Q: Pastor Lonnel Brinson, Good morning and welcome back to Rochester!
A: It is a good morning, and it is great to be back home, all grown up married with three children and Pastoring at the Redeeming Word Christian Center.
Q: How exciting for you and your family. Will you share with our readers, where you are coming back from?
A: Definitely. I am a Rochester native, grew up here, I was a teenager we when moved down to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. My parents are Pastor Ed and Evette Brinson of Redeeming Word Christian Center International Central Location. They planted that church in 1992, and it has since grown it into a mega church.
Q: Tell us, is your church here in Rochester connected with the one that your parents minister in Fort Lauderdale?
A: Oh yes! We are very much connected to that church. Redeeming Word Christian Center is deemed to be, if you will a satellite of that church. Understanding, that there are drastic differences between South Florida and New York. So we run things just a little bit differently, and we like to call it, “The Rock.”
Q: Pastor Brinson, Did you always feel that you would one day lead a congregation?
A: Absolutely not. For myself being what most people would deem to be a PK, Pastor’s kid or Preacher’s kid my road was very sketchy to say the least. The very last thing that I ever thought I would be doing is pastoring. I’m a former troubled youth, did everything you can name, and the very last thing I thought I would be doing was pastoring. It was actually later on in my years that I actually came to Christ. I think I was twenty-four years old, when somehow, through the love of God, the mercy of God, He just began to deal with me as a young adult. Actually, I did not come into pastoring until about, twelve years ago.
Q: So will you tell, how bad it got for you? Were there family members concerned and thinking that you were just lost and had bottomed out?
A: Yes, and well that’s exactly what took place. I bottomed out. I had spent many years trying to do everything that I could to run away from God. But one day, after many days of feeling alone and lost, I felt somehow drawn to look at and to really see myself in a mirror. What can I say? (smile) just like that! I was no longer alone, literally felt the spirit and presence of God. He just began to speak to me, asking me questions. There was no brow beating, no pressure, he asked “What are you doing? Why are you here?… His words were still so clear when my phone rang, it was a call from my Godmother, Sister Dean. This was a woman I had not talked to in over twenty years, I did not even know she had my current phone number, yet she called me and literally began offer words from the Lord. I’ll never forget it, she literally said “The Lord told me to tell you that He Misses You” When she said that, and the way she that! (deep breath)… I was done.
Q: He came when you were alone and lost looking at yourself in the mirror?
A: That’s right, it was the old me.
Q: Thank you for sharing that with us. Now share, what keeps the new you going? What is your passion?
A: Well, my passion is people. You know growing up, it was not normally a popular thing, to say that your passion is people and that you care about people. As I was saying before I spent my life trying to run from and hide that passion and actually pretended that it wasn’t so. But I now realize that this care, this love for people is actually a gift from God and so my passion is people. I am committed to trying to help people understand just how much God loves them. I want to introduce them to a loving God. That’s my passion.
Q: You talked about being a young person and having a sketchy past. Would you agree, that our world, our environment has changed so, that today’s youth may be dealing with struggles of higher intensity than times of your youth? And if so, how does your church attempt to minister this population?
A: Yes, I very much agree and what we’re doing in hopes of addressing their issues, is sponsoring a project called The H.E.L.P. Center. God gave me this plan. Within this plan we intend to give young people the tools that they need, social skills, vocational skills, educational skills so that they’ll be able to not only see what can be better, but they’ll actually have the tools to do better.
Q: The letters H.E.L.P. stand for?
A: Through H.E.L.P. we are aiming to restore H.-hope through a process of E.-empowerment, and once youth are given the tools to feel the empowered, a lot of times what happens is they may see better but they may need a little bit of L.-love as well, the love of God and yes, also a little tough love to get them on the right track. And the last letter is P.-Purpose. Once you give them the Hope, the Empowerment, and the Love that they need now they are restored back to their original God-Given Purpose, and that is what has been lost. If a young lady or a young man have no purpose, they don’t know what to do with their lives, so they struggle along and look for a better lives and love in all the wrong ways and all the wrong places.
Q: An effort to restore hope, is this center open and running now?
A: Right now we are working on our special permit that will allow us to open up the facility on the church grounds. Currently we have our sanctuary, an apartment building, three homes on the property and a two-story building adjacent to the church, in this building we are housing young men and will be supporting them through this project.
Q: How does Redeeming Word Christian Center engage area residents?
A: Well, I am glad you asked that. Neighborhood outreach efforts, have allowed us to put on movie nights, sponsor block parties, give away turkeys for Thanksgiving, offer vacation bible school, are a designated site for Narcotics Anonymous. We have actually brought ponies and things of that nature right to the hood. When we get the HELP Center going we’ll facilitate GED classes on the property. Right now four days a week, Redeeming Word Christian Center offers meals to the hungry.
Q: Okay Pastor Brinson, can you let us in on what you with your spare time?
A: (Laughs) Yes, Well, right now I am an active member of the Clergy on Patrol, and just recently have been assigned to the advisory board for Mayor Warren’s, Brother’s Keeper Program, I also hold the seat of vice president, of the MOG Organization.
Q: MOG Organization?
A: Yes. Men of God.
Q: My Goodness, when do you sleep? You don’t have to answer that. But let me ask Pastor Brinson, how are you getting all of this done??
A: (Laughs) Well, we are a growing congregation, and I am not ministering alone. Other than myself and my beautiful wife Ylrel Brinson who I owe God to this day for, I have Jose and Janet Ortiz, his family transitions with me. And of course we have the blessing of faithful members who serve where needed.
Q:. It is clear that you are doing more than just sharing God’s good news. And I am going to let you get back to trying to make it all happen. This is my last question. Do you have a vision for your church to ban together with one or multiple churches for a singular event?
A: Work in faith based partnerships, to do the work of One God, most definitely! You know, Jesus was very plain and clear about that in John: 17 when he says “Lord Make Us One”… Our motto at Redeeming Word Christian Center is, “Love God, love people, see lives change by the power of God, which we know is the love of God.” So we try to at every hand to connect with any church that is about doing the work of ministry. To name a few, currently we are affiliated with Victory Church and The Father’s House.
Q: Pastor Brinson, I am grateful that you allowed us a glimpse of what is to be expected from tour ministry at the Redeeming Word Christian Center. Is there anything else that you would like to share?
A: I appreciate being asked, and would just like to invite everyone to come to “The Rock”. If they are looking for a church home or if it is just to visit. I want it known, that we are a religious-free, judgment-free zone.
