Rev. Oliver A. Johnson began serving as an AME minister by 1896 in Richmond, Missouri. He was a pastor in Oskaloosa, Iowa and a guest pastor at Burns Chapel in Des Moines, Iowa in 1901.

He was engaged in two separate violent disputes in Oskaloosa in the first half of 1902. Both involved acts of gun violence, the first by Hattie Nelson regarding a paternity issue and the second by Ed Murray who believed Johnson had made advances toward Murray’s wife. Whether related or not, Johnson was assigned to Des Moines and Burns Chapel by September 1902.