Kentucky by Heart: Detours made destination more satisfying for preacher Dean Brewer

We baptized 31 people the first year I was there,” he said, smiling. Part of that success is likely the fact that he reaches out to people there and in the Cowan community. Logging his visits, given mostly at hospitals, he found that he made 914 connections in 2014. That takes a lot of time, and the mileage accumulated on his car, with gas paid from his own pocket, is a pretty sizeable number. People around Cowan notice.

“He is always very busy visiting people who are in need,” said church member Ramona Barbee. Fellow member Beverly Strausbaugh calls him “the absolute best and most caring person you can ask for…a true Godsend.”

By most accounts, Dean appears to be a highly effective influence in his role as a local pastor, though he deflects that praise and gives credit to the people who participate at Pleasant Ridge Christian Church. He talks about the talents the congregation possesses, and the nice variety of job backgrounds they have, which enriches the church. The members praise his spiritual leadership.

“He saved our little country church from having to close our doors,” said Becky Wallingford. Being a good example can bring those kinds of results.

That’s not bad for a guy who didn’t even attend a church while a youngster growing up in rural Menifee County, and whose father was an alcoholic who died tragically when he caught himself on fire while, probably, smoking as he sat under a shade tree. Dean’s success at the church is not bad for a person who, after serving a stint in the United States Air Force, worked a total of 36 years for the Hostess and Frito-Lay food companies, and had no seminary training to prepare him for preaching. And not bad for a person who, Dean admitted, “fell out of church in 1998 and walked out on my wife after 32 years. I was addicted to gambling on horse racing.”

But perhaps his personal failings–almost two decades ago–give impetus to his drive to encourage, and to share the idea that there can be second chances in life, and that his personal example provides hope. Dean doesn’t hide from it. “I let people know who I am,” he’ll tell you. After seven years, Dean did reconnect with his wife, and he resumed the part-time church ministering he began back in 1974, when he preached his first sermon at the Maxwell Street Christian Church, in Lexington. It was during the next year, he said… “after I got saved.”

The results of that first sermon, ironically, far surpassed his expectations. Speaking with a grin, he noted: “Eight responded and I baptized two people, and I thought, ‘My gosh, this is easy’…but I found out later things are a little harder than that.” Nevertheless, he was hooked with the preaching bug and began a string of church minister positions.

While working full-time at his day job, he would spend two years as the part-time preacher at the Sulphur Well Christian Church, in Jessamine County, and the membership grew. He followed by preaching for three years at Mt. Pleasant Christian Church in Madison County, adding new members. Moving on to another opportunity, Dean left and spent the next three years at Mt. Eden Christian Church, located on Tates Creek Road not far from the Valley View Ferry, on the Kentucky River. The church grew there, too.

But in 1987 or ’88, Dean doesn’t recall what year for sure, the rigors of both a full-time and challenging part-time job caused him to put aside pastoring for a long while. “I got burned out,” he said, “and quit preaching for a while.”

And as already mentioned, the gambling problem emerged and the split with his wife occurred. But as time passed, a change would again come in Dean’s life path. In 2005, he initiated (or Dean would say “the Holy Spirit initiated”) a renewal of his faith life.

“On Jan. 29, 2005, I went before 10,000 people at the Southeast Christian Church in Louisville and rededicated my life,” he said. That decision coincided with his remarriage. He also followed that with many years of faithful service, mostly volunteer, at Lexington’s Gardenside Christian Church before taking the Pleasant Ridge position. And, it appears that Dean Brewer is solidly living out his commitment today, in bountiful abundance.

Becky Wallingford sums up his influence at the church this way. “He is one of the most thoughtful, dedicated and deeply faithful people I have had the pleasure of knowing. He is a good preacher. He gets his message across and keeps you smiling.”

Sometimes detours along the way make the destination even more satisfying. Ask Dean Brewer.

Fleming County was home for a couple of noted American military heroes. A sailor, Edwin Alva Clary, Foxport, was a U.S. Naval Medal of Honor recipient in 1910. Marine Franklin Sousley, Hilltop, was part of the iconic World War II flag raiser photograph snapped in 1945 by Joe Rosenthal on the island of Iwo Jima. Sousley is buried in the Elizaville Cemetery in Fleming County.

I wrote about Tom White, who led a drive to establish a larger, easier-to-find gravestone honoring Sousley at the cemetery, in my most recent book, Kentucky’s Everyday Heroes #4 (Butler Books). There are several books written about Sousley’s life, including from Hilltop to Mountaintop: The Life and Legacy of One Iwo Jima Flag Raiser (Acclaim Publishing, 2010), authored by Ron Elliott.

Northern Kentucky native Steve Flairty is a teacher, public speaker and an author of six books: a biography of Kentucky Afield host Tim Farmer and five in the Kentucky’s Everyday Heroes series, including a kids’ version. His new book, “Kentucky’s Everyday Heroes #4,” has recently been released and is available for purchase here. Steve is a senior correspondent for Kentucky Monthly, as well as a weekly KyForward and NKyTribune columnist and a member of the Kentucky Humanities Council Speakers Bureau. Read his past columns for excerpts from all his books. him at sflairty2001@yahoo.com or friend him on Facebook. (Steve’s photo by Connie McDonald)