Rev. Dr. Bradley D. Brown, Sr., 88, passed away peacefully and entered the eternal presence of his Heavenly Father on Thursday, February 1, 2024 in Marietta, GA.
He is survived by his wife and the love of his life, Carolyn, and four children all born and raised in Liberia: Lydia (David) Lawrence, Deborah (Kevin) Gregg, Miriam (Robert) Kindred, and Bradley Jr. (Heather). He is also survived by grandchildren Samuel, Caleb, and Leah Lawrence; Seth Bradley Gregg; and Luke and Mark (Rebekah) Kindred; a brother Reid D. Brown; and a sister Betty B. Parsons. His memory lives on in the hearts of his family and co-laborers in Georgia, Liberia, and around the world, with whom he shared the vision of proclaiming the gospel and training future generations of ministers and missionaries of the good news of Jesus Christ.
Dr. Brown received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Mercer University in 1958, before obtaining his Master of Divinity and Master of Religious Education degrees from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1973 he received a Master of Arts in African Studies from Howard University in Washington D.C., and in 1979 he earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from SBTS.
Dr. Brown spent nearly forty years in Liberia as a Baptist missionary, arriving in 1963 to live and work in Zwedru/Tchien, then Lower Buchanan/Bassa County, and finally Paynesville/Greater Monrovia. He, along with Dr. William R. Tolbert, Jr., Dr. Advertus Hoff, Dr. Moses Weefur, Rev. Abraham Butler, and a host of other Liberian Baptists, worked together to found and build the Baptist Training Center in Schiefflin in 1969, which became the Liberia Baptist Theological Seminary (LBTS) in 1976. After six years as Director of the training center, Dr. Brown became the First and Founding President of the seminary, overseeing the full accreditation of the school and the first graduating classes. He also wrote the Seminary Hymn, “Servants of God, Who Do His Will.”
Through the years Dr. Brown worked closely with the Liberia Baptist Missionary and Educational Convention (LBMEC), Baptist Union Meeting, and the Liberia Direct Baptist Missionary Conference (LDBMC), preaching at churches across the length and breadth of the country, and also serving as pastor of: Effort Baptist Church, Paynesville; Union Baptist Church, Fortsville; Oldest Congo Town Baptist Church, Old Road; and St. Simon Baptist Church, Bassa Community/Sinkor, among other affiliations.
Beginning in 1983, Dr. Brown served as Executive Director of the Southern Baptist Mission in Liberia, leading the evangelistic efforts of the mission in full partnership with Liberia Baptists. He and his wife Carolyn spent the last several years of their Liberian sojourn working in war relief and as professors at LBTS. They were the last Southern Baptist missionaries permanently assigned to labor together with Baptists in Liberia at the time they retired in 2000. Dr. Brown returned to his Liberian home several times over the years, and maintained prayerful interest in and contact with his Liberian brothers and sisters.
Liberia was always in Dr. Brown’s heart. He was always insistent to remind others that no one brought God to Liberia, but that God was already at work here among His people. “He was,” as one Liberian brother observed, “one of us.”
The family will receive friends on Thursday evening, February 8, 2024, from 5 – 7 P.M. at Mayes Ward Dobbins Funeral Home, 180 Church St., Marietta, GA 30060.
Funeral services will be held on Friday, February 9, 2024, at 10:00 A.M. in the Chapel of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, 955 Johnson Ferry Rd., Marietta, GA 30068. A program of sacred piano music begins at 9:45.
Streaming video: https://www.youtube.com/live/nPaGfsLEeBY?si=LTFxvHgATJWNf1BC
Interment will be at Kennesaw Memorial Park, 1306 Whitlock Ave., Marietta, GA 30064 beginning at 2:30 P.M. In order to participate in the escorted procession to the cemetery, please arrive at Mayes Ward Dobbins in Marietta by 1:45.
