Positions: Pastor. Evangelist. Field Secretary and Ministerial Secretary of the Columbia Union Conference. GC Field Secretary. Speaker-Director of Breath of Life Ministries. Chaplain.
So much “life” to celebrate here. Well done, Pastor Brooks!
Command Presence
+++++++++++++++
I was a student missionary from Newbold College in Lagos, Nigeria in 1974 when CD Brooks ran a Field School of Evangelism and then an evangelistic series.
From my perspective he was a man who had command presence, an eloquent preacher and totally committed to his message. He was most gracious to converse and answer questions from a ‘nobody’ theology student. - Edgar
We just don’t make them like that, anymore. A great model whose life is not emulated by enough young pastors. He was a dignified, patient, and publicly modest man.
One of God’s noblemen for sure! A great loss to the Advent movement! The special resurrection awaits.
Kevin, I heartily concur with your comments about Charles D. Brooks. A great loss indeed.
But against my better judgement, I’m going to call you out on your reference to the “special resurrection”. I’m sure you understand that this has not been an official teaching of the church for a long, long time. It was an aberration in the early Adventist church, born out of a combination of poor biblical exegesis, and a misguided sense of destiny on the part of a couple of the Adventist pioneers.
It rather looks as though you may be using the occasion of a great man’s passing, to wave a flag for this spurious doctrine. I hope I’m wrong.
I was at the 1995 Campmeeting referred to in the article. Elder Brook’s sermon was one of
the most powerful messages I have ever heard. It made Jesus’ 2nd coming a reality, not just
an oft-read promise.
To soon to say Goodbye! tom Z
what an interesting biography…i had always heard of c.d. brooks, and knew his was a breath of life speaker…but i didn’t realize he was such a premier evangelist, and field secretary and vice president for the general conference…what an honor was his to speak at reagan’s inauguration…i was especially interested in his supernatural experiences of hearing a voice tell him what vocation to pursue, and what woman to marry…i’m a true believer in these extraordinary phenomena…
robert, it may be that many adventists no longer believe in the special resurrection - of those who died in the faith of the third angel’s message, and who played a prominent part in christ’s crucifixion and the persecution of his church on earth - but this doesn’t mean it isn’t a distinctly adventist teaching…here’s a clear, relatively recent summary of it by michael stough, a seminary student:
I recall C. D. Brooks coming to Andrews and preaching when I was a young professor there–I thought his messages were exceptionally cogent and inspiring, and I looked forward to hearing them. One of the great Adventist preachers, I think.
Elder C.D. Brooks was a preacher par excellence. When my daughter was in the Pine Forge Academy choir in the late 1980s, he would go to Pine Forge and tape 4 Breath of Life services back-to-back. He would preach a complete 24-minute sermon and have the choir sing for 4 minutes. You did not get a piece of a sermon, but an entire sermon and a musical rendition during every 30 minute broadcast. He was a very gracious man. I met him and his wife several times. I remember him speaking for an entire week around 1998 at New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Jamaica, Queens, NY. Their pastor, James Kelly, Sr., had seen him on Breath of Life TV and said he wanted this “Man of God” to be the first person to occupy the pastoral desk of their newly built church. It was wonderful. Elder Brooks’ life is a testament to what God can do when one submits their life to Him.
Thank you Spectrum, for giving us the life sketch of C.D. Brooks, a renowned evangelist whose life and ministry would have otherwise been lost into oblivion. For the man that he was and all his accomplishments, I wish we could go a step further and post his life record on wikipedia so that more and more people can get to know about this great servant of God.
Thanks for your effort nevertheless.