Greg married his lovely wife Tara Jayne in 2006, and they have one daughter, Saiyah Grace.
Currently
you teach at Handong Global University and are pastor to the English-speaking
students there. How big is Handong University and what is it like? Where is it
located?
Handong Global University has over 4,000
students—mostly undergraduate. It is located in Pohang, South Korea. It is a small
Christian school that focuses on training students to be lights in the world.
The motto of the school is “Why not change the world?”
What’s
the spiritual climate in South Korea? How did you decide to move and work
there?
There is a strong Christian population in South Korea.
It is has the biggest churches in the world and sends the second most
missionaries in the world. However, like America, it is quickly becoming post
Christian. The college students and young adults are becoming an extinct
population in the church.
Do
you have any concern living (relatively) so close to North Korea? Especially in
light of recent development with North Korea attempting to test nuclear missiles?
When Korea originally was split into North and South, there were many families
that were torn apart. Is that still the case today?
We don’t have many concerns about North Korea. Our
family members have more concerns than we do. But we’ve been here almost 6
years and the back and forth rhetoric is really repetitive.
In
another interview you mentioned that you’re a visual learner. Can you describe
what that’s like and how it affects your writing?
I’m specifically a visual-written learner. I learn
primarily by writing, and I’m very nonaudio. I struggle when instructions are
given to me auditorily and they’re not written down. So that always caused
extra difficulties for me when I was young and in school. But, it’s great for
writing. I want to know more about God and his Word and I have to write to
learn. So, that works perfectly for publishing.
You’ve
written several books for the Bible Teacher’s Guide series. Did you envision a
series when you wrote the first guidebook?
After writing the first book, I definitely was hoping
that God would make a series out of it. We had just finished preaching 1 Peter,
and after editing and publishing it, it just made sense that the series would
continue. However, going back and editing/re-writing old sermons is a lot of
work, so I have a few sermon/lecture series that are just waiting. Right now,
it’s enough work preparing new preaching series for publication.
Can
you describe how you created the template you use for the series? (Big
Question, Interpretation Questions, Application Questions, etc.)
Yes. It is really the format most preachers use when
writing a sermon, though they probably ask the questions in their mind instead
of writing them down. What is the main idea of this text—the Big Question,
which becomes the theme? What things jump out in the text—Observation
Questions? What does this text mean or specific parts of it—Interpretation
Questions? What should we do about this text—Application Questions? So I write
these out in order to guide teachers or help them prepare their own sermon or
Bible study. These questions are also great to guide small group discussions.
Let’s
focus in on your most current book in the series, Abraham: Living the Life of
Faith. Why did you choose Abraham? Why did Abraham and Sarah’s life interest
you?
A couple of years ago, my co-pastor and I were just
praying about what to teach the next semester at our church. We hadn’t preached
OT in a while so we both thought Abraham would be good. It ended up being a
great series. Even when my co-pastor preached, I always prepared that sermon
anyways since I have to train the small group leaders. It turned into a book,
years later.
What
did you hope to accomplish with this particular book in the series? What’s the
main message you hope to pass along to readers?
As we consider the development of Abraham’s faith, we
can see many of the same tests and trials in our own life. By learning from his
successes and mistakes, we can be more faithful in our life journey.
It’s
obvious that you really love the Bible. Was there a particular event in your
life that caused this?
When I was going into my sophomore year of college, I
started to struggle with depression and at times felt like I didn’t want to
live. This was stimulated by several events—the end of my first real dating
relationship, an injury that made me miss the majority of my sophomore year as
a college basketball player, and a friend committing suicide, among other
events. The only thing that gave me peace was studying God’s Word, worshiping
him at church, or serving. So God’s Word, God’s presence, and his people became
my retreat. Little did I know, God was storing up his Word in me and training
me for ministry—and specifically writing ministry as I also devoured many
Christian books.
How
did you become a Christian? Was it a gradual process, or one, life-changing
event?
My father was a 20-year Air Force veteran, and we were
living in Belgium. I was only 7 years old. Because my family was going through
some difficult times, we started to attend a Baptist church planted by some
missionaries. It might have been my first time attending, but at the end of the
service, they gave an altar call. I realized that I was a sinner, and I had no
assurance of going to heaven. I went to the front, they walked me through the
Romans Road and I gave my life to Christ. Around that time, both my parents
became serious about God, and church became a regular part of our lives.
What’s
your writing process like? Where do you write? When? How do make the time to
write with being a husband, father, teacher and pastor?
Well, the fact that I’m a pastor makes my writing
process easier. Essentially, I write one chapter of a book most weeks of the
year, as part of a sermon series. Two weeks before preaching a sermon, I study
the text with commentaries for 3 to 5 hours on Tuesday. I write the first draft
which takes another 3 to 5 hours on Friday. Then I edit it and teach it to my
small group leaders on Monday. Edit it and teach it again on Wednesday to my
own small group. Then edit it again Saturday night and Sunday morning and then
preach it. This allows each sermon to go through lots of growth including what
God gives me as I teach it and what others share in small groups. Then over the
winter or summer, I edit the sermon series two more times, then send it off to
outside editors before publication. It’s a really thorough process. The fact
that I work at a university with larger vacations in the summer and winter
helps. I still oversee the church during those times, but my elders help out a
lot more with preaching over the breaks.
Is
there anything else you’d like to mention? (How can readers get in touch with
you, find your books, etc.)
Most of the books, I eventually give away for free on
Bible.org in order to reach a larger audience. Check this link for those works,
https://bible.org/byauthor/156476/gregory_brown.
Please follow me at www.pgregbrown.com
and at https://twitter.com/pgregbrown.
Also, please throw up a prayer for God to use the series to reach many people for
his kingdom. Thanks so much!
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