c. 2006 Religion News Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. _ On a chilly Saturday afternoon, evangelist John Brown, also known as “Jesus Man,” holds a microphone to his mouth and melodically chirps out a sermon in a Jamaican accent as cars go by on Lakeshore Drive.

“The reason why I’m here is because God put me here,” Brown said. “What is wrong with one righteous man in the street telling people about God? I’m only a servant.”

For five years, Brown has been preaching nearly every Saturday afternoon along Lakeshore Drive, at the intersection of Interstate 65. “People cuss me up,” he said. “Some come by and shake my hand.”

For anyone who asks, Brown will show off his teeth, which are embossed with gold letters that spell out the word “Jesus.”

Sometimes, his 12-year-old son, Isaiah, sits behind him and plays the drums as Brown preaches. Brown features a repertoire of 4-foot-wide signs and banners. “I got 100 signs,” he said. They bear such slogans as, “If you love Jesus, honk; if you don’t, pull over,” and “Make some noise for Jesus!”

Some people think Brown makes too much noise for Jesus.

“This creates quite a distraction and road hazard for people who are driving by,” Michael Cook of Alabaster wrote in a recent letter to The Birmingham News, complaining about Brown.

Brown said people harass him and undermine his right to free speech.

“A policeman came by and told me to leave,” he said.

Brown said he refused, in emulation of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. He said it’s a public area, and he’ll preach there if he wants, exercising his freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

“I’ll go to jail,” he said. “I’m not leaving. They want to blame me for some accident that happened at the light. I didn’t cause it. They want to blame me for something I didn’t do.”

As for his critics, Brown has harsh words.

“They go to church, but there’s no God in them,” he said. “They want to put God in a closet and hide behind a religious name on a building. Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel. There is a real hell for those that turn their back on God. If I don’t stand in the street and preach God, I’m not worthy to be called a man of God.”

Brown calls Lakeshore Boulevard prime evangelistic territory.

“That’s the best place,” he said. “I reach everybody up there. They have to stop at the light, and they have to hear the word.”

He also preaches in East Lake on Wednesdays and by the Farmer’s Market on Finley Avenue on Fridays.

“The best part of the ministry is the children,” he said. “They wave their hand. A couple call me a looney. They say I was crazy. Some give me the one-hand dirty talk.”

Brown, 66, was born in Jamaica, moved to Miami in 1962, attended Bible school in New Jersey, and said he has been in Birmingham for 32 years.

His wife, Rosemarie Brown, has a job at Birmingham-Southern College.

In 2003, two houses that Brown owned on Eighth Avenue West burned down. Brown was either a relative or landlord to 20 people living in the houses. He has been building one of the houses back.

“I was not insured,” he said. “My Cadillac car, fully paid for, was burned up. I lost over $200,000, everything I had.”

In addition to his former rental income, Brown has done odd jobs of remodeling and carpentry to make money.

“I make it by faith,” he said, adding that people generally do not give him donations for his street preaching.

“It’s not about money,” he said. “I ain’t got none.”

Brown is also a pastor. He preaches at a church in Five Points West called Power of God Deliverance Ministry, where he leads worship on Sundays and Bible studies on Tuesdays.

“I want to win souls for the Lord,” he said. “It’s all about Jesus, and they call me `The Jesus Man.”’

He said he got U.S. citizenship in 1968. He spent seven years in New York City, studying at Deliverance Bible Institute in Brooklyn. It was in a Brooklyn church, after praying and fasting, that he had his encounter with the Lord, he said.

“My hand began to shake; my body began to tremble,” he said. “Yes, sir! I seek God. Oh, Hallelujah! They thought I was crazy! I shouted, `I’m free.’ I ran down the street. Jesus set me free. Something began to break in me. They thought I was crazy. I’ve been put out of church many times. I’m getting more crazy now.”

Brown used the name Gilpin as his last name for many years, based on a pet name his grandmother gave him in Jamaica, he said.

His daughter, Sheila Whetstone, said her father has one daughter who was born before he left Jamaica, then six children (plus one who died in childbirth) with her mother, Tina Gilpin, whom he divorced after 21 years of marriage.

“When mom died, he didn’t go to the funeral,” Whetstone said. “He said it was time for him to be out in the street. It takes priority over everything.”

Brown admits he skipped the funeral.

“I’m going to let nobody stop me,” he said. “I believe God comes first.”

Whetstone said Brown’s children understand that he puts his preaching first.

“He’s done this ever since I can remember,” Whetstone said. “We went to housing projects. We had church meetings in the yard. We were his choir. I don’t think he’s crazy. We accept that he’s dedicated to what he does.”

Brown said his youngest child, Isaiah Brown, was born during his second marriage, which lasted about 10 years. He married his third wife, Rosemarie, four years ago, he said. He said he fathered three children out of wedlock in Jamaica, but two of the children died as infants. He said he’s had 10 children, seven of whom are living.

Being a street preacher in Birmingham has its down sides, Brown said, such as the heat, the cold, the rain and the car exhaust. “Your breath tastes like rotten eggs from all the mufflers,” he said.

But Brown said he feels the protection of God.

“The Lord protects me, man. It’s all about Jesus, man, Jesus Christ, and him crucified for men to have life and abundant life. It’s not about First Baptist, Second Baptist or Church of God. It’s about Jesus, man.”

MO/JL END RNS

(Greg Garrison writes for The Birmingham News in Birmingham, Ala.)

Editors: To obtain a photo of John Brown, “Jesus Man,” go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.