Legendary San Francisco preacher Dr. Amos Brown to retire from the pulpit — sort of

After nearly 50 years delivering fiery sermons bearing messages of empathy, equality and salvation from the pulpit of San Francisco’s Third Baptist Church, Dr. Amos Brown is retiring as head pastor.

This weekend, the church will celebrate Brown’s near half-century as head of the church, though he still plans to play a robust role in the church’s programs.

“I know traditionally we have called one’s moving from position of service as being retirement,” said Brown, sitting in the pews of the church’s sanctuary where he’s delivered thousands of sermons. “But for me, I will never retire. I’m just repositioning myself.”

Brown took over the role of Third Baptist’s pastor in 1976 after heading up the historic Pilgrim Baptist Church of St. Paul, Minnesota. It wasn’t his first time in San Francisco, though.

He first traveled to San Francisco in 1956, driving from his home state of Mississippi with civil rights activist Medgar Evers for the 47th NAACP National Convention. It was at that convention he first met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who would later teach a class on social philosophy Brown attended in seminary college.

“From that day forward I stayed with him, marched with him,” Brown said.

Brown presided over the Third Baptist congregation with the fiery oratory of a Southern preacher, infused with the emotional grit and fortitude of his lifelong battle in the civil rights movement. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, he was arrested numerous times for challenging segregation, defiantly riding busses as a freedom rider and battling racism at every opportunity.

“I was even locked up two nights in jail down in Jackson, Mississippi, when I wouldn’t let a white intern call my 85-year-old neighbor ‘boy,’” Brown said.

Brown was 14 years old when the lynching of another 14-year-old in Mississippi, Emmett Till, would shake his world. Brown sought out Evers to vent his frustration after two men accused in the lynching were exonerated.

“Mr. Evers said, ‘I understand how upset you are and hurt and angry,’” Brown remembered. “He said, ‘Don’t get stuck there. Let’s be smart.‘”

Inspired by Evers’ council, Brown went on to found the NAACP Youth Council. He would later serve as president of the San Francisco NAACP and with the national organization.

After moving to San Francisco, Brown waded deep into the city’s political waters. In 1996, then-Mayor Willie Brown appointed Brown to the board of supervisors, where he remained until 2001. Among his controversial ideas was a proposal to move the homeless population to barges in the Bay and another calling on the city to issue fines for loitering.

Joe Rosato Jr./NBC Bay Area

Joe Rosato Jr./NBC Bay Area

His service extended beyond the borders of San Francisco’s 49 square miles. In 2001, he accompanied Jesse Jackson to South Africa to meet with Nelson Mandela in discussing issues of African development.

Since 1964, he traveled to Africa 27 times, sponsoring African refugees through his church and helping dozens of children receive heart surgery in the U.S.

“In the words of Charles Wesley,” Brown recited, “the world has always been my pulpit.”

In stepping back from the pulpit he’s occupied since 1976, Brown theorizes he’ll have more time to read books, travel and listen to music, especially Mozart.

He may also on occasion stroll down Dr. Amos Brown Way, a block of Pierce Street adjacent to Third Baptist which the city will rename this coming Saturday in a ceremony. Though he may not be in the pulpit, Brown figures he will stay plenty busy. When asked about his future, he recited a poem about the tedium of sailing a small boat near the shore when there are great ships to encounter further out.

“I’m still going to be out on the sea of life trying to show someone else to find the way to the shore,” Brown said.