![images[10]](http://skiimagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/images10-e1413904286839.jpg)
He’s “The Son Of A Preacher Man.” He’s the son of the founders of Mount Sinai United Christian Church which is located in Staten island, NY. He was raised as a prodigal child, who gave his life to the LORD at the age of 12. He accepted the call to preach at Mt. Sinai UCC at the age of 13. The Mount Sinai United Christian Church started in 1981. His father – The late Bishop Thomas Edison Brown Sr. was the Pastor of Mt. Sinai UCC for 5 years before his death in 1986. Reverend Doctor Victor Allen Brown Jr. succeeded him in becoming a Pastor in October of 1986. At that time, he was by Vocation. His mother, Minister Val Jean Brown-Moore runs the Board of Trustees/Minister of Finance Department. In 2013, Reverend Doctor Victor Allen Brown Jr. became a Bishop of Staten Island’s Mt. Sinai UCC. He is now known as Bishop Victor Allen Brown Jr. He is about to become someone even greater in the years to come. He’s Bishop Reverend Doctor Victor Allen Brown Jr. The Overseer of Mount Sinai United Christian Church.
SKII; You were ordained to become a pastor. When did it occurred? Bishop; I was ordained to become a pastor in Mount Sinai UCC in 1986, at the age of 28.
SKII; I heard that your mother and father began to have church services directly out of their own home with a small gathering. When more people began attended, they no longer could hold church services in their home. They decided to open up a church for the community. When did you decided you wanted to join the church to follow in your parent’s footsteps? Bishop; That’s a great question. I was a prodigal child of church. I come from a lineage of Preachers. As long as I could remember, church was an integral part of our life. I was called to the LORD at the age of 12. I was called to ministry at the age of 13. I’ve been preaching ever since.
SKII; What type of jobs have you held before becoming a Pastor of Mt. Sinai UCC? Bishop; Well…. Mount Sinai Church began in 1981 by my mother and father. My father was a Pastor there for 5 years, before I succeeded him in becoming a Pastor in October 1986. I worked part-time as the Pastor of Mt. Sinai UCC. While working part-time as a Pastor of Mt. Sinai UCC, I attained my very 1st job with Irving Trust Bank as a Bank Examiner. I worked for them for about a year, when I left and began working my second job at the Federal Government. I worked in the U.S. Department of Labor, in the “Pension and Welfare Benefits Office,” in the “Administration Department” as a Special Agent – investigating Pension Fraud. I worked with them for 12 years. In my 12th year, 1988, the church had grown to a point where Mt. Sinai United Christian Church was able to afford my services on a full time basis as a Pastor. My background was, and still is, in finance.
SKII; I understand you recently became a Bishop? You’ve also travelled to Jerusalem. When did both experiences take place?Bishop; I was consecrated in Jacksonville Florida on May . of 2013. I then travelled to Jerusalem where I was part of a Special Delegation that was sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council. It was a delegation which consisted of 9 African American Clergies who were handpicked to travel to Jerusalem. I was given the opportunity to be one of those African Americans to attend. The objective of the delegation and the trip was to give us the opportunity to speak with several “Heads of State” in Israel. It’s intention was to get a better sense and a feel for the relations between the United States and Israel We had an opportunity to meet with a number of Key Leaders in the Israeli government.
SKII; Great!! Can you name a few Key Leaders you spoke to in Israel? Bishop; Certainly. I did meet with the Ambassador of Haiti. We then met with The Press Secretary for our President. I met the person, who is the equivalent to our Vice President of the United States. We were scheduled to meet with Ninya Ki, but at that time, he had broken his leg. It was also bad for us to meet with some other influential people. We had arrived at a time where their country was negatively impacted by the passing of the former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Because of his death, they deemed it to be a historic time. We just happened to be there in their time of mourning for their Prime Minister. All of the world leaders came in for the passing of their Prime Minister. I was just happy to have been there during such an historic time. I also had the opportunity (while I was there), to do some sight seeing. I was baptized at The Jordan River which was very nice. I was given the opportunity to travel to Bethlehem, to Capernaum Village. We boarded a ship and rode the Sea of Galilee. That was such a beautiful life impact. I had some great times while out there.
SKII; Where were you born and raised Bishop brown? Bishop; I was born and raised right here in Staten Island, NY in St. Vincent’s Hospital. After the age of 8, my parents decided to move all of us (myself, my brother and my sister) to North Carolina. When I turned 16 years old, my parents decided to move everyone back to Staten Island. This is where I have lived ever since.
SKII; What schools have you attended? Bishop; I’ve attended P.S. 18 which is right here in Staten Island. My parents moved us out of Staten Island and I had attended schools there. When I was 16 years old. We came back to Staten island. I attended Susan B. Wagner High School. After graduating from high school, I went to St. John’s University, where I graduated top of my class majoring in finance. I then took a leave of absent from college for 5 years. When I decided to go back to college, I attended New York Theological Seminary where I earned my Master’s degree. I then attended Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary where I attained my Doctors degree.
SKII; I consider you to be a celebrity. You are well known in Staten Island and within the 5 boroughs, including New Jersey. You are all over television and constantly in the public eye. You’re not afraid to speak about a situation (whether the person is right or wrong), you let it be known. So…How do you feel about the controversies, which we are faced with today, pertaining to the Eric Gardner and the Michael Brown cases? Bishop; It’s an unfortunate situation, but I think in both cases, there can be a redeemed dimension to this whole thing. It gives us an opportunity to campaign for a “Sweep and Reform” for policing across the nation. Particularly – The way the Police interact with members of the community. “The African American community”. I think, as a culture that has been created over the years, which has lent itself to officers being able to move above and beyond the scope of their responsibility and to abuse their authority in a way where they had not suffered the repercussions. I think there are several things that need to happen. I think, with the Gardner and the Brown situation, it positions us in a way where we can ask for this reform. Personally I think, at least 4 things need to happen.
1 – There needs to be more sensitive training as it relates to how the Police can apprehend alleged perpetrators.
2 – There needs to be stiffer retribution for officers who step outside the scope of their responsibility.
3 – There needs to be a different method by which Police Officers are evaluated in a sense of promotion. It would take pressure of them and you will see instances of liking to what we have experienced decrease.
4 – I believe they need to go back to “Community Policing.” Community Policing in years gone by was a complete success. When you can have a scenario where the Police Officer get to know the community and the community get to know the Police Officers, bonds and relationships are established. Crimes would go down. That’s what needs to happen.
SKII; Does this situation make you feel like your going back in time? Bishop; It’s depressing. Those who are sworn in to protect us, in many instances, we had to fear them and that should not be. I think this gives us a wonderful opportunity to correct that which is a mess and to build a stronger relationship between the Police and the community.
SKII; What do you think is the root cause to what’s going on right now? Bishop; I think what has happened is… we have seen the vicious racism surface. Much of it has been hidden. But, much of it is coming to the top. We are beginning to see it for what it is. The fact of the matter is…there are some real issues in the African American Community that need to be addressed. It had hit our community in a very big way. We need equal access to health care. We need more jobs. We need to do something about the unemployment situation. If we can get persons employed, we’d have less robbing and killings. Certainly the drug epidemic is something that still needs to be addressed. We need to look at why it is like this. It seems to be a disproportionate value of human life. For instance, we see that in both of the cases of Gardner and Brown, these person(s) died at the hands of white Police Officers. It had ignited the eye of the community in a very major way. My concern is…Why do we not see it the same – when there’s a black person(s) who murders another black person. 90% of all homicides that takes place in the African American Community, are committed by other African Americans. So what it says to us, is that, whether we want to separate or not. There is a disproportionate value that’s been placed on human life. Why is that? Does an African American life take on a greater value only because they were murdered by a white person? But, if they are murdered by another African American, it’s as if we become calloused to seeing that. I think that’s very wrong. Something needs to be done by that. We rally on the one hand for justice in both situations. And as we rally for there to be a great sensitivity by Police officers, we also need to look at these situations of “What can we do in our own community to clean-up our own house. We should not need the Police to Police us in order to do that. So…I think there’s much work to be done in our own community.
SKII; What’s your expectations in life? Bishop; Being the best I can be. I just celebrated my 50th birthday, That’s a milestone in itself. I’m 12 years away from retirement age. I see in the years ahead, I would like to take more of a role in terms of preparing leaders for the next generation. So, Pastoring at some point, will then lead into a desire that I have to do more instruction. Whether that’s in a seminary or whether that is in a school that I have personally set-up for or something. But, some mechanism by which I can impart by that time over 50 years of experience in ministry. We live in a very complexed world and the approach to ministry is so much different today than it was years ago. 30 or 40 years ago, not even that far back, 20 years ago, It was just expected for people to go to church. And now, that’s not the case. When you look at the statistics in terms of who goes to church and how frequently, you will see that the number have dropped significantly over the years. And so, we have that to look at. Again, it’s a more complexed world. So, dealing with those issues, it requires a Parodied shift in how we do ministry.
SKII; What motivates you to stay focused on Pastoring and trying to convey the word of the LORD to people? Bishop; Well I think for me, it’s a vocation and not a job. I didn’t choose this, it chose me. I think, if it were a situation of having me selected in something to do, then I think there would be much to be discouraged about. I probably would have left ministry years ago. It is very frustrating and in many instances, very thankless. Certainly, the financial situation does not mirror the level of the effect. You don’t get into this to get rich. It’s definitely a calling. So, I’m called to this. With my finance background, I could have gone to Wall street. I could have been very successful. I could have made a lot of money but, that wasn’t my calling. My calling was to do what I do. That in and of itself, becomes it’s own motivation. The fact that I’ve been called to this, therefore, GOD gives me and have given me the gift to make things happen. It’s not a drudgery. Even though, I’ve dealt with frustrating times or instances of frustration by enlarge, the successes and the good aspects of ministry, it exceeds the negative.
SKII; Who inspires you the most? Bishop; That’s an interesting question because I get my inspiration from several places. I’ve had some great leaders who have influenced who I am today. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. happens to be one of those. I’m a student of Dr. King and I have studied his life in ministry and I try to pattern myself particularly. I’ve always been impressed with his ability to articulate the issue. Communication was very important for me because of the influence of Dr. King, whom I never had the opportunity to meet. I had a chance to meet him bi-curiously from his chief of staff, Dr. Y.T. Walker – who was one of the Chief Lieutenant of the movement. Dr. Y. T. Walker, moved on to become the Pastor of Canaan Baptist church in Harlem. He is now 86 years old and he is currently in a nursing facility in Chester Virginia. He had succumb to 2-3 strokes but, his mind is still active and still very sharp. I’ve learned about Civil Rights from him. He was a tremendous influence in my life. My father of course, was a tremendous influence to me. He was a man of great faith. A man of great prayer. My personal devotion of discipline comes from being a student of my father, Bishop Thomas Edison Brown Sr. My next inspiration comes from – The Reverend Dr. Johnny Youngblood. Reverend Dr. Johnny Youngblood had also been a tremendous influence in my life. It was through my introduction to Dr. Johnny Youngblood, I began to see the vastness of what ministry could be. At the time I met him, I was Pastoring in a store front, which was a couple of blocks down. (Bishop Brown Jr. was reflecting on a store front church which was a couple blocks from his church Mt. Sinai UCC, located on Pike street, in Staten Island). So, being introduced to a ministry that had expanded to the point where it had purchased 11 stores. It had his own retreat site up in Caroon N.Y. It was building a school. I got to see 1st hand, some of the things I have thought about but never really saw it. So, to get to see ministry action at that level and how ministry impact a community that was inspirational to me. I began to fine tune my method of operation based on my introduction to Johnny Youngblood. I’ve been very, very privileged to have had my path intersect with some great people in this country. I’m one of the founding members of National Action Network with Reverend Al Sharpton. He is the founder of NAN. I’m also part of Operation Push, so I constantly have conversation with Reverend Jessie Jackson. I consider both of them to be very good acquaintances. I don’t know if I had risen to their ranks but, I have been very blessed. The LORD had opened major doors for me. I’ve been able to travel in those types of circles. I think that leads to a leverage of greater ministry in Staten island.
It was a pleasure interviewing and actually being in the presence of a great leader. He is a man of prestige. He is a man of great honor. He is a man of leadership. He is an inspiration to all of us. He is Bishop Victor Allen Brown Jr.
