[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 7831]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                      WELCOMING REV. JOHN JOHNSON

  Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I have the privilege of welcoming our guest 
Chaplain, the Reverend John Johnson. We are indeed fortunate to have 
Reverend Johnson with us today. He is a true Renaissance man and public 
servant. He brings to us his vast experience, not only in the ministry, 
but also in academia, business, law, and volunteerism.
  Reverend Johnson has a master's degree in physics. He studied as a 
Churchill Scholar at Cambridge University in England. He has a Juris 
Doctor degree from the University of Chicago. And he has had a 
successful business career, creating a leading technology company.
  Not content to stop there, Reverend Johnson earned his Master's of 
Divinity degree in 1997 and now is ordained as a minister in the 
Presbyterian Church. Reverend Johnson currently serves as interim 
minister at the First Presbyterian Church in Merrillville, Indiana.
  Amidst these multiple careers he even found time to run for the U.S. 
House of Representatives in 1990 from Indiana's Fifth District and for 
the Indiana Republican gubernatorial nomination in 1992.
  Reverend Johnson has remained active in the academic community, and 
he has generously volunteered his time to many organizations including 
the United Way Campaign, the YMCA, the Indiana Corporation for Science 
and Technology, and the Public Broadcasting System.
  He is a dear personal friend. It is a privilege to thank him for 
joining us and for his inspiring words of prayer for us this morning.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I join the Senator from Indiana in welcoming 
to the Senate the Reverend Mr. Johnson. We are grateful for his 
presence and for his prayer.
  Tennyson said that more things are wrought by prayer than this world 
dreams of. And the Bible tells us that blessed is the Nation whose God 
is the Lord. Thank God for our forefathers who built this Nation on 
religious principles, who had faith in a higher power. If Providence 
had designs for this country and its people, may we never get away from 
the offering of prayer in the opening of the two bodies of the 
legislative branch of government.
  There are those in this country who would have us do away with that. 
May there always be men and women in this body and the other body who 
will stand for prayer, stand up for the Creator.
  I haven't seen Him, nor have I seen electricity. But I dare not put 
my finger in an open socket because I know it is there.
  I thank the Senator for having his minister in our midst this 
morning. May God add his blessings to the word that has been spoken for 
us.

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