Urgent Prayer Request

Dear Farm Family,

I want to begin by saying a big “THANK YOU” to each one of you for supporting our farm and family. Obviously, we couldn’t continue doing what we do without that support. Our hope and trust is that it is a win/win where you are also being blessed by the “fruits of our labor.”

As we go into this weekend, we just want to ask you for another kind of support. Pam sent out something a few weeks ago about our involvement with Don Johnson, a prisoner on death row. I know it’s easy to overlook things when we are all overwhelmed with the volume of information that bombards us every day, but we just plead with you to read this.I will try to keep it short:

Over the past 15 years, Don Johnson has become like family to us — in fact, he’s “Uncle Don” to our children. We are totally convinced that he is a completely changed man from the man who committed a horrible crime in 1984. He has been transformed by the love of God and the forgiveness and redemption that he has experienced in Christ.

Next Thursday, May 16, at 7:00 pm he is scheduled to die. We are pleading with Governor Lee for mercy. Justice demands death, but mercy offers forgiveness and pardon. Let’s face it, according to the Biblical standard, we ALL deserve the death penalty! But, God lavished mercy on us, and so we are asking the Governor to extend that mercy to Don. I don’t think it is exaggerating to say that Don’s influence on death row has transformed that place into the safest and most behaved unit in the whole TN correctional system. He lives for one purpose, and that is to bless others. If he dies, his light is snuffed out and the world becomes a darker place - especially in the prison. Thirty-five of the 57 men on death row have also pleaded for his life. His death will be devastating on many fronts, including his step-daughter who has found the healing of forgiveness and has pled for his life.

As you can imagine, this has taken a lot of time and emotional energy from us as we grapple with his upcoming execution and plead for his life. How can you support us in this? First of all, we appreciate your prayers for God’s will. Secondly, we ask you to go to https://faithforgivenessredemption.com and sign a letter to send to the Governor asking for mercy (there is also a lot of other information there — with links to press stories, etc. There is quite a bit of press on his case, so you can also google “Don Johnson Clemency”. For an article on our involvement with Don, you can go to https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/crime/2019/05/06/tennessee-execution-donnie-johnson-family-visits/3541618002 Thirdly, you can join us tomorrow, May 11, at 3:00 pm in Legislative Plaza (next to the capitol building) for a prayer session for Don and the Governor, etc. If you come, please find us and give us a hug. Finally, you can share this information with all your friends and family. This is a spiritual battle between life and death, forgiveness and revenge, love and hate. We need fellow soldiers to fight with us!

Thank you for you time, your care, and your continued support. We love you!

John Dysinger — for the whole family.