Columbus doctor gives up medicine to better serve God

Dr. Gloria Johnson-Rodgers says God directed her to leave her medical practice.

“God said, ‘you love medicine more than me,’” she said. “I had done ministry work for years, but that was not enough. He wanted all of me. The Lord wanted me to give up what I had for him and build his house.

“I took the stethoscope off my neck,” she added.

That was in 1993.

“I loved my patients and medicine,” said Johnson-Rodgers, an internist, who worked at what is now Midtown Medical Center before opening the Rodgers Medical Clinic. “My fellow doctors thought I was crazy about leaving, but I have never regretted the decision. This is what I was meant to do.”

She and her husband, Charles Rodgers, lead the Cathedral of Prayer Church of God in Christ on Buena Vista Road in Columbus. It is home to the Gwendolyn Wilkes Rainbow Center, a nonprofit organization that serves low-income families.

Besides clothes and food, the center provides an adult day care center, after-school program, GED training and general counseling. Scholarships are awarded to help students further their education.

The center is also home to the annual Marine Toys for Tots Foundation program, which helps give children a merry Christmas. The program, supported by Toys R Us, is accepting toy donations through Dec. 21, and families may apply for toys from Oct. 15-Nov. 18 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m on weekdays.

Johnson-Rodgers said she saw many miracles during her time as a physician, cures that could not be explained in medical textbooks. She says they convinced her that she was doing the right thing and prepared her for a new role.

The woman, who received her evangelist license more than 35 years ago, spends her days visiting and praying for those in hospitals, nursing homes and jail.

Through the years, Johnson-Rodgers has made numerous trips to Nigeria and Haiti for humanitarian purposes. She set up feeding stations in Nigeria that have fed thousands. She brings medical supplies and toiletries to the people. She has helped build orphanages and schools.

“There is a village mentality, but what do you do when nobody has anything? How can anyone help?” she asked.

Johnson-Rodgers knows what it is like to be poor.

She grew up in Shaw, Miss. “I lived in a shotgun house with no running water,” she said. “Like the people I see in Africa, we would boil water outdoors and then come inside to take a bath. We grew many of the vegetables we ate.”

To help her family, she chopped cotton in the fields until she was a senior in high school.

“It was hard work,” she said.

Despite that, as a child she still found time to help neighbors with cleaning and other chores.

As a young child, she saw a man die because of what she says was inadequate medical care. That experience inspired her to be a doctor.

She got an undergraduate degree in chemistry/biology from Tougaloo College, a master’s degree in radiation biology from the University of Iowa and her degree in osteopathic medicine from the University of Osteopathic Medicine in Des Moines, Iowa. She also did research at Harvard and Brown universities.

She has taught biology at Des Moines Area Community College and worked as a hydrologic technician for the U.S. Geological Survey.

She has received many honors for her work, including a National Caring Institute Award and the National Points of Light Award. She was given the Sojourner Truth Award from the Negro Business and Professional Women’s Club in Washington.

“It is great to be honored, but it is not why I do what I do,” said the mother of four grown children.

She describes the work she does here and abroad as “gratifying.”

Johnson-Rodgers has written two books, “Author of Offense” in 2003 and “Spirits” in 2009, and the profits go to her humanitarian efforts.

In “Spirits,” she talks about supernatural forces, both good and bad, and how they operate. She describes her own encounters with spirits. In one instance, one appeared above her while she was in bed and said, “Know that I see all, know that I am always here, and know that I will always be here for you.”

In her book, she tells readers, “It is my hope that you come to understand how to guard your mind and the importance of doing so, for it is the gateway to receiving evil spirits and angelic help, and physical as well as spiritual healing and deliverance.”

Johnson-Rodgers said she knows some still think leaving the medical profession was a strange move. She cherishes a note she received a former medical colleague who thought that way but after seeing what she was accomplishing wrote her the message, “Stay where you are.”

This story was originally published October 14, 2016 at 9:41 PM with the headline "Columbus doctor gives up medicine to better serve God."