wfn.org | UMNS# 04439-Pastor encourages young people to build better

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Pastor encourages young people to build better lives 

Sep. 27, 2004	 News media contact:   Ginny  Underwood * (615) 742-5470*  Nashville {04439}

NOTE: Photographs and a UMTV report are available at http://www.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=2&mid=5734.

By Steve Smith*

DALLAS (UMNS) - Pastors across the country preach from their pulpits every Sunday, but one United Methodist minister takes her message daily outside the walls of the sanctuary.

The Rev. Veronica Brown's pulpit is the local Job Corps office in Dallas, where her flock includes 650 teen-agers seeking second chances at an education and better lives.

She calls herself a "minister of encouragement" in the Dallas-based North Texas Annual (regional) Conference of the United Methodist Church.

"What are your needs you need to get taken care of?" she asked 15 young people during a recent orientation at the North Texas Job Corps Center in McKinney, near Dallas.

An ordained deacon, Brown said she views her role as taking the Gospel to people in a hurting world and connecting them back to the church. After all, she noted, theologian John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, said the world is everybody's parish.

"That's my daily pulpit," Brown said, referring to the orientation classes and her Job Corps position. "I stand before my congregation, the students that come here, in need. God allows me to stand every day and to preach, to exhort, to encourage those young people. When you touch the lives of a young person, you touch the lives of the community, of a family.

"I encourage them to understand that they are loved regardless of where they are, that they are valued no matter how low they go."

She is associate pastor at All Nations United Methodist Church in the Dallas suburb of Plano, where she helps with English as a Second Language classes and pastoral care.
Because of the thin line that separates church and state, she doesn't use the word "God" in the federally funded Job Corps orientation, Brown said.

"To me, God is not just about verbalizing the word, (but) about the essence, the presence, being the body of Christ rather then just talking the body of Christ," she said. "I'm an encourager. I am compassionate. I'm very pastoral, and I see this as a haven, an avenue by which I can take all the gifts that God has given me and give back so I can touch a lot of lives."  

Like Wes Dowty's life.

Dowty, 19, a former Job Corps student, had quit school at 14 after his father died. He made a little money mowing lawns and parking cars, but his dreams extended far beyond those menial jobs. With Brown's help, Dowty will realize his dream of being a U.S. Navy Seal when he leaves soon for boot camp.

"Just the way she spoke and the way she would pull Scriptures out of the Bible, she would try and inspire you that way," Dowty said. 

When he saw Brown at the Job Corps center, the pastor came to him and congratulated him on fulfilling his Navy dream. She knew what Brown had to endure to get there.
"I'm so glad things are working out for you, sweetheart," she said.

 From hardscrabble surroundings, students at the Job Corps center, which occupies a former Veterans Hospital in McKinney, are between 16 and 24. They are willing to adjust to a structured lifestyle while living on campus, abide by zero tolerance for drugs, alcohol and sexual harassment, and stay motivated to get jobs and change their lives.

In addition to room and board, students receive vocational training, GED
classes and tutoring, driver's education and social skills training. They
also receive career planning, guidance, transition and assistance with
placement.

Examples of Brown's successes can be seen walking across the Job Corps
campus. As she took a patient's blood pressure, nursing student Kate Okwesa
said Brown treats her just like a daughter.

"She supports me, she encourages me, talks to me, sends me cards, prays for
me," said Okwesa, 19.

To Chandrea Miller, 21, also a nursing student, Brown is a surrogate parent.

"She made sure that we had everything," said Miller, an orphan, as she
reviewed a chart at a nursing station. "It was exciting to know that you do
have a helping hand whenever you need it."

Earlier in the day, Brown said that instilling a sense of purpose in the
clients boils down to the metaphor of water.

"I tell them that water is very significant to me," she said. "It cleanses.
As long as I hear that water flowing and you hear that water flowing, it
reminds me that God gives us a second chance."

*Smith is a freelance writer in Dallas. This article includes information
from the North Texas Annual Conference Web site, www.ntcumc.org.

News media contact: Ginny Underwood, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5124 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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