God has Fred Browning's Full Attention
Steve Dennie
July 1995
Fred's grandparents homesteaded in southern Idaho, and he grew up there. Although he was raised in the church, by the time he turned 18, he'd had enough. "I'd seen too many hypocrites, and I didn't want that. Everything with me has to be real. I'm not interested in playing games."
So he did his own thing for a while. He married his childhood sweatheart, Jeannie, and moved to Oregon, where he hired on with a cattle outfit as a cowhand. He also broke horses, and rode in the rodeo. "I ate a lot of dirt, and found out I wasn't as taught as I thought I was." He still thinks he could ride a bronc, if it wasn't for the heart attack he had earlier this year which pretty much curtailed any thought of the idea.
After a few years of that, he turned to logging.
He did his own thing for eight years. Then in 1964, at age 26, Jeannie left him. His life fell apart.
"I came from a separated family, and vowed that would never happen in my family. But it did. It brought me to my knees. That was my breaking point. God allowed it to get my attention. He loves us so much that he will do whatever it takes to get our attention. If you're hard-headed like I was--like I am--it may take a little more to get your attention, but he will get your attention. He loves you that much.
"I knew I had to have God--a real God, not the God I had seen portrayed in the church, who didn't interest me. I began crying out to God. I told him that if He was real, I needed to know, because I didn't want anything fake. When he came into my heart, he made himself real, and I've never looked back."
* * * * * *
Although the Lord took him back, Jeannie didn't. In fact, she didn't want anything to do with him. He'd call on the phone, but she wouldn't talk. He tried to tell her he'd become a Christian, but she wasn't a Christian, so it didn't mean much. He didn't know what to do.
Then one day she called and said she was ready to come home. "I tried to get her to go to church, but she wasn't interested. She would slam the door and curse me. I was frustrated; I didn't know what to do. But I kept going to church and taking the kids.
"Then one day she met an old man on the street who had ministered in her mother's church some years back. He invited her to come to his church--not the one I was attending, but a different one. If she was willing to go to church, I was willing to change churches. She finally gave her heart to the Lord, and has been going strong ever since.
"Jeannie is my best friend. We work well together. In the church she is my right-hand person, because she's always there making sure things get done and people get called. She does most of the ministering to women."
Jeannie is also a talented singer, performing at conventions all over the place for Women's Aglow, Full Gospel Businessmen, and other groups.
That's sort of what led them to the United Brethren church.
* * * * * *
Fred and Jeannie became very involved in the church where Jeannie accepted Christ. He served as Sunday school superintendent, and she directed the choir. Then they moved to another part of Idaho, and Fred began filling in for pastors and doing whatever else was needed.
Eventually, they ended up living In remote logging camps in Alaska. ("I go nowhere without my wife," Fred says. "You hire me, you hire my wife. That's the way it is.") They might be an hour by air to the nearest town. You call into town and tell them what you want in the way fo clothing or groceries, and they ship it to you by air (though it may not be the brand you asked for.
Fred loved logging, whether he was doing it in Idaho or Alaska. He handled Caterpillar equipment some, but mostly drove huge off-road logging trucks. He's always felt comfortable with machinery, and it never takes him long to figure out how to run something.
Altogether, they spent eight years in Alaska. "I started a Bible study group in a logging camp, and it turned into more of a church. Some people were converted. You've got to portray a picture to loggers. They watch you like a hawk."
Like Floyd. Fred worked with him for six years. Years later, Floyd came to him and said, "I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ yesterday, and I want you to be the first to know."
That shocked Fred.
"It wasn't so much what you said," Floyd told him later, "but how you acted. I watched you. And what you said, you backed up in your life the best you could. That's what drew me."
They intended to stay in Alaska. Fred had worked himself up the ladder and had a good retirement waiting. But they gave it up so he could become the pastor of a small church.
* * * * * *
The Cream Ridge United Brethren church invited Jeannie to sing one Sunday night. There, Fred met a lady there he had known 20 years before.
"I had a dream, and I saw you somehow involved with this church," the lady told Fred.
He thought, You've got the wrong fellow.
Then he started talking with a fellow he'd worked with years before.
"Our pastor resigned, and we're looking for a new one. Are you interested?" he asked Fred.
Fred said he wasn't. He had a good job and was close to retirement. He had a lot of excuses.
"Will you pray about it?" the man asked.
Fred said, "I'll pray that you find the right man."
That night, Fred began praying about the idea, and endured a miserable night. So did Jeannie. They realized God had something in mind for them at Cream Ridge. Before long, he had been named pastor.
"I don't believe in the starchiness of being a pastor. When I step behind the pulpit, I'm not starchy, but I am very serious about what I do. I preach from the front of the church to the back of the church. I walk around. I have a good time. But when I'm with the congregation, I'm just plain Fred, no different from anyone else.
* * * * * *
"When I asked the Lord to make himself real to me, I didn't want any fakery. I wanted to be what he wanted me to be. So when I read the Word of God and see that there needs to be a change in my life, I ask him to help me. I know I cannot change myself, or I would have been a good boy to start with. I rely on him and his spirit to change me.
"I'm drawn to the common man, the working man, whether he works with his hands, is a logger, farmer, or construction worker. I find myself reaching alcoholics and drug addicts--people nobody else wants anything to do with. I don't go after church people. If you come to my church from another church, I'll encourage you to not leave your church. I won't turn you away, but I'm not looking for church people. I'm looking for people who are hurting, who want reality in their life."
"I see so many people who are hurting, who will never be able to turn their lives around without help. I can't do anything for them, but I know who can, so I reach to those people.
"I'm bored at the typical church Bible study, because we just rehash the same things we've hashed for 40 years. But I can go down the street and find kids just walking, fighting, drinking, whatever. They have no direction in their life. There's a church on every corner, but nobody's reaching out to these kids. I'm just crazy enough to go talk to them, even though I come up short I a lot of areas. I want to tell them about my Jesus.
"My witness is pretty straightforward. I don't mince too many words. I just spit it out the way it is. I won't cram it down your throat. But I will, in some way, let you know about Jesus Christ.
"I'm point blank about what I believe. I believe in living a pure life. And I believe in a true repentance. You can be sorry for something, but to repent means you turn around and go the other way; a change comes in your life. If there's no change, I have some questions to ask you. That's the way I am. Don't play with me; let's get serious."
Fred recalls a man he'd known for 20-some years who left the church and descended into alcoholism. As it turned out, the man got thrown in jail in Fred's town. The jailer, who attended Fred's church, told him about the guy.
Fred walked in to see him and got right to the point. "There's no need of me playing games with you. You know the Word as well as I do. Do you want to repent of this thing and start anew?"
"Yes, I do," the man said.
Fred led him through the sinner's prayer, and asked God to set him free of alcoholism. That was last July. The man hasn't had a drink since, and has been walking with the Lord. His life was totally turned around.
"I tell people that I may not have all the answers, but I know my God, and I know what he can do. I believe he can do anything."
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