Marc Brown: pursuing the high notes, one student at a time

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the Fall 2024 issue of Southwestern News.

Walking through Cowden Hall on any given afternoon is assured to be an uplifting experience. If there is an archetype for a great, campus music hall, with a brilliant, classical artist playing a grand piano or slaving over a piece of sheet music late into the night beside a lamp’s light, the home of the School of Church Music and Worship at Southwestern Seminary is the epitome.

As you walk through its ornate halls and listen to the sounds of various instruments greeting you warmly from countless doors, you are bound to hear the echoes of the voices of the Southwestern A Capella and other student groups coming faintly through the walls.

And where there is a voice singing in that building, you are bound to find Assistant Professor of Church Music Marc Brown.

Brown joined the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary faculty in 2022, but his story leading up to his arrival at the seminary goes back much further. Born in South Carolina, he remembers very clearly when, at 6 years old, he told his initially skeptical parents he had decided to follow Jesus and was ready to be baptized. At that moment he began his journey of faith that eventually brought him to Southwestern.

Brown grew up playing baseball but always had a passion for music, eventually joining his school’s choir before attending Western Kentucky University as a music major. While in college, he married his wife, Cyndi, a fellow music major whom he knew from high school, and it was around this time where he first felt his call to full-time ministry. While in church one day, he spoke with his pastor about it.

“I told my pastor, ‘I feel like God’s calling me to be a minister of music,’” Brown says of that conversation. “He was very wise. He was a Southwesterner, and he said, ‘Let’s just share with the church that you feel that God’s calling [you] to full-time Christian service, and we’ll see how God’s call plays out.’”

Brown followed that calling by choosing to attend Southern Baptist Theological Seminary because of its proximity. He graduated from the seminary in 1996 and enjoys being able to claim Southwestern President David S. Dockery, who was at that time the dean of the School of Theology and provost, as his first systematic theology professor.

Following seminary, Brown served at churches in Indiana and Virginia for the next 15 years before deciding he would pursue a doctorate. This would lead him to the Weber Institute for Worship Studies in Jacksonville, Florida, where he pursued his degree in worship studies. More importantly perhaps, was the impact this journey had on his life as a follower of Christ.

“It didn’t really have anything to do with music,” Brown says, “but rather it had to do with theology, history, philosophy, methodologies, and things like that. It kind of re-awakened in me this real passion for God’s calling in my life, when I had gotten a little bored, a little burned out, and stagnant.”

He and his wife moved back to Kentucky, where he became reacquainted with his old seminary in Louisville as he pursued his PhD. While there, he met Southwestern’s current dean of the School of Church Music and Worship, Joe Crider, and Associate Dean Chuck Lewis. Unbeknownst to Brown, this would be a pivotal moment in his life, as years later it would be Crider who reached out to Brown with an invitation to join the Southwestern faculty.

“He said, ‘Marc, the school here is the only School of Church Music and Worship that still exists” in Southern Baptist seminaries, Brown recalled.

Brown learned that the SCMW continued to hold to the tradition of training students who could teach at an academy, university, or seminary level, as well as those who serve in the churches.

“That fills my soul,” Brown said of Southwestern’s providing such a broad education through SCMW. “There’s so much more, in addition to the ministry and the theology and all that. There’s so much music here, and that means a lot.”

Since 2022, Brown has served at Southwestern. This year, Brown is particularly excited to be taking on a new role atop his current responsibilities as the leader of the Southwestern A Cappella student group, a position which will see him excersising that which he does best: raising his voice in song as he directs, teaches, and encourages his students on how to do the same. Brown has always felt called to lead in singing and finds that is the aspect of music he enjoys most. As such, he is particularly excited about the prospect of leading such a talented group of SCMW students.

“It’s a real honor, and so far, it’s been a real pleasure,” Brown said of this new responsibility. “I’m looking forward to seeing how everything progresses with these students. There is a real nice mix of veterans and new people, and some fun music that has potential to help listeners and worshipers be able to understand God revealing Himself, and maybe even lead them to respond. And that’s what it’s all about for us.”

Students say Brown’s personality of welcoming kindness has been contagious, filling Cowden Hall with an even more uplifting air. For many students, Brown would not just be considered a professor, but a mentor as well. Brown encourages and supports every student who walks into his office seeking help, guidance, or just a friendly voice. He is constantly imparting on his students the importance of getting involved with and serving in a local church.

The warmth and positive encouragement that Brown brings to his students and peers is palpable, whether conveyed through his overall kind demeanor or through his office which can only be described as homey. His walls are lined with family photos mixed with musical muses. His shelves packed with books and of course a grand piano that sits before his desk. These efforts of openness and kindness are affirmed by those who interact with him every day, and Nelly Villegas, a Southwestern student pursing her MDiv in Worship Leadership, gives a perfect example of this.

“Dr. Brown is a passionate, generous, and caring professor,” Villegas says. “He and his family are one of the most warm and hospitable families on campus. On occasions when people go to see their families, like Thanksgiving, Dr. Brown makes sure to invite some international students like me, knowing that we are away from home and might not have a place to celebrate. He has also spent a lot of time perfecting his musical skills and knowledge about biblical worship, so is always a delight to have a conversation with him. He is constantly open to help anyone and shares his wonderful library and wisdom with those of us who have the joy of being taught by him.”

Crider praises for his longtime friend and colleague, “Dr. Brown has an incredible heart for his students. One of his greatest joys is to see students grow and develop in their walk with Christ and mature in their God-given musical talents. He brings years of ministry experience to our SCMW and is one of the most positive people you will meet on our campus.”

While reflecting on his journey that led him to serve at Southwestern, Brown gives all glory to God.

“God has always blessed us with this call in our life.” Brown said, applying Psalm 16:6 which describes boundaries falling in pleasant places. “God really threaded a needle to get us here, and so even with the uncertainties that may have existed in certain times of the first two years we’ve been here, we know that God is the one that called us here, for us to be able to make an impact on putting more worship leaders into service for churches. I absolutely know that I could not do that in a place better suited for it than right here. That is the greatest way that God has blessed me, is that he’s still using me, and in a place where we can make the most maximum impact for His Kingdom. And you know, I hope that we’re able to do it for a really long time.”

Brown has a clear vision of his goals and the role he wishes to serve in respect to the seminary and within the lives of all the students he encounters. He wishes to encourage more churches to send students for training at the school, and likewise to maximize the impact of the seminary in putting more worship leaders into churches. To build bridges with new and old churches alike so they can know just how Southwestern trains and prepares their worship and music students, so that when new graduates go forth into the world, there are places which know and value the experience that comes with a degree from the Southwestern School of Church Music and Worship.

But, perhaps most importantly to Brown, he seeks to form fond memories in Cowden Hall, which will echo through the minds of generations of alumni to come, just as the music continues to echo throughout its historic walls.

Remington Cook is a news writer for Southwestern News.