Long-time Missouri Baptist Convention staffer Webster C. Brown, 85, of Columbia, died May 28 at Lenoir Woods Health Care Center.
Services will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 30, at Calvary Baptist Church in Columbia, with burial following in Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation is from 9 a.m. Friday until the time of services at the church. A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 31, in Epple Chapel at Lenoir Woods.
Brown was born to Elmer Brown and Scynthia Croy on Aug. 10, 1922, in Daviess County, near Jameson. He was an only child. He earned a bachelor of science degree in agriculture from the University of Missouri and a master of divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.
He married Elizabeth Hartley in Columbia on Nov. 15, 1942. She survives.
Brown taught vocational agricultural at Holden High School for four years and then became an International Harvester implement dealer there. Shortly after that, he surrendered to vocational ministry.
While in seminary, Brown served as pastor of Hopewell Baptist Church in Madison, Ind. He also served First Baptist Church in Fayette and Calvary Baptist Church in Columbia.
While at Calvary, Brown was co-chair of the Missouri Baptist College campaign, area chair for Missouri Baptists in stewardship development, a member of the MBC Executive Board and a member of the board of directors for the Missouri Baptist Building Fund.
In 1966 he joined the MBC staff as director of the church service division and held various roles during his 21 years on staff. In 1981, he was named missions division director, overseeing missions, student work, work with National Baptists and later evangelism.
He was known at the MBC and Southern Baptist Convention levels as an effective long-range planner.
Brown was instrumental in the development of Baptist work in Iowa. He worked in an advisory role with leaders there, and served several months in 1985 as interim executive director of the Iowa Southern Baptist Fellowship.
He retired from MBC in 1987. He and his wife were then appointed by the Home Mission Board and served for three years, retiring again in 1990. In the latter role, he served as a new work consultant in Missouri.
In 1995, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Home Mission Board, the agency honored 50 people who had made outstanding contributions to stateside mission work. Brown was among them as “one who helped missions happen in Missouri.”
The family requests that contributions be made to The Baptist Home, P.O. Box 87, Ironton, MO 63650-9989, or LSS at Lenoir Woods Benevolent Care, 3710 Lenoir St., Columbia, MO 65201.
Tributes may be made online at www.memorialfuneralhomeandcemetery.com.
