Jeffrey O. Brown

My dissertation external examiner was a person of intimidating bearing. His large frame seemed to add power to himself and drain it from me. “Looking forward to doing business with you,” he said. His greeting seemed more of a threat than…

Editor’s note: Wintley Phipps, MDiv, is a world-renowned singer, an evangelist, an entrepreneur, and an ordained minister of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He travels the world sharing God’s love through his…

Question: Did Sunday-keeping Methodists, Baptists, and others, led by a Baptist lay preacher named William Miller, say that Jesus was coming in 1844? Answer: Yes. While many Christians walked away from the prophetic aspects of Scripture because…

January 2025. Wildfires in Los Angeles. My wife, Pattiejean, and I were in California. The headline that caught my attention declared that just a mile or two from where fires were raging, people were shopping as usual, going to restaurants…

There’s a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza, There’s a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, a hole.” This beloved children’s song, found across cultures, is based on a protracted dialogue between two characters, Henry and Liza. A leaky bucket…

While recently welcoming our new world church leaders—vice president Pierre E. Omeler and his spouse, Myra—to the Ministerial Association, I told them, “Your old territory comprised the seven states of the northeast United States and Bermuda.”…

After one less-than-successful discipline session, our six-year-old son Jamel startled us with a profound commentary. “When I’m a daddy, I’m not going to shout at my children or hit them. I’m just going to talk to them and say, ‘Now you shouldn’t…

Winter. The end of the year in the northern hemisphere of the world. Some call it the epilogue. There is even a term, the dead of winter. But winter is not the end. Solomon said,

“Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come…

To stay or not to stay: that is the autumn question. To the promise of spring (ap­­proximately ages 20–35) and the pressure of summer (approximately ages 35–50), also add the problems of autumn (approximately ages 50–65), when ministry reaches…

A story is told of three men sent on a mission. The first didn’t make it because his horse broke a leg. The second didn’t make it because he was ambushed and wounded in the neck. The third man arrived late—but he made it. Covered in blood,…

Seminary was over. When I landed in London, I called the senior pastor to whom I had been assigned.

“Pastor Vine, we have arrived in England and will join you shortly. Is that all right?”

“Oh, landed in England, have you?…

Gilbert Limones, pastor of Casa El Shaddai, heard the “pop, pop, pop” of gunfire about 150 feet away from the school shooter in Uvalde, Texas. Amazed that he was not hit, Limones has been broken with guilt about not being able to…

This summer, I was struck by a heaviness engulfing many church members, yea, even pastors. The horror of worldwide crises was eclipsed by the shock of national tragedies that, in turn, was overshadowed by the persistence of personal pain.…

Current General Conference ministerial secretary Jerry N. Page said it succinctly: “The 1922 General Conference Session did not begin well for Arthur G. Daniells. On Sunday he was voted out of the presidency of the world church. . . .

“Daniells…

There was a time when many in the Christian world were opposed to the Ten Commandments in general. And there was a time when many in Christendom were opposed to the Sabbath commandment in particular. Author Robert Morris, the senior pastor…

Standing in line at a photo-printing shop in Manchester, England, I saw it: a beautiful poster advertising a family life seminar at a local synagogue.

“Sounds really appealing!” I commented to the rabbi having the poster printed.

“Oh,…

Most of us are familiar with the Great Commission, the Great Awakening, and even the Great Disappointment, when Baptist preacher William Miller inspired thousands to believe that Jesus’ return was imminent. Fewer of us may have heard of the…

Though by no means perfect, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has become a leader in calling for the fair treatment of women. Its decades-long enditnow® campaign is based upon our fundamental…

The world is opening up,” screamed the newspaper headlines. After 18 or so months of the pandemic, my wife and I welcomed the news with gratitude and relief. We could now visit Pattiejean’s mother in Bermuda, hospitalized for 10 months.

One…

Amazing. Uplifting. Timely. These are the words that crashed social media at the conclusion of her message. The inauguration of the 46th president of the United States saw 22-year-old African American youth poet…

The popularity of the British prime minister was gravely jeopardized by the statement “Christmas is canceled.”¹ The persistence of the COVID-19 virus was strengthened by the presence of a new variant. But would Christmas really…

Jeffrey O. Brown (JB): I have the privilege of interviewing Balvin B. Braham, D. Ed, who is assistant to the president of the Inter-American Division of Seventh-day Adventists (IAD), with responsibilities for evangelism and…

The whole program is negative. Always. Yet, I watch it. Every feature is pessimistic. Almost. Yet, I listen to it. What is this program? It’s called the nightly news.

I use the term almost because the National Broadcasting…

The year 1863 is significant. Slavery in America officially ended. The Seventh-day Adventist Church officially began. And William Mackay penned the rousing hymn “Revive Us Again.”¹

As Protestants, our church pioneers…

We used to play a game at church socials called “In the River, on the Bank.” One side of a dividing line was the “river” and the other side was the “bank.” When the leader shouted, “In the river,” we would jump forward into the river. When…

I looked at my online tithe and offering envelope—and was tempted. A voice inside my head said, You need your money for your household. Our son Jamel and his wife, Sarai, have my wife, Pattiejean, and I locked up in the…

I was working at Agona-Ashanti Secondary School in Ghana when it happened. While I was speaking with Dr. Joseph Addai, the school chaplain, his son suddenly burst into tears.

“Why is he crying?” I asked. The father conversed with his…

I don’t know how it happened. In fact, I have no memory of it. I was just a toddler, but my eldest brother Eric tells me that, some decades ago, the television cameras came to our street in Birmingham, England. Indeed, not just to our street—but…

There is a chapter in the Bible that lists the all-stars of biblical history: Hebrews 11. It says these all died in faith and are looking forward to a heavenly city, whose Builder and Maker is God. All the big names are there. Then it mentions…

At the 2017 National Prayer Breakfast, US Senate chaplain Barry Black delivered a powerful speech that sparked cheers and brought thousands of attendees to their feet.‘In order to make ourselves heard in a way that really changes things,’…

Editor’s note: Jud Lake, ThD, DMin, is a professor of preaching and Adventist studies at Southern Adventist University, Collegedale, Tennessee, United States. This interview focuses primarily on his book A Nation…

On this 50th anniversary of Apollo 8, I am reminded of the story Dr. Dwight Nelson tells of Colonel Sanders, who said to his executive officer, “Tomorrow evening at approximately eight o’clock, Halley’s Comet will be visible in this area,…

When I was studying at Andrews University, we had a guest speaker for chapel. His name was Charles Wittschiebe, author of God Invented Sex. During the question and answer period, a student asked, “Doc, at what age does a man’s sex…

I was born and grew up in Birmingham, England, a city of about one million people. When I was 21, I left Britain for the first time, to serve as a student missionary in Ghana. I read a book by Brother Andrew called Battle for Africa.…

Sheldon Vanauken tells of how he gave up faith in Christianity as a teenager: “There were four specific inadequacies in the only Christianity I knew: it was not exciting, not positive, not big enough, and not related to life. . . . Who could…

February is known in the United States and Canada as Black History Month, celebrating victories gained in the African diaspora. Australia celebrates July as Black History Month; England and the Netherlands celebrate in October; and “in Brazil,…

When one says they are “turning the page,” they mean they are doing things differently, and expecting different results. We realized that we had to do things differently in Bermuda. Our church growth was flat; so was the way we were perceived…

I ’ll never forget his illustration during our seminary chapel. A cat was chasing a mouse along 42nd Street in New York City. The mouse went into a pothole. The cat’s paw circled in vain to reach it. Suddenly the mouse heard a woof, woof.…

While I was speaking with a pastor in London, England, he told me, “When I was in school, I was very focused on studying and writing. Now that I have a church, I am very focused on preaching and visiting. As a result, I may not be able to…