Portrait of Dr. Bradley Brown. IMB Photo
Bradley Davis Brown Sr., an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in Liberia, died Feb. 1, 2024, in Marietta, Georgia. He was 88.
Bradley was born Dec. 19, 1935, in Elberton, Georgia, to the late Ernest E. and Bonnie Strickland Brown. He graduated from Osborne High School in Marietta, and received the Bachelor of Arts from Mercer University, Macon, Georgia, and the Master of Divinity and the Master of Religious Education from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1973, he also received the Master of Arts from Howard University in Washington D.C. and in 1979, the Doctor of Ministry from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
As a child, his mother encouraged his active involvement in the discipleship program Royal Ambassadors (RAs). It was during his first RA summer camp that he invited Jesus Christ into his life. He served as pastor of First Baptist Church in Vinings, Georgia, during his senior year of high school before attending Mercer University where he met Carolyn Folsom. They shared a mutual commitment to missions and were married on June 14, 1957. Bradley continued to pastor throughout his college years. Following graduation from college, they attended seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
While seeking missionary appointment Bradley wrote, “My missionary call, traceable especially to Royal Ambassador days, was solidified in December 1955, as the culmination of God’s direction in my total life; there has been no vacillation from this purpose. I have joyfully and gratefully accepted it.”
In 1963, the International Mission Board appointed Bradley and Carolyn missionaries to Liberia where they served for 37 years. Alongside Liberia Baptists, they founded and built the Baptist Training Center which later became the Liberia Baptist Theological Seminary. Bradley was the first and founding president of the seminary, overseeing the full accreditation of the school, presiding over the first graduating classes, and writing the beloved seminary hymn, “Servants of God who Do His Will.” Beginning in 1983, he served as executive director of the mission. Bradley and Carolyn remained in Liberia throughout the Liberian civil war until their retirement in 2000.
He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Carolyn Brown; four children all born in Liberia, Lydia Lawrence (David), Deborah Gregg (Kevin), Miriam Kindred (Robert), and Bradley Davis Brown Jr. (Heather); and six grandchildren.
A funeral service was held Feb. 9, 2024, at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, with burial in Kennesaw Memorial Park.
Read an obituary here.