Tom Brown, 1962

Testimony by Tom Brown 1962 – Previous Director of Family Services

My earliest recollection of hearing about the Lord was when I was a child. Every evening at bedtime my mother would gather her ten children
around her and pray with them. However, my father always had beer in the refrigerator, and I was introduced to it at a very early age. As a young
man, I enlisted in the Air Force, serving in Guam, Europe and Alaska. After these tours of duty, I was given an Honorable Discharge.

Unexpected heartache came into my life, and I turned to the bottle instead of the Lord. I became a drunkard! I didn’t want to disgrace my brothers
and sisters, so I came to the Washington, DC area and hit “Skid Row”. My clothes began to wear out and I was hungry, so I sought help at
Central Union Mission. There I heard the Word of God, and the Lord spoke to my heart in a very real way one night in 1962. I went to the Prayer
Room during the invitation and accepted God as my personal Savior. I entered the program for Mission men, which helped me grow spiritually.

In 1964 Roberta Lynch came into my life. A widow with a daughter, Roberta Jean, and a son, Jimmy, she joined the Mission staff and became
Assistant Director of Mothers’ and Children’s Ministries. The Lord gave me I Corinthians 2:9 (“But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”) which He fulfilled in an amazing
way. On March 4, 1966, Roberta and I were married and moved to Virginia. The Lord blessed our marriage with another son, Tommy. Today we have three wonderful children and four precious grandchildren. Roberta is now Director of Family Services at the Mission, and all three of us are
members of a Baptist church in Virginia. Praise the Lord! Great things He hath done!