Dr. Mark Brewer
Pastor/Head of Staff
Bel Air Presbyterian Church
In June 2001, in a resounding vote, the membership of Bel Air Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles voted to call The Reverend Dr. Mark Brewer of Englewood, Colorado as Pastor.
Dr. Brewer comes to church ministry as a third-generation Presbyterian minister’s son. He received his early education in Denver, Colorado and did his doctoral work at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena and in St. Andrews, Scotland.
He served as Pastor in the Denver area for twenty years, not only building up his own congregation but reaching out to the larger Denver community in urban and suburban alliances as well. He was involved in starting two different churches in Denver, each growing to several thousand members. He launched the nationally syndicated radio ministry “A New Day for America” which seeks to build relationships between the urban and suburban churches. Dr. Brewer was also head of ‘Denver LINK’, an organization that builds relationships among the spiritual leadership of the City.
In 1992 Mark served as Senior Pastor of a large church in Detroit. It was during his short time in Detroit that the passion of his life took hold. He found joy in building relationships between worlds that people said could not be bridged, discovering that it is possible to be in cross racial, cross denominational and extremely hostile situations while bringing true healing, by applying the truths of “family systems.”
In the year 2000 Dr. Brewer’s book A Walk Into The City was published. He writes about discovering the principles of the new relationships between urban and suburban churches, bringing to light the attitude of service and reconciliation.
Dr. Brewer is no stranger to Bel Air Presbyterian Church. He served the church for three years as an intern, from 1978-1980, while attending Fuller Theological Seminary. Mark’s passion is “weaving a fabric of friendship across the city.” His desire is to equip his missions-minded church with bold and fresh ways of connecting with the city.
Mark's primary spiritual gifts lie in leadership and preaching, each enhanced by his warmth, humility, intellectual rigor and vision. He has been married to his lovely wife, Carolyn, for twenty-seven years. Carolyn is an Occupational Therapist. They have three children: Vanessa, who was recently married; Paul, who recently graduated from the University of Colorado in Boulder; and Rachel, who currently attends UCLA.
