A new town. The birth of a daughter. A workplace that closed. The death of a beloved wife. A church destroyed by fire. Through decades of change, two things have remained the same for William Johnson: his love for the Lord and his place at the organ bench.
This year marks another milestone for Johnson. For 50 years has served as the organist at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Opelika, Alabama.
“I feel at home there,” Johnson said of his church. “It’s more than a job. It’s like a family with all the connections and good friends we’ve made. I’d never want to leave.”
Some of those connections are indeed like family. Trinity’s pastor, Opelika native Chris Duncan, married Johnson’s daughter, Kelli, in 2000. That same year Duncan began a two-year pastoral internship at Trinity, and he has served the church ever since.
Johnson began piano lessons in third grade while growing up in a Baptist church and added organ lessons in high school. He attended Howard College, now Samford University, beginning as a music major concentrating on piano, then organ, then switching to accounting and business. He continued to play the organ on Sundays throughout college.
After college he played the organ part-time at several Baptist churches in Birmingham and then later at other churches in Opelika. In 1976, Johnson noticed a Help Wanted ad in the Opelika newspaper for a church organist. His daughter Kelli was six weeks old when the Johnson family joined Trinity Presbyterian and he became the church’s full-time organist.
Johnson’s music ministry has outlasted even his day job: He worked for an Opelika company for over 30 years as office manager and controller; he retired from the plant at age 59 when the company closed.
For many years Trinity’s music ministry was a family affair. Johnson’s wife, Judy, sang in Trinity’s choir for years and eventually became the choir director. She passed away in 2002.
Since 1974 when Trinity became affiliated with the PCA and moved to its current location, organ music has always played an integral role in Trinity’s worship services.
“Most folks that visit our church say they love the traditional worship,” shared Duncan. “It’s such a rare instrument to hear in church these days — it’s become a novelty in a sea of contemporary worship. I’m grateful that William has stayed to play for us.”
Johnson said the organ “grounds the service. It gives the service a backbone.” He plays an introduction for each hymn and then everyone begins to sing, hymnals in hand. There’s no formal worship director; an associate pastor announces the hymn, and the congregation sings every verse. Johnson’s favorite hymns to play are “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” “To God Be the Glory,” and “Holy, Holy, Holy” – all grand church anthems that display the organ’s full range of majestic notes.
Organ music is also the backbone of Trinity’s weddings, funerals, and school graduation ceremonies, which Johnson faithfully plays for each year.
“Music is such a large part of church life and theology,” Duncan said. “It’s hard to imagine Christian worship without music, and it’s hard to imagine that without William.”
A potential turning point for Trinity came in 2013 when a lightning strike started a fire that destroyed the structure. The organ was removed, but smoke had damaged the instrument beyond repair. As the church planned to rebuild, the congregation of 300 agreed that an organ was essential, Duncan said.
“Our church leadership is dedicated to traditional worship, and no one contemplated not having another organ.”
Johnson and his daughter Kelli searched online for a used instrument and found an Allen 3 Manual organ in California. After Johnson flew to the West Coast to play the potential candidate and check its quality, the church bought it on his recommendation. The organ was installed in the new church building, with architectural specifications to maximize its sound.
“In a congregation committed to reverent worship, historic liturgy, and the rich musical heritage of the church, [William’s] role has been foundational,” Duncan wrote in a tribute that was published online by The Opelika Observer to mark the half-century of Johnson’s commitment. “The organ does the heavy lifting of congregational song. It strengthens and supports the voices of the people as they sing praise to God. And William does this with remarkable skill and steadiness…. His decades of ministry have been driven by a consistent desire to offer his gifts to please the Lord. In the home, as in the church, William is the same man: steady, faithful, devoted to his family, devoted to his church, devoted to Christ.”
After 50 years behind the organ, Johnson has started to hear one question more often: Has retirement crossed his mind?
“I have thought about it,” he said, chuckling. “But as long as I can play, I will.”
He’s 81 years old and his joints remain healthy, so Johnson plans to continue playing the organ, although he has stepped down from his roles as deacon and church treasurer.
Trinity is celebrating Johnson’s decades of dedication this month in a special service, almost 50 years to the day from when he first sat at the bench. After the service, the congregation will gather outside for a catered lunch on the lawn.
This time of recognition will also feature another aspect of Johnson’s legacy: students he has taught to play the organ. One is his 22-year-old granddaughter, Georgia, a recent graduate from Auburn University. She regularly plays the piano in duets with her grandfather, and they will play together at the celebratory service in July.
The special prelude that Sunday will be played by Emory Newland, a junior at Mississippi State University who has taken lessons from Johnson since she was a freshman in high school.
“He found ways to make the lessons enjoyable and fun,” she said. “He was very patient. I made so many mistakes, but he helped me focus on one skill at a time.”
Although she is not studying music at college, Newland plays the organ weekly at Grace Presbyterian Church in Starkville, Mississippi. She said Johnson not only taught her organ technique, but helped her understand the organist’s role in corporate worship.
“He said, ‘You’re helping the congregation to worship, to lead and point them to the Lord.’” Newland loves her church in Starkville and wants to keep playing the organ there as long as she can.
She’s learned not just an instrument from her mentor, but an important spiritual lesson as well. As Duncan wrote in his tribute, “[Johnson’s] life points us to a better way. It is not flashy or loud. It is simply enduring. Fifty years of showing up. Fifty years of preparing the way for the people of God to sing. Fifty years of offering praise –– not from the spotlight, but from the organ bench.”