Apostle ‘Que

“Feeding his sheep one pig at a time.” - Josh Jones

In small town Huntersville, North Carolina my good buddy, Rodney, invited me to learn the art of smoking; just as he learned from his dad.

I slung cookies and crackers for 20 years; holidays spent in local grocery stores, traveling to remote locations to put the world’s best cookies and crackers on the shelf. I was crushing it -- hitting sales numbers, setting up massive store displays, and bragging to anyone who would listen about the quality of the product. What I loved most about my career was building relationships with customers in the aisles and creating friendships with store employees; bonding over a love of food. Working in those store aisles; I never met a stranger, I always made a new friend.

It should be no surprise, on a random Wednesday night, in 2015, at church, I accepted an invite from a fellow church goer to come over and learn about the art of smoking bbq.

On this unassuming; yet, fateful day, Rodney (the fellow church goer) introduced me to a time-honored, Johnson, family tradition of cooking low and slow a boston butt. Over the course of 16 hours; he taught me everything - from quality wood, premium meat selection, temperature control, timing and the most important ingredients… honor, respect with a side of fun.

It was during that first hand pull; you know the one, where the bark is toasted, the smoke ring is thick, the steam is rolling, and bone slid out is when I fell in love for the third time. (First love, my wife; second love, my son.) From that night forward, I worked on mastering the artful practice of smoking meat and paying honor to the Johnson family tradition.

In May 2017, I received unexpected news that my position slinging those cookies and crackers was no longer secure. I spent time turning to God for guidance and sought out wisdom from my friends and family; as to what the next chapter in my life should be.

And one day, it was like lightening struck my heart with the verse John 21:17.

The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?”

He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”

- John 21:17

and… here we are…

Apostle ‘Que!

I want to share this time-honored tradition of smoking bbq with you; the people that God loves deeply. And, as I shared I never meet a stranger; just friends I haven’t met yet.

It would be my honor to serve you some of the tastiest ‘Que you will ever experience.

Your friend and brother in Christ, Josh