PHWM Board Members

Testimony-Deidra Brown

I was blessed to grow up in a Christian home, where church was a priority.  I accepted Christ as my Savior when I was nine years old and was baptized the following summer in the Chestatee River.

I continued in the church where the gospel was preached.  We were instructed to tell others about Christ but it never went past our own Jerusalem not Judea, Samaria nor the uttermost part of the world.  I was very active in the church but lacked discipleship.

After graduating from the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy, I began my pharmacy career with the Indian Health Service (IHS) in Anchorage, Alaska.  I was active in a Baptist Church there but it wasn't until I transferred to Salem, Oregon, that I was first introduced to Baptist missionaries.  At this church, I had the opportunity to befriend, house and be blessed by missionaries.  In 1993 at a missions conference in that church, I surrendered to go wherever God wanted me to go.  One month later, a job offer came up in Juneau, Alaska.  The job would be a promotion and great opportunity for advancement.  I was sure God was leading me to move.  Little did I know that God had bigger and better plans for me than to move up the corporate ladder.

In Alaska, I had the opportunity to go to Japan to rebuild a Baptist church and Bible school that had been destroyed in the earthquake.  I think I really comprehended the urgent need for missionaries when I saw the hopelessness of the Japanese people.  This experience was eye opening and life changing.  The following fall, the Lord began directing me to go into full time Christian service, to give up my career and to follow Him.  I doubted that He would really call me.  I was struggling for answers and had an opportunity to return to Japan. The first sermon I heard once I arrived in Japan was from I Chronicles 28:10-"take heed now; for the Lord hath chosen thee...be strong and do it."  Those words rang out over and over in my head.  At that point, I knew I had to obey, just step out on faith and follow Him.  He gave me Psalm 16:11 "Thou will show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."  I had the pharmacy part down, now I needed more Bible training.  The Lord directed me to Temple Baptist seminary, where I received my Master of Ministry.

In 1999, I began working as a medical missionary, using medicine as a tool to share the gospel.  I organize and lead short team medical mission teams to third world countries to facilitate sharing the gospel.  I work with missionaries on the field to establish areas of greatest need or a place where a new potential work may be started.  My goal is to reach as many people for Christ as possible and to enable more church members to experience missions first hand through short term medical mission teams.  The world is looking for answers, for peace, and for healing.  As a pharmacist, the Lord has called me to take the Prescription, Jesus Christ, to a hurting world.