There are “Aha” moments in a person’s life when they know the path they should take. Those times of clarity can come at any season in life, but for OCS alumna Lexi Johnston, Class of 2021, her moment came early.

“My mission trip in high school was the moment that the Lord broke my heart for the country of Uganda.  I knew that I would find myself intertwined there – however God wanted to move – though at the time I would never have imagined how,” she shared. “I knew from the age of 11 that I wanted to pursue global missions, but it was after I came home from Uganda that I specifically felt this was the country where God had for me to serve.”

Fast forward to May 2025 when Johnston will graduate with a nursing degree from Belmont University, take her boards, and then begin her work as the director of The Selah Clinic and Community Center in Uganda. The clinic will have a partial focus on labor and delivery/neonatal services as well as nutritional therapy. The majority of Johnston’s clinical focus in nursing school has been women’s health, with a final preceptorship in the mother/baby unit.

Her passion for mission work began in sixth grade at Oaks Christian School when she met missionaries Esther and Camile Ntoto, founders of Africa New Day. Along with classmate Addie Smithers, Johnston made clay Bible necklaces for children in the Congo. With her parents, she started Global Friends for Change, a non-profit, which sold the necklaces. She and Smithers raised enough funds to send six children to Generation Hope, an Africa New Day school.

She continued her interest in all things missionary and in high school started going on service trips. Also instrumental during her OCS days were her teachers and the opportunities the school provided for spiritual formation.

“Allie Davis will forever be the first and most impactful mentor that I can think of when I recall those who poured into me during high school. I could not possibly recount all of the many times I found myself in heartache and in joy in her classroom, on buses to Wildwood Discipleship Camp at Hume Lake, reaching out to her for advice or prayer,” Johnston recalled.

After high school, Johnston knew that she needed more than just wishful thinking to pursue her passion. She chose nursing as her career path as it would enable her to develop practical skills that paired with her lifelong desire to help and minister to others.

“I wanted to do so in a practical and sustainable way, and it was shortly after that I chose the path of nursing in order to do so,” she said.

Johnston had no idea when she started nursing, that she would one day head a clinic. In fact, as is often the case when one pursues dreams and goals, she had moments of doubt and discouragement. She wondered if she really was called to mission work, and if Uganda was even an option. She was on the verge of letting it go until she had what she calls “a moment of surrender.”

She knows it sounds totally crazy, but she felt the Lord gave her a vision where she saw the clinic realized. Taking this as confirmation, and with some trepidation, she reached out to Belmont University President Dr. Greg Jones for advice. He decided to meet with her.

Shortly thereafter the dominos quickly started falling in place. In addition to Belmont, she received help and support from Pepperdine University President Dr. Jim Gash. Dr. Gash put Johnston in touch with Dr. Hillary Tumwesige, the lead doctor and surgeon at Albertine Medical Healing Center in Kisiita, Uganda.

Johnston spent two weeks in the summer of 2024 at Albertine, getting to know Dr. Tumwesige, and further solidifying her call and focus to work with women and children.

“On the drive back to the Entebbe airport to return to the states, Dr. Hillary and I had a four-hour long conversation. He asked me where I desired to build Selah; I responded by saying I truly was unsure – probably in a neighboring region so that I could have his guidance and support throughout the process,” Johnston said.

Dr. Tumwesige suggested it should be built adjacent to his hospital, as the hospital sits on four acres, but only takes up a little more than 1.5 acres. So, by God’s provision that is where the clinic will be located. It will be funded both by Belmont and Pepperdine universities, as well as through the existence of “The Selah Clinic” as a non-profit organization.

While some might praise Johnston for her determination and vision at such a young age, she is quick to acknowledge Selah Clinic only exists because of God’s guidance.

“The only, and most important thing, is that Selah is a product of God’s abundant grace alone. There is not an ounce of it that I can attribute to any of my own doing,” she said.

“If I have learned anything throughout this journey, it is that the only thing I can and ever will boast in is my weaknesses and full dependence on Jesus for every single piece of this puzzle He has chosen to be His path for my life!”

Photos courtesy of Lexi Johnston, OCS Marketing Department Archives