Reverend Dr. Damone Johnson Provides Invocation to Members of Assembly

ALBANY, N.Y. – Reverend Dr. Damone Johnson, the Senior Pastor of the Metropolitan New Testament Mission Baptist Church of Albany, provided the invocation for the opening of session on Monday, January 12, 2015 in the Assembly Chambers. Pastor Johnson offered a blessing for the newly inducted Assemblymembers and for those returning to the legislature.

Reverend Dr. Johnson has had the honor of providing the invocation for the opening of session in previous years. Assemblymember John T. McDonald III had the privilege of introducing the Pastor and welcoming him to the Chambers as the church is located within the 108th Assembly District and is an integral part of the Albany community.

Dr. Johnson has been delivering the preached word for more than seventeen years and remains devoted to his ministry, growth, and outreach. Since he began his pastoral ministry with the Metropolitan New Testament Mission Baptist Church in 2003, the church body has increased to more than 1,200 members. Dr. Johnson has a special heart for young people and encourages them to reach for higher standards and expectations. This is shown through his school readings, utilization of area colleges to make presentations to students and faculty, and as a former board member to the Capital Region YMCA.

Dr. Johnson received his Bachelors of Arts Degree in religion and philosophy with a minor in music from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Johnson then earned a Master of Divinity Degree from Colgate-Rochester Divinity School in Rochester, New York. He was the recipient of the distinguished Dr. H. Beecher Hicks Jr. preaching award, demonstrating strong promise in preaching and a pastoral ministry. Dr. Johnson was conferred the Doctor of Ministry degree with a concentration in Pastoral Preaching from the Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana, and then received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the St. Thomas Christian College of Jacksonville, Florida and is a member of the Beta Pi Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, incorporated.