Skip to content

Christian Life Church

Pastoral Staff


Pastor Rex Johnson

Senior Pastor Rex Johnson

Rex D. Johnson is Senior Pastor of Christian Life Church in Austin, Texas. Since becoming pastor in 1990, the Austin church has flourished under his ministry and grown from a small congregation of 75 members, to a church of more that 2000 members, consisting of 1100 plus families. He has been in the ministry for 36 years and is an inspirational speaker and communicator to various religious bodies and secular meetings. His trust in God, positive attitude, and upbeat personality has helped him to overcome some very difficult times.

Rex was born in Oklahoma and was raised in West Texas. He began his ministry after three years of college. Rex has served in several leadership capacities. In 1979-1982, he was the Texas State Youth President, and in 1982, he was elected to serve as National Youth President, which is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. He served in his position until 1987. He served his community as a member of "Take Back Austin" in 1995-1996, which is a conservative political coalition. Christian Life Church has received tremendous honors for their community effort in feeding the homeless and the less fortunate of their city.

He married Patti Jones of Houston, Texas, in February, 1982. They have three daughters. Rex's oldest daughter, Misty, is married to Damon McNicholas and they have two sons, Kaden and Connor. Cassidy is married to Brad Wilkinson, and Kaitlin is currently attending college in Austin. All three daughters and their families are actively involved in many and various ministries of Christian Life Church.

Pastor Johnson has also written a book, "With a Palm and a Willow." This is a story written about his own personal journey from grief to grace. To get more info or to purchase a copy, visit palmandwillowpress.com.

Russ Cripps

Russ Cripps

Russ Cripps is the Associate Pastor / Administrator of Christian Life Church. Russ has a degree in Finance, he is passionate about his family (a great wife, two fantastic daughters, and an Old English Mastiff named "Nebo") and his church. He enjoys cycling, developing relationships, and challenging books. He distributes a free monthly leadership training resource, to sign up email him: Russ@CLCAustin.com. Russ recently released his first book entitled thirtyoneanothers. Check out his complete website, subscribe to The Nugget or purchase his book by visiting www.russcripps.com.

David Stone

David Stone David Stone and his wife Wendy have been working in student ministry at CLC since 1999. His passion is to help students Grow in God, Connect in biblical fellowship, Adore Christ with a lifestyle of worship and engage their culture and community for Jesus Christ. He might not admit it, but he's very good at what he does. :) Image Student Ministry is blessed to have David holding the reigns of leadership. David can be reached at David@CLCAustin.com.

Brad Wilkinson

Brad Wilkinson was born and raised in Austin, Texas which is where he has lived for the majority of his life. He graduated from Indiana Bible College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Biblical Studies with a minor in Theology and is currently pursuing his Master of Arts Degree in Professional Counseling from Liberty University. After attending Indiana Bible College Brad moved home to Austin where he began working as Children’s Pastor of Christian Life Church. In October of 2006, Brad married Cassidy Johnson and together they are fulfilling their life-long calling to the ministry. Brad can be reached at Brad@CLCAustin.com.

Randy Davenport

Randy Davenport

As far back as he can remember; music has always been a part of Randy's life. Coming from a musical family and growing up with such musical influences as Michael W. Smith, Andre Crouch, Boston, Toto and others, a wide variety of influences have shaped his musical personality.
Randy enjoys spending time exercising and relaxing with a good movie. He is married to his high school sweetheart and love of his life, Sherry. They have two beautiful daughters, Amanda & Alyssa and let’s not forget the “baby”, their pet Yorky, Bentley.
Every Sunday, Randy passionately leads the CLC body into the throne room with worship and adoration to the King of kings. His hearts desire is to see God manifest His glory every time the body of Christ comes together in corporate worship. Randy@CLCAustin.com