BIOGRAPHY OF REVEREND MERRILL BROWN

In 1989, Merrill Brown was 56 years old, an oil and gas company executive looking forward to retiring, buying a boat and cruising the San Juan Islands. Things didn't work out that way because that same year, sitting in a pew listening to a sermon at First Presbyterian Church in Salt Lake City he received acall. In a transforming moment, Brown was overwhelmed by the sense that God was guiding him to become a pastor. He couldn't stop thinking about it. His wife, Sherri, sitting beside him, nudged him and said, "You've just received a call to the ministry, haven't you?"

And so began his journey of faith. It hasn't been a journey without pitfalls. The next fall at the age of 57 he enrolled at San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, California. He was theoldest student in an energetic group of 20 and 30 year olds. Graduate school proved very difficult. Learning Hebrew, the language of the old testament was arduous. He began to question his calling and after much agonizing, eventually quit and returned to Washington. The sense of a mission he had to fulfill continued to press on him and the next fall he returned again to the same seminary. This time he flourished in his studies. He served as a pastoral intern during seminary for the South Kitsap PresbyterianChurch in Port Orchard, WA and in December 1995 he was ordained at the age of 63.

After graduating he took his first pastoral job as solo pastor for two small churches on the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho. Then he heard about the available position at Manitou Park Presbyterian Church. They invited him to preach in November of 1996 and he was soon hired. He came to a congregation which had suffered its own tribulations and each time had overcome the obstacles andpersevered. They recognized this spirit in him too. He has been described as a happy man who brings a positive feeling to the church. One of his professors said of him, "He's a very deep Christian. To him I think the ?good life' is a life of service." Together he and the congregation with God's help, hope to revitalize the Manitou Park Presbyterian Church so that it will flourish and serve the community to its fullest potential. That revitalization has already begun. A generous gift will allow the church tobegin a remodeling project which will help in its ministry.

They invite you to join their church family. There is a place for you. All talents are needed. You will be warmly welcomed.