One year after he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, James Johnson Jr., the minister of music at Cedar Street Baptist Church of God in the East End, is releasing a song and initiating a national prayer campaign.

Both are called “Agree.”

The 32-year-old Varina resident, husband, father of two and 2015 Stellar Award nominee told the Free Press both ventures are about how prayer has helped him and can help others to agree to expect a miracle when they are going through tough times.

The award-winning songwriter, producer and artist said “Agree” is based on the promise by Jesus in Matthew18:19 in the Bible: “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on Earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.”

He said the “Agree” campaign will enlist prayer partners to fill people’s requests.

Mr. Johnson talked with the Free Press on Monday, the one-year anniversary of his MS diagnosis, about the connection between prayer and healing. He said he was inspired to write the song in August. That’s when he saw “how courageously” his cousin, Taleshia Chandler, wife of Cedar Street Pastor Anthony Chandler, was battling breast cancer. She continued to fight even as the cancer metastasized to her bones and liver, he said.

“It was like an instant conviction on me,” Mr. Johnson explained. “I had been so devastated through last spring and summer after learning I had MS. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. It was like self-pity.

“I questioned, ‘Why me?’ ’’

Mr. Johnson, who directs four choirs at Cedar Street and accompanies them on the organ or piano, said he felt “angry.”

“I think you feel like, sometimes, when you serve in church and minister to others that you are immune to some of the things that others face,” he said. “Now, I was the one being ministered to by others.”

He said after much soul searching and watching his cousin’s determined response to her cancer fight, he realized, “what she was going through was so much more severe.”

“It made me realize, with God’s help, I can handle this and that I had to pick up the bricks around me and move forward.”

He said he spoke with Dr. Chandler and the two agreed to pray and agree for a miracle in both circumstances.

In a Feb. 8 post on the church Facebook page, Dr. Chandler talked about his wife’s illness: “Today, the oncologist who’s been treating her for cancer since August 2015 told us that she has had an OVERWHELMINGLY positive response to chemotherapy. His exact words “this was the response we were hoping for!”

“We are grateful for all that the Lord has done and we will continue to agree for her complete and total healing,” Mr. Johnson said Monday.

As for his own health, Mr. Johnson said he was diagnosed with the most common form of MS known as relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

MS is an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation of the insulating membranes surrounding nerves within the central nervous system. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis.

Mr. Johnson said he was diagnosed and sought treatment after experiencing fatigue and partial blindness in his left eye. His diagnosis came three weeks before he attended the Stellar Awards on March 28, 2015. He was nominated in six categories, but did not win, for the gospel song he co-wrote titled “You Alone.”

The Free Press chronicled his journey to the prestigious gospel music awards show in the March 26-28, 2015, edition.

The vision problem has since resolved itself, but there are flare-ups, Mr. Johnson said. He recalled a debilitating flare-up in November that left him bedridden, temporarily paralyzed on his left side and unable to fully function for more than two weeks.

Mr. Johnson attended the Stellar Awards ceremony again last month in Las Vegas. While he was not nominated for an award this year, he had the opportunity to network with fellow artists during the event.

He decided to organize the “Agree” campaign after he was approached with the idea by Pastor Juliette Davis of Destiny Empowerment Ministries in Chesterfield County.

“I had preached a sermon about the power of agreement to our congregation,” Pastor Davis said. “That night, I was so excited and I felt God was telling me to tell (Mr. Johnson) about my idea for the agreement campaign. I called him the next morning.”

Mr. Johnson said he eagerly agreed to lead the campaign for prayer and healing with the full backing of Mrs. Chandler.

“There is power in agreement, in being able to connect with someone you may not even know and having enough faith spiritually that you can believe together in the miraculous — through faith, persistence and belief,” he said.

“I believe this campaign can lead to great things.”