Reverend Kenneth Johnson
Seaman United Methodist Church
Seaman, OH
Sponsor: Rep. Jean Schmidt, (R-AL)
Date of Prayer: 11/28/2012
One Minute Speech Given in Recognition of the Guest Chaplain:
The SPEAKER. Without objection, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Schmidt) is recognized for 1 minute.
There was no objection.
(Mrs. SCHMIDT asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)
Mrs. SCHMIDT. I am honored today to have Reverend Ken Johnson as our guest chaplain.
Too often, we don't recognize true heroes among us. But I want to tell you the story of Ken Johnson and Phil Fulton, two pastors in Adams County. You see, they believed that our students and our Nation need to understand the morals of our country. And the best example of that is the Ten Commandments.
So they went out and they gathered money together––not public money, but donations––to put the Ten Commandments monuments on the steps of each of the four high schools in Adams County, one of the poorest counties in Ohio.
The courts didn't like it. So they gathered more money and put up four more monuments. The Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the preamble to the Constitution, and the Justinian Code. But again, the courts didn't like it. And they lost the fight nearly 10 years ago at the U.S. Supreme Court.
But the neighborhood rallied behind these two men and their efforts by taking those Ten Commandments when they were removed from public property and putting them directly across the street on private property. But the momentum swelled because throughout the Nation, people understood the courage of these two men. And so hundreds of thousands of yard signs were in each and every State in the Union, proclaiming that we should acknowledge the Ten Commandments and that they have a right to be placed on public property.
Phil Fulton and Reverend Ken Johnson didn't realize where their journey would lead. But I am proud to know both gentlemen, and I am proud today to have Ken Johnson here with his wife, Doris, whom he met on a mission trip to the Philippines, and their son Joshua. They also have two other children, Matthew and Mary.
Ken Johnson was born in southern Ohio, right in Adams County, and he has lived there his entire life. He became a pastor in 1978, and he has been pastoring ever since.
Thank you for your courage, Reverend Johnson , and God bless you and the United States of America.
Opening Prayer Given by the Guest Chaplain:
Most gracious Heavenly Father, we thank You for blessing the United States, and we humbly ask You, Lord, for your continued blessings.
Thank You, Lord, for the honorable Members of the House of Representatives. Help each Member and their families with their daily struggles in life. Provide each Member with daily health, providential care, and prosperity. Guide and direct the Representatives to make legislative decisions that will help our country to prosper economically and that the United States will continue to be a guiding light throughout the world.
Lord, we ask You to protect our Nation and help us to remember, ‘‘With God, all things are possible.'' Help us to be one Nation under God. Forgive us of our sins and for the times we have not trusted in You.
As George Washington closed his prayer in April of 1789, ‘‘Grant our supplication, we beseech thee, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.''
To learn more about Members who have sponsored a Guest Chaplain, please visit the Congressional Biographical Directory