An Untraditional Fire

An Untraditional Fire is a lovingly told story about a dynamic, unique, and life-changing man of God, Dr. Rocellia Johnson, the founding pastor of the Bethany Baptist Church of West Los Angeles. Author Harry A. Mitchell III traces the life of Pastor Johnson from the humble beginnings of an Oklahoma farm boy in Jim Crow America to his arrival in Los Angeles in the early 1940s - a couple decades before Disneyland, the Dodgers, and the completion of the Santa Monica Freeway-to his development into one of the most influential ministers in African American churches. Pastor Johnson's innovative accomplishments include: A nationwide Evangelism Movement, through which thousands of pastors and churches have been equipped to share the Gospel with their communities. The Bethany Christian Bible Institute, which has graduated some 730 scholars since its inception, all at no cost to the students. Almost forty preachers called to the Gospel ministry under his leadership.Extraordinary! "An Untraditional Fire" is a must read for pastors and preachers who are being challenged by the status-quo as it relates to ministry in the twenty-first century. Harry Mitchell captured the essence of a maverick in the gospel whosedefense of the faith and the implementation of evangelism caused many of his peers to question his intent.