About Verie Johnson

Her Story

Born Muslim. Raised Across Nations. Found by Jesus.

Verie Johnson is a woman whose life is a living testimony of God's faithfulness across continents, cultures, and circumstances. She was not born and raised in one place — she was blessed to grow up across different countries, shaped by the richness of Southern Africa, Eastern Africa, Europe, and America. She is African at her core — not defined by one nation, but carrying the heartbeat of a continent in everything she does.

Two Worlds, One Soul

Verie was born into a family where two powerful spiritual streams flowed side by side. Her mother's side practiced Islam, and she grew up observing its disciplines, prayers, and way of life — sincere in her devotion, faithful in her practice. But on her father's side ran something ancient and sacred: the Herero traditional culture of the Holy Fire.

Her father was a Leader of the Herero Clan — a keeper and guardian of what the Herero people call the Okuruo, or the Holy Fire (also known as the Muriro). In Herero tradition, the Holy Fire is not merely a flame — it is the living, sacred connection between the family and their ancestors. This fire burns at the center of the homestead and must never be allowed to go out. Through the Holy Fire, the clan chief communicates with the ancestors, who in turn stand before God — known to the Herero as Ndjambi Karunga — on behalf of the living. The keeper of the fire is a position of deep spiritual authority, responsibility, and honor within the community. It is a role passed down through generations, a sacred trust that carries the weight of an entire clan's spiritual wellbeing.

Growing up, Verie carried the weight of two worlds — the structured devotion of Islam and the ancestral reverence of the Herero Holy Fire. She honored both. She understood both. Then, at a very tender age, she entered into marriage with her first husband — an Arab man — and in that marriage, her devotion to Islam deepened and intensified. For 18 years, she lived fully committed to the Islamic faith, sincere in her prayers, devoted in her practice, and faithful in her walk. She was not a nominal Muslim — she was a devoted one. But deep within her, there was a hunger that neither Islam nor tradition could fully satisfy — a longing for something real, something personal, something that would not just connect her to God through ritual or ancestry, but would transform her from the inside out and give her a living, breathing relationship with the Creator.

The Encounter That Changed Everything

That encounter came through Jesus Christ — and it was nothing short of life-shattering.

After 18 years of sincere, devoted commitment to Islam — through marriage, through practice, through prayer — it was not a slow drift from one religion to another. It was not a decision made out of convenience or social pressure. And it did not happen in a church. It did not happen on the streets or at a crusade. It happened in her own house — in the quiet, ordinary space of her own home — just as God appeared to Moses at the burning bush, just as He spoke to Samuel in his room, just as He visited Mary in her dwelling. God did not wait for Verie to find Him in a building. He came to her. It was a personal, undeniable, sovereign encounter with the living God. In a moment she could not have manufactured or imagined, the presence of Jesus broke into her life with such power, such love, and such overwhelming reality that she knew — beyond any shadow of doubt — that she had just met the One her soul had always been searching for. The One that the Holy Fire had always been pointing toward without knowing His name. The One that 18 years of faithful Islamic practice had never been able to fully reveal.

That encounter did not just change her religion. It changed her identity. It changed her purpose. It changed the trajectory of her entire life. She stepped out of everything she had known and stepped into a walk with God that has only grown deeper, wider, and more consuming with every passing year. She has never looked back. She has never had a reason to.

Today, Verie does not just preach about God — she walks with Him. She does not just teach about His presence — she lives in it. Her ministry is not built on programs and platforms; it is built on the altar of a life fully surrendered to the One who first found her when she was not even looking for Him.

Professional Background

Verie's professional journey is one of the most remarkable stories of a life fully given to building communities, empowering people, and serving with excellence across multiple nations and decades. With over 30 years of project management and community development experience across Southern Africa, Eastern Africa, Europe, and America — her career is a testimony in itself.

She began as the Founder and Director of TUAP (South Africa) — a community development organization she built from the ground up, proving from the very start that she was not just a follower of vision but a carrier of it. Her impact was so significant that she was honored with the prestigious Community Builder of the Year Award in 2004 in South Africa — a recognition that confirmed what those around her already knew: this woman builds things that last.

She went on to serve as Regional Manager at Catholic AIDS Action in Namibia, leading community-based HIV/AIDS response programs across entire regions — working with the most vulnerable populations, building systems, managing teams, and delivering measurable impact on the ground. She then served as Senior Capacity Building Officer, placed by the European Union at NANGOF (Namibia NGO Forum), where she provided strategic capacity-building support to dozens of civil society organizations across Namibia, strengthening the entire non-profit sector. She also served as Capacity Building Officer for the Lutheran Church in Angola, extending her reach across borders and bringing her expertise to yet another nation in need.

Beyond the non-profit world, Verie also served as a Travel Agent and ARM (Account Relationship Manager) at American Express (AMEX) — demonstrating her versatility, professionalism, and ability to excel in corporate environments as much as community ones.

This background is not just a résumé — it is the foundation of her credibility. When Verie speaks about community development, capacity building, or organizational leadership, she is not speaking from theory. She has lived it, managed it, and delivered it on the ground across multiple continents — and she has the award to prove it.

Ministry Journey

Verie is the Founder of Shekinah Wells Global Ministries Inc., a USA-registered ministry operating with a global mandate. With 15 years of ministry experience, she has served as a pastor, evangelist, teacher, preacher, and spiritual mother to hundreds of people. Her ministry experience spans Southern Africa, Eastern Africa, Europe, and America — and has touched hundreds of lives through preaching, teaching, prayer, discipleship, and outreach.

She is an African woman who has built her life at the intersection of multiple worlds — carrying the heart of Africa while serving in the streets of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. That identity is not a tension she manages; it is a gift she stewards. She understands poverty and prosperity, village life and city life, African community and Western individualism — and that understanding makes her ministry and consulting work uniquely powerful.

The Vision Ahead

Today, Verie is building toward the greatest assignment of her life: the Shekinah Wells Healing and Empowerment Campus in Namibia — a physical center that will serve abused women, addicted youth, broken families, and communities in need. She is also building a consulting and training practice that will fund that vision while serving churches, non-profits, and ministry leaders around the world.

She is not just a pastor. She is not just a consultant. She is a builder — and the best is yet to come.

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