WS Chronicle

On Sunday, April 7, Love Fellowship Outreach Church and Christ Unity held a free concert and dinner for the community. One Voice of Winston-Salem headlined the event.

The event was the brainchild of Pastor James Edrington, pastor of Christ Unity, who collaborated with Apostle Tony Johnson, senior pastor of Love Fellowship, and the two put the event together. Edrington and Christ Unity will also worship under the same roof as Fellowship Outreach until they can find a building of their own.

The friendship between Edrington and Johnson goes back to their high school days. Both men were standout basketball players in the city and faced off against one another on the court. Years later they bumped into one another and found out both were in the ministry.

“After all these years, I bumped into him while I was working and I gave him my number and he came to visit last week, so that is how all of this came together,” said Johnson. “This is his vision he had for reaching people in the community. We were competing against one another back in the day, now we are on the same team for Jesus.

“We are just working together, doing stuff in the community now. Instead of playing against one another, we are working together, doing things for Jesus,” Johnson continued.

Edrington said the main purpose of the event is to bring souls together. He wants to make people aware the church is there to help in any way they can.

“It’s not about us, it’s about God first and we are trying to unite people together,” said Edrington. “We want to bring those that are lost, the ones that have fell off, and we are not here to put people down or point fingers, but rather bring them back to Christ.”

According to Edrington, he was aware that Johnson was in the ministry. Edrington said he “fell off” for a while, but was thankful that God put Johnson in his path once again. 

Edrington is the lead performer for One Voice. They also brought in the dance troop, The Free Flow Spiritual Flaggers, along with a solo vocalist from California.

Edrington was thankful to Johnson for allowing him to minister under the roof of Love Fellowship. 

“As I say, we are going to get this to grow even more,” he said. “I am not even worried about my church, I am just wanting to see this church expand even more. In the future, God my have something else planned, he may have me here.”

Born and raised in Love Fellowship, Johnson is a third-generation family pastor at the church. He feels it is a great honor to lead the congregation of Love Fellowship.

Johnson said his focus moving forward is to attract more of the millennial crowd into the church. He says there is a shift in the ministry that is flowing toward that crowd, as well as the traditionalists, so he does not want to leave anyone out.