Bishop Carlton Theophilus Brown has been in full time ministry since 1987. He was installed as the Senior Pastor of Bethel Gospel Assembly, Inc., in Harlem, New York in February, 2000 and consecrated to the office of Bishop in February 2008. As a visionary and servant leader the ministry of Bethel Gospel Assembly - a Loving, Learning and Launching Church with 1200 members and more than 40 auxiliaries – continues to expand and impact the world for Christ.
His secular training led him to the fulfillment of his dream in becoming a teacher with the New York City Board of Education. He served in that capacity from 1978 until the Lord called him into full-time ministry in October of 1987.
Bishop Brown received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Herbert Lehman College and later pursued graduate work at New York University and at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary – New York Center. He is currently completing a Master’s Degree at Alliance Theological Seminary in New York and graduation anticipated in May, 2008.
Bishop Brown’s ministry has opened the doors for extensive travel throughout the world. He has served in short term missions’ assignments and has been a conference and crusade speaker overseas in Azerbaijan, Russia, Cuba, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Panama, South Africa, Venezuela, Jamaica, St. Vincent, Trinidad, Barbados and Aruba, as well as around the United States.
As a visionary Pastor, he founded Bethel Gospel Assembly Ministries which includes six churches in Transkei, South Africa. In addition he has founded Bethel Gospel Global Assemblies under which seven churches have been planted with locations in the Bronx, NY; Hackensack, NJ; Paterson, NJ, Stockbridge GA and Norfolk, VA. Bethel Gospel Global Assemblies also provides oversight to over 25 ministries in the Caribbean, South Africa and Harlem, New York. The Bethel Community Development Corporation (CDC) was also established under his leadership to serve as the umbrella organization for future for-profit initiatives. In October 2004 the Northeast Regional Great Commission Conference (NRGCC) was inaugurated to equip leadership and laity of the local church to transform their urban and global community through their commitment to fulfill “The Great Commission”. Also in 2004, the Christ Community Action Initiative (CCAI) was formed to address the need for advocacy on behalf of those who have been marginalized, ostracized and/or disenfranchised. He has also expanded Bethel’s short-term missions’ involvement to include medical missions to countries such as Venezuela, Nigeria, Santo Domingo and South Africa. He also launched three full-time missionaries in the last seven years; one to South Africa, one to St. Vincent and one to Jamaica - Dr. Ruth Onukwue, Rev. Cecilio Mitchell and Pastor Ridley Buchanan respectively. And he also gives oversight to several churches in Venezuela.
In January 2006, he established the Bethel Gospel Assembly Trust in Northwest Province, South Africa. Bethel also dedicated its 364 acre Harmony Estates Project in South Africa which houses a church, Christian boarding school, Youth Resource Center, and skills training program. Bishop Brown also oversees a Christian School and a recent church plant in Jamaica, West Indies with plans to launch other educational institutions with the help of God. In response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, he established the Katrina Strategic Action Commission (K-SAC), a two year commission to strategically reach out to those in the Gulf Coast states who desperately needed our help. In 2006, the state-of-the-art Becoming God’s Answer Bookstore, Inc. was completed and dedicated. Additionally a 2000-seat sanctuary is being built on the Fifth Avenue side of the existing city square block of property and is slated to be dedicated in the fall of 2008.
Bishop Brown can be heard on Bethel’s weekly radio broadcast: Becoming God’s Answer, each Sunday at 6:30 a.m. on WLIB 1190 and now on Tuesday morning at 8:30 a.m. WMCA 790 in the New York tri-state area and also each Sunday evening in Greenville, South Carolina on WELP 1360.
Besides giving leadership to Bethel Gospel Assembly, Inc., and its affiliated ministries, Bishop Brown currently serves on the board of Concerts of Prayer of Greater New York, Nyack College Manhattan Center, and the Advisory Board of North General Hospital. He is also a Clergy Liaison with the New York City Police Department. Additionally he is the Chairman of the Board of Beth-Hark Christian Care Center and Vice Chairman and CEO of Urban Global Mission Alliance, a ministry geared towards promoting the partnership of Churches committed to fulfilling the Great Commission and founded by his predecessor, Bishop Dr. Ezra Nehemiah Williams.
He resides in New York City with his lovely wife, Elder Lorna Iona Bell Brown. They have two adult children, Justin Obinne and Carla Priscilla.
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