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Member, AMiA Council of Bishops |
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Bishop Thomas W. Johnston, Jr. (“TJ”) was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and graduated from high school in Spartanburg, SC. Bishop Johnston went on to receive a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry from The University of the South (Sewanee). After working as a forester with the Union Camp Corporation in Virginia, he entered law school in the fall of 1980. Upon graduation from law school, he moved to Charleston, South Carolina to practice law as a trial attorney until 1991. While practicing law, Bishop Johnston took a leave of absence for fourteen months and worked as a Volunteer for Mission with the Episcopal Bishop in Haiti, the Rt. Rev. Luc Garnier. His role was to coordinate partnership relationships between churches and schools in Haiti and churches and schools in the United States, with a focus on rural education and health issues. In 1991 he followed God's leading to seminary and along a path to ordained ministry. Bishop Johnston attended seminary at The University of the South, The School of Theology, and graduated in May 1994 with a Masters in Divinity degree. He then served Grace Episcopal Church, Charleston, SC, as an assistant for eighteen months. In 1996 he became the assistant to the then Rev. Chuck Murphy at All Saints Parish, Pawley’s Island, SC. In January of 1998 Bishop Johnston and his family left Pawley's Island and moved to Little Rock to start St. Andrew’s Church. In April of 1998 the Rt. Rev. Edward Salmon (Diocese of South Carolina) transferred his official license to the Rt. Rev. John Rucyahana of the Diocese of Shyira, Rwanda. With this occurrence the seed was planted that would eventually give birth to the Anglican Mission in America. From the earliest days of the Anglican Mission, Bishop Johnston has been involved in resourcing and starting new churches and in the development of emerging leadership for the Mission. In June of 2001 he was consecrated as a Missionary Bishop of the Province of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda. He is currently overseeing 28 churches from Vancouver, BC, to Florida. He is also leading a church planting team in Mt. Pleasant, SC, where they are launching St. Peter’s Church. Bishop Johnston and his wife Rees have two children, a son, Welden and a daughter, Atlee. |
Organizing for
Organizing for
Bishop Johnston
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