Early in serving his sentence in the St. Louis (MO) County jail, Phil Brownlee was given a small radio with earplugs. It was set on Bott Radio Network in St. Louis. He listened hours a day to its Bible teaching, preaching, storytelling and affirming of Biblical values. (Visit www.bottradionetwork.com)
It became his seminary.
He asked officials for a Bible, then a Bible dictionary, and later Bible commentaries. He began daily Bible studies for other inmates. When jail official officials became concerned about his leading groups of men, they suspicioned that he was “up to no good,” and put him in isolation. When it was discovered what he was indeed teaching the truths of Scripture, he was allowed to continue.
Phil Brownlee is now pastor of Peace Tabernacle Church in South St. Louis, Mo. With his brother-in-law, Pastor Michael Higgins (Retired military Chaplain and now Dean of Students of Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis – see www.covenantseminary.edu), he co-founded the Pastoral Fellowship of St. Louis. The Fellowship meets each second Saturday morning, welcoming other pastors and Christian leaders to join them. To learn more, call Pastor Phil at (314) 243-1886.
Note: Many area believers will remember bachelor Pastor Gordon Murray, now in Heaven. Pastor Murray was committed to keeping his church ministry in St. Louis inner city, and did, ministering with food and gospel to many in the area. Seems to me a part of my friend Gordon’s joy from Heaven would be to know that the church property he kept in the inner city is now … to this day … ministering in that location. The current pastor? Phil Brownlee, now serving the congregation named Peace Tabernacle, proclaiming Christ, ministering to the people, and serving lunch following each Sunday morning service.