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- Maximum Life Church Orlando will host a grand-opening celebration this Sunday, Oct. 14, at 10 a.m.

By Kathy Aber

It was a church-for-rent advertisement that led Bishop Carroll R. Johnson Jr. and his wife, Pastor Muriel Johnson, to Windermere and the former Union Church property at Fifth Avenue and Oakdale Street. But it was the feeling inside the chapel that brought them to sign a one-year lease on the WUC buildings.

On entering the chapel, Pastor Johnson knew she had found a haven for their new congregation.

"You can feel the atmosphere when you walk in. I felt such a warm spirit in the building. I feel the laughter and the love," Pastor Johnson told The West Orange Times in a recent interview.

"Immediately, when I hit the door, I could feel the presence. The Holy Spirit transforms lives."

From their home in Maryland, the Johnsons had been considering a ministry in Florida for some time, but when a bishop in Miami announced his retirement, they knew it was time to move and to plant an Orlando branch of their Baltimore church.

Bishop Carroll Johnson started the Maryland congregation, known as Maximum Life Christian Church, 22 years ago. It is now under the leadership of their daughter, Pastor Sherry Grant.

In February, they left their congregation in Woodlawn, Md., a suburb of Baltimore, and came to Orlando to begin their new ministry.

Thirty of their parishioners came with them to attend a family conference and participate in the first service in Central Florida.

Maximum Life Orlando began its ministry at the Florida Mall Hotel, and then the congregation started holding weekly worship at the

Ramada Plaza on Highway 192 in Kissimmee.

After five months, the couple started looking for a more permanent location. They started holding Sunday services at Windermere Union last month and have already had as many as 30 individuals attending worship.

Both the Baltimore and Orlando congregations are affiliated with Bible Way Churches World Wide, which has 500 churches in the United States and another 500 around the world.

"We are non-denominational in our approach," Bishop Johnson told the Times. "We want a place where people can come and freely worship."

"We sing Baptist songs and folk songs," said Pastor Johnson, who has a Pentecostal background.

Sunday services feature hymns, praise and worship and Bible teaching designed to quickly establish new believers while providing spiritual insight for mature Christians, Bishop Johnson explained. Puppets are incorporated in the children's ministry program.

At Maximum Life Orlando, the Johnsons share pastoral duties, and they have designed a ministry to appeal to families, children, couples and singles in all age groups.

"Everybody has issues," said Pastor Johnson, "no matter what their economic status or backgrounds. We want to help people deal with those issues.

The Johnsons are building a multi-racial and ethnically diverse congregation with a relaxed, informal atmosphere.

So far, they have developed a core of people with unique backgrounds who are leading the young congregation.

"We are excited about the team that has come together," Bishop Johnson said.

Jason Betler is the congregation's director of evangelism and outreach. Previously, he was the assistant to well-known German evangelist, Reinhard Bonnke, who leads crusades in Africa that are attended by four to five million people.

Bishop Johnson plays the keyboard and preaches each Sunday, and Pastor Johnson is the vocalist.

She has released a concert DVD, and one of the founding members, Ali Gholami, has recently released a Gospel rap CD. Gholami is also the youth minister.

Maximum Life has leased the entire church property and this month will begin Bible classes on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. These classes are part of a two-year study of the entire Bible that Bible Way Churches offers through its School of Biblical Studies. At the Windermere location, pastors Gilberto and Sandra Edwards will lead this study. The program is affiliated with a school in Delaware and provides preliminary coursework to enter the ministry.

"In our church in Baltimore, we have two daycare centers and have operated our Camp Evergreen for 18 years, and we anticipate providing these services for parents as quickly as we can here in Windermere," said Pastor Johnson.

Bishop Johnson said the church might be able to extend the lease for a second year, depending on the progress of the Main Street Shoppes project. The church property is part of the Main Street Shoppes Planned Development.

"Although Maximum Life Church Orlando is in its infancy, we view it as an extension of our church in Baltimore. We have an ongoing exciting vision for making a big impact for the kingdom of God in the Orlando area," said Bishop Johnson.

"We pray that thousands of lives will be touched and strengthened each week through the word of God."

Both of the Johnsons have written a book in the past year. Carroll's book is titled Faith: Your Access Card to the Kingdom of Heaven. Muriel's book, I Don't Want to Die, Journey to the Motherland, describes her ministry work in Africa.

Bishop Johnson grew up at First Apostolic Faith Church and served there as organist for several of the choirs, including the Echoneers. Through his work with gospel music, he was instrumental in forming the first black-owned professional recording studio in Baltimore during the 1970s. His record production firm gained prominence with distribution through Benson Records.

He became a minister in 1974 and worked with Bishop Alfred Reaves and his father, Pastor Carroll Johnson Sr.

He founded his first congregation, now known as Maximum Life Christian Church, in 1985. The worship center was opened in 2001 on a five-acre site that also has a childcare center and summer camp. The congregation's development corporation has purchased and renovated an apartment building for low-income residents and offers home ownership preparation classes.

Bishop Johnson has served as the bishop of the Suburban West District of the Mid-Atlantic Diocese of the Bible Way Churches and has coordinated diocese conventions and pastors' meetings. He has been the national president of the Pastors, Elders and Ministers Council and organized the International Bible Way Convention.

In 2005, he was elected to the Executive Board of Bishops, the highest governing body of the denomination.

In March, he accepted the position of diocese bishop for the state of Florida and established Maximum Life Orlando as the headquarters of the Florida Diocese.

The Florida Diocese of Bible Way Churches also has congregations in Jacksonville, Bartow, West Palm Beach and Port St. Lucie.

Prior to his ministerial work, Bishop Johnson was a manager for Bell Atlantic. In his most recent assignment, he was a computer consultant and instructor. He went on to found his own consulting firm.

Bishop Carroll is a graduate of Baltimore City College and Johns Hopkins University with a major in business and industrial management.

He has also worked with the Baltimore City Public Schools to bring self-esteem programs to children.

He and his wife have been married for 37 years. They have three children and four grandchildren.

For more information on the church or its services and programs, call 800-542-1481.

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