Youth in Action honors a true gospel pioneer and our minister emeritus, Wesley R. Brown, Sr. (1935-2017)

Youth in Action is proud to continue the annual Wesley R. Brown Memorial Scholarship for our high school graduates.

The scholarship is funded and approved by the Renaissance Church of Christ Elders for Youth in Action.  The Scholarship is a merit-based, and spiritually-based entity.

The family of Wesley Brown is also honored to be in support of this scholarship that brings remembrance to this great man of God.

Bro. Wesley Brown, a pioneer in proclaiming the salvation found through the Gospel of Christ, served as the minister and elder of the West End church of Christ congregation for over 30 years. He served as Minister Emeritus after retiring from the pulpit at the West End Church of Christ until his passing in 2017.

Wesley R. Brown was born on March 30, 1935 in Baltimore, MA. He was baptized into Christ in 1953 in Baltimore, and lived a life dedicated to Christ.

After graduating from high school, he attended Southwestern Christian College located in Terrell, TX. It was there that he met his lovely wife, Barbara. Wesley and Barbara have two children, Wesley Brown, Jr. and Juanita LaTanya Wood. They also have five granddaughters and two great-grandchildren.

After earning his Associate of Arts degree from Southwestern, he went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University) in 1965. He then attained a Master of Arts degree from the Alabama School of Religion.

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Bro. Brown began his preaching career over 60 years ago at Southwestern Christian College. He served as the minister of the Gilmore Church of Christ in Baltimore, and then at the Peabody Street Church of Christ in Edna, Texas. In 1959, he moved to Atlanta to serve as the inaugural minister of the Turner Road Church of Christ where he served for 15 years.

It was in 1974 that Wesley began his ministry at the West End Church of Christ. At that time the congregation consisted of less than 100 members. By the end of his over 30-year tenure, there were nearly 1,000 members on the rolls.

In 1974, he was ordained as an elder, and he, in turn, ordained nine more elders. Brown was responsible for training dozens of Ministers of the Gospel and was instrumental in West End having initiating the start of several other congregations in the metro Atlanta area including the Locust Grove Church of Christ, the Schaffer Road Church of Christ, and the former Colquitt Street Churches of Christ located in Douglasville, GA.

Brown conducted countless gospel meetings in Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, Kentucky, and Maryland. He has also spoken at several lectureships in the brotherhood including, the Georgia

Lectureship, the Southeastern Lectureship, the Southwestern Christian College Lectureships, and the National Lectureship of the Churches of Christ.

Wesley was well known for his service to others, especially in visiting those who were sick and bereaved. He was loved and admired throughout the brotherhood and his community for his faithfulness, humility, and warm sense of humor as he earnestly contended for the faith.

He served as Minister Emeritus after retiring from the pulpit at the West End Church of Christ until his passing in 2017.

Youth in Action is proud to provide the Wesley R. Brown Memorial Scholarship for our high school graduates. The family of Wesley Brown is also honored to be in support of this scholarship that brings remembrance to this great man of God.