way to share the gospel,” wrote Hunter Gray. He added that he had been given another opportunity the next day and had shared Nathan's story again.
“Your son is making waves for Christ even after he is gone,” Gray wrote. “Your son is impacting lives all the way on the other side of the world.”
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– Ferguson is a correspondent for the Baptist and Reflector in Tennessee.