I was asked to write a little biography of my life for all who might want to be better acquainted with myself as the unworthy pastor of the Emmanuel Independent Baptist Church.
I was born in 1974 to Mr. & Mrs. Grady Lawrence Brown; my mothers name being Carolyn Patricia Chastain Brown and raised in an unchristian environment, void of God and service to our blessed Saviour. 18 years of my life was lived after the flesh with no regard to God. Great anger built in my heart throughout the days of my life. The feeling that no one cared and that no one understood my heart drove me as a young man to be very short fused and very explosive. Much depression gripped my tender mind, with threats of suicide often publicized, and in secrecy, much self mutilation. Cutting myself with razor blades and knives just to watch the blood flow from my confused and searching soul, resulting in the torture of my physical body. I was always in trouble and received suspension from school, counseling, discipline and many words of advice, but all of this was to no avail. Little did I realize that what I was looking and searching for was not love from a mortal being, but love from an immortal, thus needing my circumstance to meet providence.
In the early 90’s, my dad slipped into depression after a life of partying, drinking and drugs; in which there is no satisfaction. Providence in it’s perfect time allowed one of my great uncles to die on my dad’s side (Fred Dotson), who was a member of the Victory Baptist Church in Flat Rock, NC. After attending the funeral and being touched by the pastor of the church (Pastor Stanley Adcock), dad took us back to Victory on a Sunday morning, in which God began a work in the Brown family on April 7, 1991. My dad got saved, all of the family cried in the altar and even I made a profession that morning by there was no possession of the diadem of Heaven. There was never a change in my heart nor my life; swept empty and garnished, yes, but no residing presence of God. From this day forward there was an escalation of the depravity of my life. The anger intensified and the emptiness, the violence and the rage in my bosom was beyond my physical control. Seven times worse was the havoc of my soul as I began to lose control and the devil slowly took control of a young life; unknowingly doomed for a Christ-less eternity.
In 1992, many churches in Fletcher, NC came together and Bro. Ralph Sexton, Jr. set up his tent in a revival effort that lasted 12 weeks, all through the summer months of 1992. After being invited many times by my parents and friends, I came the night of June 24, 1992. This night was the beginning of something beautiful for me. After listening to the message (in which I had no idea what he preached), conviction had settled in my soul like a low lying fog. At the end of the service, I knocked one elderly lady down as I made my way out of the back of the tent to my ’68 Chevy pickup. While sitting there the desire to hurt myself intensified as I remembered a hunting knife in my glove compartment. I began to take the knife and run the blade down my arm, thus making myself bleed. Does anybody care, was the tune of my soul. In my Adamic nature, I was blind to any being that loved me because of who I was and not what they wanted me to be.
With a desire to inflict pain or suicide in this escalated moment was to interpret the words of my soul….Does Anybody Care? A young lady that I was dating came to my truck window, laying her hand upon my left arm that was covered in blood. Knocking her back, she ran inside to tell my family. Many preachers and men began to come to my truck, thus the demons of hell raged at the conflict. Upon getting my door open and trying to take the knife away from me, the demonic energy escalated to an uncontrollable rage. I remember stabbing the knife up under the dash as men came at me from both sides of my truck. My being began to fight with such rage that I had never felt before. I remember screaming, fighting, wrestling and beating my head on the back glass, spitting as the battle between good and evil raged in my soul. After nearly 45 minutes of this battle with my dad and my pastor holding my feet out the driver side of my truck, Bro. Ralph got on top of me and one or two bodyguards held my arms and head out of the passenger side. Bro. Ralph asked me a question that I shall never forget, “Jeff, do you want to go inside and get saved?” I replied that I don’t deserve to be saved. It was then and there that the weight of sin rolled away and the fighting stopped. My spirit had been set free and I was no longer under the control of demons. Something took place in my heart that day and it’s call SALVATION!!! Unable to walk and carry myself after such a demonic battle, my pastor under one arm and my dad under the other, they drug my into the tent upon the altar, leaving indentions in the sawdust all the way to the altar. Saved in my pickup, we all began to rejoice and oh what a change in my life.
The very next day something inside wanted to tell; after going to the streets with others to preach, I found myself preaching, literally in the street. Overpowered by God preaching, there was a fire in my bosom and not many days after, I surrendered at my home church, the Victory Baptist Church.
I started pastoring the day after my 21st birthday at Brownwood Chapel in Asheville, NC. I was single and pastored there between May of 1995 to May of 1997. I then went back to my home church, the Victory Baptist Church, until the fall of 1999 when I started filling in and eventually pastored the Faith Missionary Baptist Church in Asheville. Voted in on January 1, 2000 and continuing there till Spring 2009, I had no intention of leaving, but was approached by two different preachers about a church that needed a pastor and I was strongly impresses on their hearts. I tried to dismiss the thought, but was led to pay attention after their persistence and my prayer of what God wanted. in response to the green light from God, we took off to preach at Emmanuel Baptist Church on May 31, 2009. Approached that night about pastoring the church, my answer was one that was to be bathed in prayer, thus leaving the door open. On Monday before leaving Ashe county while eating at McDonalds, my 9 year old girl started crying. My wife and then I knew God was moving our hearts. After much prayer and meditation while mowing the grass at my home church, I cried out loud, “I’ll go Lord. I’ll do whatever you say”. It was then that peace flooded my soul and we began the transition. Leaving everything I knew, we made the transition and started pastoring the Emmanuel Baptist Church on June 14, 2009.
Being the pastor of Emmanuel is a great honor and our stand is with harmony upon the sole authority of the 1611 KING JAMES AUTHORIZED BIBLE. Fundamental by belief and by practice, believing in separated living by character and conduct, in order to display a spirit of integrity before God and man. Modesty in attitude and attire is of great importance in life to us in accordance to the Bible, that we may be a light in a dark society. Believing in the freewill of a man in salvation, service and a separated life; believing these doctrines will be prevalent when first there is true salvation, second when there is greater comprehension of God through the knowledge of the Holy Bible, thus producing vigorous growth. We abhor any thought of a man made gospel or any type of brutish spirit, with the results of God’s precious people trying to please a man with no regard of true piety.
We are Baptist by conviction and convenience, emphasizing on the old time way, majoring on Preaching, Praying, Singing and Shouting. Independent in our government, but greatly dependent upon God and his word, believing in the great commission by supporting mission works around the world through faith and promise giving.
It is our desire to please the Lord with everything we do; it is our desire to try to be as friendly as possible to all men, creating an atmosphere to be able to have an impact upon a man’s life. Church, the very word is something we want to live up to, and when people come, our desire is to be an oasis in the desert, or like Onesiphorus, to seek opportunity to refresh the people of God.
Thank you for reading this short letter. If you don’t remember anything I’ve said, please make sure that you trust Christ as your Saviour. Have assurance in your heart of a genuine hope of Heaven and to avoid the damnation of HELL, for Jesus is soon coming for the church, the body of believers, by way of the rapture. Then the tribulation and the thousand year millennial reign of Christ on Earth. Repent and be saved.
Till He Comes,
Pastor Jeff Brown
2/7/2012