EPC Home Missionary Kevin Brown at Trinity Christian Community (TCC) in New Orleans, Louisiana has been selected to receive the Attorney General’s honorary Meritorious Public Service Award on October 7, 2010 in Washington D.C.

Kevin is the only recipient selected from nominations submitted by Department of Justice offices nationwide, so this is quite an honor. No monetary recognition accompanies this award. Previously, in March 2010, Kevin was awarded the U.S. Marshals Service Director’s Citizen of the Year Award.

One of two recipients of the EPC 2010 Thanksgiving Offering is Trinity Christian Community (TCC) of New Orleans, Louisiana, led by Kevin Brown. In Kevin’s words, TCC seeks to be “a place of peace and hope for those who are hurting and needy.” TCC ministers in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

After doing a nationally-recognized work in the rebuilding of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, TCC is re-committing to its mission of improving the lives and environment of the most marginalized people in New Orleans. Kevin notes,

“The city to which God has called us remains a dangerous place. In our Hollygrove neighborhood alone, we have experienced five homicides this summer. Several of our staff have recently been pulled over by police in the neighborhood and advised not to be here. There has never been a more urgent time of the Gospel!”

The TCC web site gives this brief history of the ministry’s founding and vision:

New Orleans is known as “The City that Care Forgot”. We long to see it become “The City that Cares for God”. Trinity Christian Community is a place of peace and hope for those who are hurting and needy. Our mission is encapsulated in three “E’s”: Educate and train leaders, Empower leaders for lives of service, and provide opportunities to Effect change in individual lives and in our communities.

Through innovative programs that rebuild broken lives, Trinity Christian Community works to create leadership among those most vulnerable. This involves helping young people realize their God-given potential, working to build families, improving schools and providing after-school learning opportunities, providing summer camping activities, teaching the value of entrepreneurship and hard work, building character, discipleship and mentoring, short-term mission opportunities and more.

It began in 1967, in the heat of racial tension and injustice in the deep south with a few simple programs. The ministry became a model that spawned numerous similar ventures around the country and saw leaders develop who expanded the mission around the world. We continue to work hard to build communities where at-risk youth and families can safely live, work and play.

We invite you to join us as we seek the Shalom of this broken city.

The web site also contains this brief biography of Kevin:

Kevin Brown grew up in urban ministry. His father, the Rev. Bill Brown moved his family into the inner city of New Orleans in the early 1960’s. In 1967, when Kevin was just six, Trinity Christian Community was founded.

In 1979, Kevin left New Orleans to attend Wheaton College. Graduating in 1983, with a B.A. in psychology, he entered the field of mental health, working in a variety of hospital settings. In 1986, he completed his Master’s of Social Work at the Jane Addams College of Social Work in Chicago.

From 1986 to 1988, he worked with Midwest Family Resource Associates doing family counseling with clients referred from the Department of Children and Family Services for abuse. In 1988, he took a position with the Minirth-Meier Clinic. Ultimately he became Director of Child and Adolescent Services and worked in a variety of capacities in hospitals, partial hospitalization programs and in outpatient family, individual and group counseling.

During this time he was heard on the nationwide broadcast of the Minirth-Meier Clinic hour and hosted his own talk show “Talk It Out” in Chicago. He has written four books. He has spoken internationally on a variety of topics related to marriage, families and adolescents.

In 1998, he returned to New Orleans to become only the second Executive Director in Trinity Christian Community’s 38 year history, replacing his father.

For more details visit the web site at http://www.tccno.org/