Today we’d like to introduce you to Valerie Brown.
Hi Valerie, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
This story is about how God gave me a vision to build a church and to start a new ministry to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others.
Over 17 years ago I had a dream that I was passing through Zellwood, FL on the way to Bible Study when I heard the Lord say “you shall build me a house”. So, I received those words from the Lord and it made me feel amazed that God would task me to do something so incredible like that. So, after having that dream I then go and tell the members at the current church that I am attending where my Late husband was pastoring at (St. James AME Church) about the vision that God had just given me.
So from there I had begun to search for the church that God was telling me about. But, I just could not find it. So, after about 2 years and 2 months I decided to open a storefront church in Eustis, FL called New Life House Of Prayer Full Deliverance Church. Once the storefront church opened, I thought that this was the church God was calling me to open.
But later down the road, my Late Husband, The Late Rev. Willie C. Brown Jr, woke me up in the morning, 3 months before he died to tell me that the Lord had spoken to him and said that “the time is now to build a house”. While my husband is telling me this I began to think to myself that I am too old to start a journey of building this house because I was 60 years old at the time. Nevertheless, I still received the word from my husband and went back to sleep as my husband was leaving to go get some coffee.
While I was sleeping, I felt a hand touch me on the shoulder, so I woke up again. I thought it was my husband again, but he was gone and not at the house. But then I heard a voice that said “the time is now to build a house”. I knew that the voice was coming from the Lord. Then I spoke to the Lord and told him that I didn’t know how I was going to complete the task that he was asking me to do.
Furthermore, I had faith and decided to talk to my landlord at the storefront church and told him that I wanted to break the lease. I was afraid that I was going to have to pay a penalty for breaking the lease, but the landlord told me that if I felt that God was leading me to go and leave the storefront location, that I could leave without paying a penalty for breaking the lease. So, from the storefront I began to have church at my house in my living room until the church would be built. I had church at my house for a little over a year.
While I was having church at my house I decided to officially establish my church. So, I submitted the paperwork that I needed to establish the church with the help of my daughter in laws. However, the paperwork that I had submitted was denied. So, I revised the paperwork but it got denied again. Therefore, I decided to get a lawyer to help me officially establish the church. After a long process with the help of my lawyer the church was officially established. New Life House Of Prayer Full Deliverance Church, INC.
After the church was officially established I had begun to start the process of building the church that God was telling me about. So, after great thought I decided that the church would be located in Mount Dora, FL. Therefore, I began to find land to build the church on and also draw out the blueprints for the church with the help of my son John.
Once the land had been found I began to start building the church. While in the process of beginning to build the church I realized that I did not have enough money to build the church. This made me feel so discouraged that I had come this far just to not complete the build, but I kept believing what God had told me. So I told myself that I had to keep pressing through. Therefore, I went to a pawn shop to sell everything that I had including all of my diamond and gold rings, necklaces, earrings, etc. My loving son John and my loving daughter Tasha also contributed to help me finish the build.
While building the church one day a man came and said that God had sent him there to help finish the building of the church. Therefore, he told me that he would help finish putting up all the walls, the ceilings and anything else that needed to be done for only under a thousand dollars. I had never seen this guy before, but I trusted him because I needed the help. After the completion of the church, I never saw the gentlemen again. Thinking of Hebrews 13:2 (Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it), I believed the gentleman was an angel.
Now that the church had been finished being built. It was time to purchase the furniture, PA system, Microphones, Musical Instruments, etc. for the church. So I prayed and everything began to fall in place. Mostly everything was donated to the church, from the Musical instruments to the pews. I had used a pulpit and speakers that I used in street revivals and I took old chairs and reupholstered them to make them look new.
Finally after 21 years the dream / vision had come to pass. After all that I had gone through I felt like a nobody, that was trying to tell everybody about somebody who can save anybody.
I then had the grand opening of the church and it made me feel so overjoyed that words could not describe how I felt. The Co-Pastor and I marched in the new sanctuary that Sunday, and had a marvelous service. I also preached the first sermon, which was so powerful.
Now after almost 14 years New Life House Of Prayer is a growing church in Mt. Dora, FL with the mission to “reach the lost, disciple the found, and empower believers to fulfill their God-given destiny.” I believe that New Life House Of Prayer will continue to succeed for many years to come.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
While I was in the process of building, people within the community would go to the Mount Dora City Council meetings to try to stop the building of the church. Nevertheless, the city council voted for me to continue the building of the church. People would also say negative things to me about the building of the church. For example, a lady had come and told me that a Pastor had died before he could see his church that he was building be finished. This made me feel so upset knowing that my husband had just passed away a few years ago. In spite of all the negativity I focused on the positivity and looked ahead and finished the church.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have been in ministry sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with others for over 45 years now, and have been pastoring at New Life House Of Prayer for almost 14 years. I started off doing prison ministry, street revivals, evangelism, and traveling to different churches preaching the gospel.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://newlifehouseofprayer.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewLifeHouseOfPrayer1/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@newlifehouseofprayer
