Apostle Lymus Leewood Johnson was born a few years before the Great Depression, on February 22, 1922 to Edward and Rosetta Johnson of Lusby (Calvert County), Maryland. He was the youngest of eight children. At around the age of six or seven he began preaching around the house and when it became too small and confined for him he eventually took his little ministry outside.

After gathering a group of friends together he organized them into a church. He received the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues at the tender age of nine while attending a revival at a Church of God In Christ assembly.

Shortly thereafter he was allowed to preach his trial sermon at his home church St. John Methodist Church. As he grew he hungered for more of God and was deeply influenced by the radio ministry of Bishop S.C. Johnson. Over a period of time he decided to leave home and go up north to seek his fortunes.

He had an aunt, Mrs. Elam Dickerson, who lived in Asbury Park, New Jersey, so he decided to go and take a room in her home. After moving to New Jersey he began attending the church pastored by Bishop S.C. Johnson. This is where he was baptized in Jesus' name. While attending services there he met and married Ruth Robinson. It would be the Robinson family who introduced him to the man who would later become his pastor and spiritual mentor, Bishop R.C. Lawson.

It is from this point that his ministry began to take a greater form. Through much observation during his travels he noticed that many souls were being baptized, but not enough were receiving the Holy Ghost. He also noticed that some pastors didn't work with souls to receive the Holy Spirit. For this reason he decided that his would be a ministry whose main focus would be on assisting souls to come through with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues as the Sprit of God gives utterance.

As he labored in the prayer room God began to answer. Suddenly in his revivals 5,6,7 and even ten souls at a time began to be filled with the Holy Ghost. As he continued he found that he could sometimes lay hands on someone and the Holy Ghost would instantly fill the believer. He continued to fast, pray and work with souls, sometimes into the wee hours of the night, and all of a sudden he was in demand all over the country.

It was on the occasion of one of Bishop R.C. Lawson's trips to Africa that he called the young Elder Lymus Johnson and told him to run a revival at the Temple (Refuge Temple 125th Street NYC COOLJC HEADQUARTERS) until he came back. During this revival, which lasted almost a month, one hundred (100) souls were baptized in Jesus' name and seventy-five (75) were filled with the Holy Ghost.

In reference to Elder Lymus Johnson’s revivals at the temple the late Frederick Eikerenkoetter (Rev. Ike), who was a young minister in those days, said "Goodness, gracious, great balls of (Holy Ghost) fire! Was my impression of the then Evangelist Lymus Johnson, as I witnessed God use him to set fire to the hearts of saints, "aints" and sinners. In his revivals, he showed up and blazed! People were saved, blessed, delivered and baptized with the Holy Spirit. I remember those weeks of revival in New York City. They were like the solid weeks of the Day of Pentecost.”

Apostle C.L. Long (Scripture Church, Washington D.C.) states, "When it comes to pure evangelism, I would have to rate him as one of the greatest evangelist ever. Apostle Lymus Johnson would run revivals and fill the place up and then come back and add to it. When you see 25, 30 and 40 people being filled with the Holy Ghost at the same time it has a profound effect on you."

Mother Opal Wills of NY says, "He is a man that has a heart for souls. He could reach souls where others could not. I have a brother who no one could reach, but after Bishop finished preaching, to our entire family's amazement, my brother was completely broken and came to the altar repenting of his sins ready to be saved.

Sometimes people were frightened by the forceful way he would preach and thought that he was speaking directly to them and would repent and get baptized in Jesus' name. That infamous scream was truly for sinners, for upon hearing it they were convicted of sin and ready to be saved."

Bishop R.C. Lawson promoted Elder Johnson to the office of National Evangelist. As a consequence many of the churches benefited greatly through souls being filled with the Holy Ghost as this man of God ministered in their churches causing them to grow and prosper. His ministry extended through the various Apostolic Faith organizations including, but not limited to COOLJC, PAW, UPCI, WOTC, BibleWay, Progressive COOLJC etc.

Wherever he went he left a trail of souls filled with the Holy Ghost. In many cases he didn't receive much in compensation, but nevertheless he continued to go. He is often heard telling young ministers that he ate apples for breakfast, apples for lunch and apples for dinner (baked, fried and stewed). Traveling on Amtrak, buses and taxicabs he was diligent in meeting the need of souls thirsty after the Holy Ghost experience. After the death of his beloved wife Ruth, he established the Evangelistic Churches of Christ, Inc. It is through this organization that he continued his work nationally and internationally. It can be truly said that he has a great influence in the lives of preachers holding up the Apostolic Doctrine in the church world today.