IAM579- Founder Empowers The Youth and Young Adults

David E. Johnson, Jr., MDIV, MBA, is a licensed minister and founder of Kingdom Promises Ministries, LLC. Through Kingdom Promises Ministries, David empowers youth and young adults by hosting coming-of-age workshops that provide foundational and values-based knowledge about lessons for coming of age. He holds a bachelor’s degree and two master’s degrees from Howard University in Washington, DC, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He completed a life-changing clinical pastoral education (CPE) program and is certified through the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy with one unit of CPE. David is a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

• CEO Hack: Having a connection between where I'm heading and the people I'm serving
• CEO Nugget: Don't be afraid to get started and to make mistakes
• CEO Defined: Being a role model and resource to people who want to contribute in the same way

Website: http://www.kingdompromisesllc.com/

FB: https://web.facebook.com/profile.php?id=773588012&_rdc=1&_rdr
IG: https://www.instagram.com/davidejohnsonjr/
Twitter: @davidejohnsonjr

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Transcription:

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have David E. Johnson, Jr. of Kingdom Promises Ministries. David, it's awesome to have you on the show.

David E. Johnson, Jr. 0:41

I'm so glad to be here. Thank you so much.

Gresham Harkless 0:43

No problem. Definitely, the pleasure is all ours and what I wanted to do just before we got started was read a little bit more about David so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. David is a licensed minister and founder of Kingdom Promises Ministries, LLC. Through Kingdom Promises Ministries, David empowers youth and young adults by hosting coming-of-age workshops that provide foundational and values-based knowledge about lessons for coming of age. He holds a bachelor’s degree and two master’s degrees from Howard University in Washington, DC, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

He completed a life-changing clinical pastoral education (CPE) program and is certified through the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy with one unit of CPE. David is a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. David, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

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David E. Johnson, Jr. 1:34

I'm ready.

Gresham Harkless 1:35

Awesome. Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I just wanted to hear a little bit more about your background, what led you to get started with your business, and all the awesome things you're working on.

David E. Johnson, Jr. 1:43

So Kingdom Promises Ministries was birthed in 2014, really, but it really didn't come to fruition until late 2018 and that just shows that it takes a little bit to put the vision together, once you get that download about it. So it was inspired, just knowing that going up in the church, there seems to be a need to have more resources and more talks, and more transparency about coming of age, so that you young adults are prepared for adulthood. I really didn't think that it would be something that I would turn into a business or something that I would turn into my life's work. But it was something that stuck with me, and I believed in it and it's come to pass so far. So it took a while to get here. I still have pitch marks that I want to achieve. But I'm here right now.

Gresham Harkless 2:43

Yeah, absolutely and that's all you can definitely be appreciative of, and I appreciate you kind of touching on how it started out as a vision, how it started out in 2014, and how it has evolved like that. Because I think so many times we see people's finishes finish lines, we don't see the process that it takes for them to get there. It's all for everybody.

David E. Johnson, Jr. 3:03

For everyone.

Gresham Harkless 3:04

Absolutely. So can you take us through a little bit more about your business, tell us a little bit more about what you're doing, how you're serving the community, and all the awesome things you're doing?

David E. Johnson, Jr. 3:12

Absolutely. So what do I do, I facilitate the lessons for coming of age, I've created some lesson plans and I facilitate those to youth and young adults in a ministry setting or an after-school setting. Most recently, I presented to a bunch of young people who were college-age about self-esteem. I have lessons that cover the breadth of what a young person would need to know as they go out into adulthood, or as they are entering that early adulthood stage. So it's a passion that I have to really be able to share from my experiences, but then put together the lesson plans for them, where we have fun activities that can give them that experiential learning that they need to be able to remember what we talked about.

So basically, I facilitate lesson plans and I can also consult as relates to a person or a group of people that want to create some content for the young people that can do that as well. But mainly facilitating lesson plans. So I go out and I teach.

Gresham Harkless 4:24

Nice. I definitely appreciate that and I feel like in in this day and age, sometimes we forget how many different I don't know stimuli or distractions or things we have on the path that we're trying to go so I appreciate you for doing those lessons planned for going out speaking with the youth, especially because it definitely I don't want to put words in your mouth. It sounds like that time, that coming of age, as you kind of talked about is a pivotal time and if you will not to say of course if you go one way you can go back the other way, but it seems like it's very, very important and creates that foundation for who people will be.

David E. Johnson, Jr. 5:00

Yeah, just try to answer some questions that young people may or may not voice or vocalize just knowing that, I still have a hand in the demographic, wanted to make sure that I can share my knowledge and my experiences, but then also just be there as a resource and mentor, really somebody has any questions because this is a real-life that I talk about with these lessons and, and you'll be surprised to know how many questions do come up with these lessons and I just want to be a voice and a resource for the young people.

Gresham Harkless 5:39

Yeah, absolutely. I've learned, I've worked with kids in the past and children in the past, but I've learned a lot of times, just that's not the only thing, but obviously, you being there, and you being there like, you're showing an interest and a lot of different ways, even though they may not always show it, a lot of times you are making an impact and that's what we got to kind of have to remember is it to make sure that we are present, we are there because a lot of times those questions might come up. Yeah, absolutely. So I wanted to ask you for what I call now your secret sauce, and it could be for your business or for yourself, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

David E. Johnson, Jr. 6:15

Well, I do continue education for myself. So the content that I talk about is sensitive. I said, I talk about self-esteem but I also talk about STIs and barrier methods. I do get involved with those types of subjects and those types of conversations. So it's important that I have continued education for myself so that it's not just based off of solely what I think somebody needs to hear. So you know, I've gone to the University of Michigan, and I've completed a certificate program with their sexuality educator, track. I need to continue education and I think that's a little bit of my secret sauce in it. I made sure that I got the professional development that I needed. I continue that as I develop these lessons so that they can be relevant, and so that it can be really useful in this day and age.

Gresham Harkless 7:22

Yeah, absolutely. I know that it's the kind of iron that sharpens iron. A lot of times you have to make sure your iron is sharp as well if you're trying to sharpen somebody else. You have to do that, that self-development, that understanding doing the knowledge, because of course, technology and things are changing, but I think we as people change, we're learning a lot more about who we are and things that we can and cannot do and having that dial in on always learning more can't help will make you better to be able to serve others.

David E. Johnson, Jr. 7:54

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 7:56

Yeah, that makes so much sense. So, I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So that could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

David E. Johnson, Jr. 8:11

Well, um, I guess for me, it kind of goes to the thought that you don't want to be the smartest person in the room, I make sure that I surround myself with people that have very similar life experiences from me. I made sure that I tried to talk to as many young people as I could, knowing that that's who I want to serve, just to make sure that I was speaking, and I was really able to build rapport with them. But then I also made sure that I have mentors in my life, too, who can help me as I go forward, just with the business aspect.

But then, as I mentioned before the professional development and so just making sure that that I have that connection vertically horizontally, with those behind me and those that have come before me, making sure that that is a 360 relationship with me so that I don't go in there with my blind spots but I made sure that I've talked to the people that I want to serve within, I make sure that there are mentors that can help guide me as I want to move forward with what I do.

Gresham Harkless 9:17

Yeah, and it's huge. I mean, success is definitely a team sport. I think that we don't look at it from all those different aspects as you said, vertically horizontally, 360 degrees everywhere, where you're making sure where you want to be or people you can call from, whether it be from a business aspect, from personal aspect we can have mentors in so many different ways. But also making sure to also help out the youth and people that you're actually talking to that you create everything for as well too, because sometimes we can kind of forget why and who we are serving and things like that.

David E. Johnson, Jr. 9:48

Right. I want to make sure I always have that connection and remember the way in which I'm serving absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 9:53

Yeah, and it makes so much sense I think so many times that we forget that aspects actually from and we're gonna go into like a market research standpoint, but I think it from a very practical level, just going out and talking with the people that you're serving and figure out how you can make building those connections is something. We sometimes forget when we're doing our accounting or whatever, and all those things that we can kind of get lost and all those things.

David E. Johnson, Jr. 10:16

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 10:17

Yeah, that makes sense. So, now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. So that could be like a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Or if you could happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger self?

David E. Johnson, Jr. 10:31

Don't be afraid to get started. And don't be afraid to make mistakes. Because the mistakes will happen, and the mistakes will come. But if you don't ever get started, then you're just delaying the time that that you will discover what you need to fix or the the things that work because there are going to be some things that work as well but don't be afraid to get started because somebody is really depending on you and what you have to offer.

Gresham Harkless 11:00

Yeah, I mean, it definitely speaks to us having our unique gifts and, and bringing those forward. I think that sometimes I say we're kind of being selfish if we're not doing that, even though we have a fear, even though we have maybe the frustration or reason why not to do it. When we're not kind of having that mentality. A lot of times we are depressed or robbing the world of the gifts that we have.

David E. Johnson, Jr. 11:22

Right. Absolutely. I wholeheartedly agree with that.

Gresham Harkless 11:26

Yeah and then I think, too, that you as you touched on, like the idea of success, like a lot of times we think it's a straight linear path. But it's definitely like that Instagram posts, where it's a squiggly line, and it goes up and down and all around. I think that if we don't get started, we never get started in that process and understand that success is not something we go to directly. It's something that we learn to do on a path.

David E. Johnson, Jr. 11:49

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 11:50

Yeah. Awesome. So now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, what's the definition of what it means to be a CEO, we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on the show. So David, what does being a CEO mean to you?

David E. Johnson, Jr. 12:03

Well, being a CEO, to me, means that I can give back. I can really impact people's lives and I can give opportunities to others as well. I believe that the CEO has vision and so that's definitely something that I come with. I believe that being a CEO means that I can be a philanthropist or budding philanthropist, giving back and making a difference. Then also just being that role model, really being a CEO as being a role model for somebody that wants to do what I'm doing. I'm just being a resource for that young person, or maybe even that older person that wants to contribute in the same way.

Gresham Harkless 12:46

Yeah, you're absolutely right. I'm glad to show both sides because I think so many times we don't realize, who we're influencing and who was impacted by the work that we're doing. But as we kind of talked about before, if you are giving your gifts to the world and doing it in the way that you should be. I think that a lot of times we have that domino impact that we don't even realize that we are serving so many more people than sometimes we even see.

David E. Johnson, Jr. 13:08

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 13:10

Awesome. Well, David, thank you so very much for your time and all the awesome things you're doing. What I wanted to do was pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and listeners know and of course, I guess they can get a hold view and find out about all the awesome things we're working on.

David E. Johnson, Jr. 13:24

Absolutely. Well, thank you for the interview. I really appreciate that I'm able to tell more about Kingdom Promises Ministries, and I definitely want everyone to view my website kingdompromisesministries.com or kingdompromisesllc.com and also my social media at David E. Johnson, Jr. on all platforms. I would love to connect with you.

Gresham Harkless 13:50

Awesome and you serve the Washington DC area correct?

David E. Johnson, Jr. 13:55

I serve all areas.

Gresham Harkless 13:56

All areas. Okay perfect. So, anybody that's looking for help in any support, you can definitely reach out to David, we will have the link of information in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you but definitely appreciate it.

David E. Johnson, Jr. 14:07

Thank you.

Gresham Harkless 14:08

You're welcome and have a great rest of the day.

Outro 14:10

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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