Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry (OCPM), the national prison ministry of the Orthodox Church, is very pleased to announce Rev. John Johnson as its new Board Member.
Fr. John serves as the priest at St. Thecla Orthodox Church, a parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) in Kensington, Maryland. With the blessing of Bishop LUKE (Murianka) of Syracuse and Holy Trinity Monastery, Fr. John also supports the Jamaican Orthodox Mission, having made his first visit there in early 2020.
Fr. John was ordained by Metropolitan Laurus to the diaconate in 2005, and to the priesthood in 2007. Born in New Jersey but settling in El Paso, Texas for most of his childhood, Father John was raised Baptist and discovered Orthodoxy while preparing to enter the Roman Catholic Church in 1992. He entered the Orthodox Church via the Antiochian Archdiocese in 1994. He and his wife Michaela have lived in the DC area since 1994, and in Silver Spring since 2002. He is the father of five, and has three teenagers still at home.
Fr. John holds a BA in Management Studies and a MS in Data Analytics. OCPM is very excited to partner with Fr. John, whose thirty years of experience in the technology, data analysis, program management, and financial consulting sectors will be hugely beneficial to our organization.