Lynsi Johnson was born and raised in Abilene Texas where she resides with her husband, Chandler, and their newborn son, Cobe. Lynsi’s husband is active duty in the Air Force and they will be getting stationed in Utah in November of 2020.
Lynsi graduated from Hardin-Simmons University with a Masters in Clinical Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy and a Masters in Family Ministry. Lynsi was raised in the church and discerned her call to serving God’s people about 5 years ago after the death of her mother. It was through her grief experience that God developed in her a passion for serving others and gave her a calling to love all people through empathy, service, building meaningful relationships, and being a voice for the marginalized.
When Lynsi first discerned her call, God spoke to her through the book “Same Kind of Different as Me” where He led her to serve the homeless community in Abilene Texas. There she built relationships with homeless men and women and learned how to practically live out Matthew 25:40. After a year of serving the homeless community, God presented Lynsi with an opportunity to be a prayer counselor at Fields of Faith where she worked with adolescents who were hearing the message of Jesus for the first time. Lynsi saw the need for serving youth in her local church and through prayerful discernment, God opened the door for Lynsi to be a Sunday school teacher for high school girls at a local Baptist church in Abilene. Lynsi taught for two years before becoming a Hospice chaplain. Lynsi served hospice patients and families for two years where God helped heal her from her own grief and used her to help other grieving individuals find peace and healing.
Along with serving the homeless, youth, and hospice chaplaincy, Lynsi’s family therapy/family ministry training gave her experience working in a counseling/ministerial context with multicultural clients. It was during this time she learned the value of building meaningful relationships with her brothers and sisters from different parts of the world as it is a part of our calling as Christians to show love and hospitality to strangers. Lynsi has always had a passion for serving international students but was waiting for a call from God before acting upon her passion. Due to COVID and getting stationed in a new state, Lynsi had to resign from Hospice. Through prayer and self reflection God led Lynsi to IFI to serve international students and staff. She is so excited and extremely thankful for the opportunity to be a part of a loving Christian community whose primary purpose and goal is to serve international students and support the staff who dedicate themselves to this goal.
Lynsi hopes to use her gifts and calling to fulfill her role of mobilizing a team of partners to be involved in IFI’s mission. This mission is accomplished through prayers and generosity in order to ensure that all support needs are raised so that the staff members at IFI can be released into their roles. If you want to know more about her role or how you can offer support, you can contact Lynsi at .