Missionary Bio:
The Browns' home town is Muncie, Indiana, and their home church is Grace Baptist of Muncie.
Jeff's mother died of leukemia when he was five years old, and his father remarried two years later. His second mother was the person most responsible for his salvation and spiritual direction. He accepted Christ as his Savior during an evening service here at First Baptist in 1962. During his senior year at Ball State University, while preparing for a career in science, the Lord called him into the ministry. He trained for the ministry at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Minneapolis, which is also where he met Linda, who was working as a secretary at the seminary.
Linda was saved at the age of five following a Sunday morning service. She was born in Kansas, and was raised as an Army chaplain's daughter. She lived in various places all across America and spent four years in West Germany. She attended the University of Minnesota for one year and then transferred to Pillsbury Baptist Bible College, from which she graduated with a B.S. in Bible, Christian Education, and History. It was during her years at Pillsbury that the Lord first spoke to her concerning missions.
The Browns spend the first year of their marriage working in Germany, replacing a missionary couple on furlough. Following that year, the Browns returned to Central Seminary where Jeff completed his Th.M. work. Jeff then accepted a call from the North Chester Baptist Church of Casnovia, Michigan, and served as their pastor from 1979 to 1986.
The Browns began their first term of service in West Germany in May, 1989, serving with the Independent Baptist Church of West Kreuz. In the fall of 1991 they began a new work in Erlangen. This church reached self-supporting status and was turned over to a national pastor in September of 2006. After returning to Germany from their furlough in 2007, they began a new church plant ministry in Nuremberg.
Germany has had a history of not only the Reformation, but also Catholicism and state-church establishment. Baptist churches are looked at by many like a cult. Only 7% of the population goes to church regularly. Thinking is secular and pluralistic. Churches which are not ecumenical are regarded as strange. Germany is a democracy with a strongly socialist philosophy.
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