THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 4, 1994 TAG: 9407040061
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
When the Rev. George M. Johnson Sr. wanted to pay for remodeling his church, he called a Broadway actor, a member of the Alvin Ailey Dance Ensemble, an artist, a former Miss Black Ohio and an accomplished musician.
And he called it a family reunion.
On Sunday, the performers, all Isle of Wight County natives and graduates of Smithfield High School and various universities, called it a spiritual extravaganza. And once again, the Johnson children sang and danced for their supper.
The reunion, the first time all five children have been home together in 17 years, brought 200 people to Lakeland High School. And it brought back memories.
From the time they could toddle, each of the children joined the family's gospel singing group. In the mid-1970s, they made several recordings.
On Sundays, winter and summer, they toured churches up and down the East Coast, from Florida to New York. Sometimes, they hit as many as four churches a day.
``It started at 9 in the morning and didn't usually end until 10 o'clock that night,'' said McKinley Johnson, an actor with Chicago's Goodman Theater.
``We thought it was the way everybody spent their Sundays,'' said artist and homemaker Sebrina Vernon, the eldest of the Johnson children.
Their father, recalled eldest son Ronald, always had big family cars. He was a Ford man, so it was usually a Galaxie or an LTD.
``And on the way home, we'd all be piled on top of each other in the back seat, sleeping,'' said Nancy, who teaches at-risk high school students at Greensville County High School in Emporia.
When the children were growing up, George Johnson had his own business, and on weekends, he was a traveling evangelist. Because he and his wife, Jean, a minister of music, had nowhere to leave the children, they took them along. And the children became part of the ministry.
Sometimes, Sebrina recalled, the family didn't even get traveling expenses.
``Daddy would get a plaque, and we'd get a cake,'' she said, laughing with her sister and brothers.
McKinley recalled that their mother had outfits made for them, miniature choir robes or ``crushed velvet, bell-bottom pants.'' The girls wore matching dresses.
But none of them, Ronald said, ever questioned what they were doing.
``We had no choice but to like it,'' he said. ``Our parents were strict disciplinarians. All they had to do was look at us.''
Today, their father is minister at Macedonia A.M.E. Church in Suffolk. His wife is minister of music.
When the church needed work, the Rev. Johnson said, he could think of no better way to help pay for it than to bring his talented children together again.
The church purchased land, remodeled and enlarged the sanctuary, to the tune of $200,000. All proceeds from the Johnsons' gospel and variety show went to the church's building fund.
Torens, at 24 the youngest, is a graduate of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. As a member of the ensemble, he has toured the United States, Europe and the Caribbean. He currently has his eye on Broadway and soon will be auditioning for Ailey's first company, the same group that performed for President Clinton's inauguration.
Ronald, 36, is head of the music department for the 2,700-student Governor's School in Prince George's County, Md. He and his wife, a teacher, have two children. The youngest, 5, already has two years of violin training and was part of the show Sunday.
McKinley, 34, just finished touring with one Broadway show and recently won the New York City Pilgrim Project grant to produce a play he wrote about the Fisk University Jubilee Singers, a group of young black singers that traveled just after the Civil War and raised money to build the university.
Nancy, 30, is a former Miss Black Ohio. She studied law and currently is acting and teaching high school.
Sebrina, 39, is known within the family as ``the wife and mother,'' but she's an artist, sings in her church choir and counsels at church.
The Rev. Johnson, now a full-time minister, said he thought that the show would be a good way to get his children together again and to raise money for his building fund.
``I've spent a lot of money on these children,'' he said, chuckling. ``It's payback time.''
With just two days to rehearse and pull their acts together, the Johnsons showcased their talents both individually and collectively. They did it, they said, for Mama and Daddy and for old-times' sake. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT, Staff
Torens Johnson, a member of the Alvin Ailey Dance Ensemble and the
youngest Johnson child, performs in his family's show Sunday.
Photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT, Staff
The Johnson family sings Sunday at Lakeland High School in Suffolk.
The five put on a gospel and variety show to raise money for their
father's church building fund.
by CNB