Friday, January 17, 2025
Overseer Regina Johnson, founder and leader of Deeper Life Deliverance Fellowship, has devoted decades creating a space of hope, healing and spiritual growth for Freeport and surrounding communities.
Since founding Deeper Life, the Freeport-based Christian ministry, in 1998, Johnson as overseer – or senior pastor – has guided it from humble beginnings to a thriving congregation of nearly 200 people.
The groundbreaking ceremony in September for the church’s first dedicated sanctuary, to be built at 212 South Ocean Ave., marked a long-awaited milestone for Johnson and her congregation.
“It’s been a long time coming, but I do believe that each step of it has a plan,” the 77-year-old Johnson said. “All I can say is that God has been there every step of the way.”
For her unwavering commitment to service, compassion and leadership, the Freeport Herald is proud to name Johnson its 2024 Person of the Year.
For years, Deeper Life has worshiped in shared spaces, most recently at Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Westbury. Johnson explained that the move became necessary during the pandemic after mold issues surfaced at First Presbyterian Church of Freeport, the congregation’s previous home. While this arrangement has worked for more than a decade, building a dedicated sanctuary has been a dream for Johnson since she purchased the property in 2015.
The groundbreaking is more than a structural development — it is a testament to Johnson’s tireless dedication and the loyalty of her congregation.
“We’re not a large congregation, or not what normally you would call a large congregation, but they’ve been faithful, they’ve worked, they’ve given of the resources,” Johnson said.
Construction of the sanctuary could take up to 18 months, costing around $1.2 million, funded through donations and financing secured by the church.
“They say a year to 18 months, depending on how quickly the supplies that are needed can be delivered and gotten to us,” Johnson said. “It depends on how quickly those things are done.”
A ministry of service
Overseer Johnson’s vision for Deeper Life has always extended beyond Sunday worship. The church’s outreach ministries have provided clothing, food and school supplies to hundreds of families across Freeport, Hempstead, Uniondale and other Long Island communities.
“We’ve always done outreach,” Johnson said. “We’ve always been really active in outreach, clothing ministry, food pantry, where we service the communities with, you know, food and clothing and whatever needs that we found that the community needed.”
Valerie Montgomery, a church elder, meaning an ordained preacher, highlighted Johnson’s hands-on leadership and persistence.
“One of the things that it speaks to is her tenacity to keep going, is her drive, her love for God and her love for people,” Montgomery said. “She keeps on loving. That’s what pastors are supposed to have. She has a pastor’s heart, and she loves people who are in despair. If you are in despair, she lifts you up, she talks to you, she counsels you.”
In the last year alone, Deeper Life organized a coat drive, a school supply giveaway, a prayer breakfast, and ongoing community support programs, all in addition to maintaining the church’s ongoing food pantry.
A true calling
Johnson’s journey into ministry began in 1982, when she was licensed to preach the Gospel and a year later ordained as a Baptist preacher.
Before founding Deeper Life, she served as assistant pastor at St. John’s Baptist Church in Westbury and traveled extensively as an evangelist. Her faith and mission, however, always centered on serving the “total person” — addressing the spiritual, emotional and practical needs of individuals.
“I have a heart for people,” Johnson said. “I feel their struggles, I understand their struggles, and God has given me a heart to be able to work with these people from a position of compassion and understanding.”
Her longtime friend, Bishop Leon Corbett, 81, of Greater Works Apostolic Ministries based in Brentwood, described Johnson as “a strong woman. She knows because she prays and she asks God, and what God tells her, she stands on it, and she doesn’t vary from what God is showing her or telling her.”
Pastor Vicky Hicks, 69, a founding member of Deeper Life, recalled a vision she had before the church was formed.
“God showed me how she (Johnson) walked out of that church that we were in, and how down below there were people standing, and they were all trying to reach up and trying to pull out, and how they needed something, and they were wanting and they wanted deliverance,” Hicks said.
Faith that heals
Overseer Johnson’s ministry has often been defined by moments of profound healing, both physical and spiritual. From congregants overcoming addiction to miraculous recoveries from severe illness, the power of faith and prayer is a cornerstone of Deeper Life.
“We've got testimonies of individuals that have been incarcerated for years and (were) coming out and didn't know what to do or where to go, and Deeper Life was there for them,” Johnson said. “Those that were addicted to drugs and thought that was it, the testimony now is that through Deeper Life Fellowship and Deliverance Center Church, their lives have changed.”
A vision for the future
Looking ahead, Johnson’s vision remains as ambitious as ever. Beyond completing the new sanctuary, she dreams of developing programs to serve mothers and their children, providing housing for the homeless, and offering education and skill development initiatives. Her ultimate goal is to continue building Deeper Life into the “City of Refuge” she envisioned years ago — a place where all seeking help find it.
