C. D. Brooks, a leading Seventh-day Adventist evangelist who delivered the church’s message to millions as the founding speaker of the Breath of Life media ministry, died on June 5 in Laurel, Md. He was 85.
The cause was pancreatic cancer, the Seventh-day Adventist Church said.
For six decades, Mr. Brooks conducted an evangelical campaign that was credited with converting tens of thousands and establishing 15 congregations in cities across the country.
He spent 23 years broadcasting on “Breath of Life,” billed as the first black religious television program. Black Entertainment Television began distributing the program in 1989, aiming at blacks in the United States and the Caribbean.
The church says it has about 1.2 million members in its North American Division, about 37 percent of whom are black.
Mr. Brooks spoke at President Ronald Reagan’s inauguration; served as a pastor in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Ohio; and converted hundreds in mass baptisms during campaigns in Washington, Brooklyn and Barbados.
He retired from the Breath of Life ministry in 1997 for health reasons, but continued to preach. In 2013, he was named chaplain of the church’s North American Division.
In the biography “C. D.: The Man Behind the Message” (2013), the authors, Harold L. Lee and Benjamin Baker, chronicled the spiritual awakening of a North Carolina farm boy who appeared destined for a career as a dentist until he attended a tent meeting run by E. E. Cleveland, an Adventist evangelist and civil rights leader who pioneered mass baptisms.
“Instead of repairing other people’s mouths, God has used Elder Brooks’s mouth to proclaim the eternal truths of the Word of God and thus repair people’s entire minds and bodies in preparation for the new earth,” Ted N. C. Wilson, the president of the Seventh-day Adventist church, wrote in the foreword.
“Charles had thought that in his career as a dentist he was going to fight tooth decay,” the authors added. “Now, a higher power had determined that he would fight truth decay.”
Charles Decatur Brooks was born in Greensboro, N.C., on July 24, 1930, the 10th child of Marvin Brooks and the former Mattie Reaves, Methodists who had a 40-acre farm just outside of town.
Six months after he was born, after nearly dying from surgery, his mother said she had a vision and heard a voice urging her to keep the biblical commandments. From then on, she began observing the Sabbath from midnight Friday to midnight Saturday.
When Charles was 10, and his mother had read “The Great Controversy” by Ellen G. White, a founder of the church, the family began worshiping in an Adventist congregation.
Soon after he graduated from high school, Mr. Brooks lingered alone at the end of a tent meeting, he recalled, when “an overmastering impression came from the Lord that said to me, ‘This is what I want you to do, and I will help you to make truth clear.’”
When he told his mother about the message, he said, “Mother said these words to me: ‘Son, when you were born, I gave you to the Lord. Now He’s calling you.’”
He enrolled in Oakwood College (now Oakwood University), a historically black Adventist school in Huntsville, Ala., and in 1952, a year after graduating, ran his first evangelistic crusade, in Chester, Pa.
He is survived by his wife, the former Walterene Wagner, whose father was a stalwart of black Adventism, along with two children, Charles D. Brooks II and Diedre Tramel; two sisters, Theresa Birden and Elois Brooks; and three grandchildren.
In 1971 Mr. Brooks became a general field secretary of the General Conference, the church’s worldwide administrative body, which is headed by a president. He served in that job until 1996. He became the speaker for “Breath of Life” in 1974.
Mr. Brooks continued to lead evangelistic meetings, having done so on six continents.
“I didn’t want to go to Antarctica,” he said, “because there was no one to preach to.”
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On June 5, 2016, retired Seventh-day Adventist evangelist C.D. Brooks passed to rest after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. Brooks worked as a pastor, administrator, evangelist, and chaplain for the church since 1951 when he graduated from Oakwood College (now Oakwood University) in Huntsville, Alabama, with a degree in theology.
Brooks’ first love was evangelism and he continued to conduct meetings after taking on the role of church administrator for the General Conference (GC), located in Silver Spring, Maryland. “Evangelism is the elixir that warms up a cold church,” Brooks said, “the force that moves the members from standing on the premises to standing on the promises.”
Daniel R. Jackson, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America, shared his thoughts upon learning of Brooks’ passing, "I am so sorry to hear of the passing of Elder Brooks. He was a great preacher and one of God's true saints. I have watched him walk the halls of our office and used to repeat in my head 'he is a prince among men.’ I will miss him but one day soon he will have eternal youth and live forever with his dear wife and family."
Charles Decatur (C.D.) Brooks was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, on July 24, 1930, the tenth child of Marvin and Mattie Brooks. Although Methodists at the time, shortly after C.D.’s birth the Brooks family began observing the seventh-day Sabbath in honor of a pledge Mattie Brooks made to God while in a hospital bed suffering from a near-fatal illness. Learning more truth years later from reading Ellen G. White's The Great Controversy, C.D., along with his mother and six sisters, was baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church on a Sabbath in 1940. In 1947 after attending an evangelistic tent meeting, C.D. remained under the tent long after the last person had departed. “Charles, I want you to make truth clear,” C.D. distinctly heard a voice say, and then had a vision of himself standing behind the pulpit at the front of the tent, proclaiming the truth with power and clarity. Brooks immediately jettisoned his career plans for dentistry for the ministry, setting his sights on Oakwood.
At Oakwood, Brooks met the love of his life, Walterene Wagner, daughter of John H. Wagner, Sr., a stalwart of 20thcentury black Adventism. Along with other roles, Wagner was the first president of Allegheny Conference, one of the five inaugural leaders of regional conferences in 1945.
Brooks heard God speak for the second time in his life when a voice said to him, concerning Walterene, “Charles, this is the young lady you will marry.” The two were united in marriage on September 14, 1952, at the Ebenezer Seventh-day Adventist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. C.D. served the Columbia Union as a pastor, evangelist and administrator until 1971, working mostly in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and Ohio.
In 1971 C.D. Brooks was asked by General Conference president Robert Pierson to serve as a field secretary for the Seventh-day Adventist world church, a role he held until 1995, making him the longest tenured field secretary in church history. While serving at the GC, Brooks took on the dual role as speaker/director for the Breath of Life Ministry, a new television ministry of the GC that was produced at the Adventist Media Center in Thousand Oaks, California. Brooks partnered with Walter Arties, Louis B. Reynolds, and the Breath of Life Quartet to produce television programming that reached out to audiences all around the world. As speaker-director of Breath of Life, Brooks took his place among legendary Adventist media revolutionaries such as H.M.S. Richards, George Vandeman, William Fagal. In 1989 the ministry was broadcast on Black Entertainment Television (BET), and reached a potential audience of more than 90 million people a week.
Brooks was speaker-director of Breath of Life Ministries for 23 years, from 1974 to 1997. In his time at the helm, the ministry brought approximately 15,000 people to Christ, established 15 Breath of Life congregations, and was viewed by untold millions. In 1994 Brooks was inducted into the Martin Luther King, Jr. Board of Preachers and Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.
In 1996 health challenges forced Brooks to retire from the General Conference and in 1997 he stepped down as speaker-director for Breath of Life. Brooks had a long and productive retirement and in 2007, in honor of E.E. Cleveland, Charles Bradford, and C.D. Brooks, the Bradford-Cleveland-Brooks Leadership Center (BCBLC) was established. The center is housed on the campus of Oakwood University in a 10,000-square-foot, $2.5 million state-of-the-art edifice.
On December 1, 2010, the Ellen G. White Estate elected Brooks a lifetime member of the Ellen G. White Estate Board. The North American Division invited Brooks to be its chaplain in residence in 2013, a position he held until his death.
Elder C.D. Brooks is survived by his beloved wife of almost 64 years, Walterene, his children Diedre and Charles “Skip” Jr., and three grandchildren, two boys and a girl.
Brooks’ first love was evangelism and he continued to conduct meetings after taking on the role of church administrator for the General Conference (GC), located in Silver Spring, Maryland. “Evangelism is the elixir that warms up a cold church,” Brooks said, “the force that moves the members from standing on the premises to standing on the promises.”
Daniel R. Jackson, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America, shared his thoughts upon learning of Brooks’ passing, "I am so sorry to hear of the passing of Elder Brooks. He was a great preacher and one of God's true saints. I have watched him walk the halls of our office and used to repeat in my head 'he is a prince among men.’ I will miss him but one day soon he will have eternal youth and live forever with his dear wife and family."
Charles Decatur (C.D.) Brooks was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, on July 24, 1930, the tenth child of Marvin and Mattie Brooks. Although Methodists at the time, shortly after C.D.’s birth the Brooks family began observing the seventh-day Sabbath in honor of a pledge Mattie Brooks made to God while in a hospital bed suffering from a near-fatal illness. Learning more truth years later from reading Ellen G. White's The Great Controversy, C.D., along with his mother and six sisters, was baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church on a Sabbath in 1940. In 1947 after attending an evangelistic tent meeting, C.D. remained under the tent long after the last person had departed. “Charles, I want you to make truth clear,” C.D. distinctly heard a voice say, and then had a vision of himself standing behind the pulpit at the front of the tent, proclaiming the truth with power and clarity. Brooks immediately jettisoned his career plans for dentistry for the ministry, setting his sights on Oakwood.
At Oakwood, Brooks met the love of his life, Walterene Wagner, daughter of John H. Wagner, Sr., a stalwart of 20thcentury black Adventism. Along with other roles, Wagner was the first president of Allegheny Conference, one of the five inaugural leaders of regional conferences in 1945.
Brooks heard God speak for the second time in his life when a voice said to him, concerning Walterene, “Charles, this is the young lady you will marry.” The two were united in marriage on September 14, 1952, at the Ebenezer Seventh-day Adventist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. C.D. served the Columbia Union as a pastor, evangelist and administrator until 1971, working mostly in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and Ohio.
In 1971 C.D. Brooks was asked by General Conference president Robert Pierson to serve as a field secretary for the Seventh-day Adventist world church, a role he held until 1995, making him the longest tenured field secretary in church history. While serving at the GC, Brooks took on the dual role as speaker/director for the Breath of Life Ministry, a new television ministry of the GC that was produced at the Adventist Media Center in Thousand Oaks, California. Brooks partnered with Walter Arties, Louis B. Reynolds, and the Breath of Life Quartet to produce television programming that reached out to audiences all around the world. As speaker-director of Breath of Life, Brooks took his place among legendary Adventist media revolutionaries such as H.M.S. Richards, George Vandeman, William Fagal. In 1989 the ministry was broadcast on Black Entertainment Television (BET), and reached a potential audience of more than 90 million people a week.
Brooks was speaker-director of Breath of Life Ministries for 23 years, from 1974 to 1997. In his time at the helm, the ministry brought approximately 15,000 people to Christ, established 15 Breath of Life congregations, and was viewed by untold millions. In 1994 Brooks was inducted into the Martin Luther King, Jr. Board of Preachers and Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.
In 1996 health challenges forced Brooks to retire from the General Conference and in 1997 he stepped down as speaker-director for Breath of Life. Brooks had a long and productive retirement and in 2007, in honor of E.E. Cleveland, Charles Bradford, and C.D. Brooks, the Bradford-Cleveland-Brooks Leadership Center (BCBLC) was established. The center is housed on the campus of Oakwood University in a 10,000-square-foot, $2.5 million state-of-the-art edifice.
On December 1, 2010, the Ellen G. White Estate elected Brooks a lifetime member of the Ellen G. White Estate Board. The North American Division invited Brooks to be its chaplain in residence in 2013, a position he held until his death.
Elder C.D. Brooks is survived by his beloved wife of almost 64 years, Walterene, his children Diedre and Charles “Skip” Jr., and three grandchildren, two boys and a girl.
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Charles Decatur Brooks, also known as C. D. Brooks (b. July 24, 1930, Greensboro, North Carolina - d. June 5, 2016, Laurel, Maryland) was a Seventh-day Adventist evangelist best known for his Breath of Life television ministry.
Charles Decatur (C.D.) Brooks was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, on July 24, 1930, the tenth child of Marvin and Mattie Brooks. Although Methodists at the time, shortly after C.D.’s birth the Brooks family began observing the seventh-day Sabbath in honor of a pledge Mattie Brooks made to God while in a hospital bed suffering from a near-fatal illness. Learning more truth years later from reading Ellen G. White's The Great Controversy, C.D., along with his mother and six sisters, was baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church on a Sabbath in 1940. In 1947 after attending an evangelistic tent meeting, C.D. remained under the tent long after the last person had departed. “Charles, I want you to make truth clear,” C.D. distinctly heard a voice say, and then had a vision of himself standing behind the pulpit at the front of the tent, proclaiming the truth with power and clarity. Brooks immediately jettisoned his career plans for dentistry for the ministry, setting his sights on Oakwood.
At Oakwood, Brooks met the love of his life, Walterene Wagner, daughter of John H. Wagner, Sr., a stalwart of 20thcentury black Adventism. Along with other roles, Wagner was the first president of Allegheny Conference, one of the five inaugural leaders of regional conferences in 1945.
Charles Decatur (C.D.) Brooks was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, on July 24, 1930, the tenth child of Marvin and Mattie Brooks. Although Methodists at the time, shortly after C.D.’s birth the Brooks family began observing the seventh-day Sabbath in honor of a pledge Mattie Brooks made to God while in a hospital bed suffering from a near-fatal illness. Learning more truth years later from reading Ellen G. White's The Great Controversy, C.D., along with his mother and six sisters, was baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church on a Sabbath in 1940. In 1947 after attending an evangelistic tent meeting, C.D. remained under the tent long after the last person had departed. “Charles, I want you to make truth clear,” C.D. distinctly heard a voice say, and then had a vision of himself standing behind the pulpit at the front of the tent, proclaiming the truth with power and clarity. Brooks immediately jettisoned his career plans for dentistry for the ministry, setting his sights on Oakwood.
At Oakwood, Brooks met the love of his life, Walterene Wagner, daughter of John H. Wagner, Sr., a stalwart of 20thcentury black Adventism. Along with other roles, Wagner was the first president of Allegheny Conference, one of the five inaugural leaders of regional conferences in 1945.
Brooks and Walterene were united in marriage on September 14, 1952, at the Ebenezer Seventh-day Adventist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Brooks would go on to serve the Columbia Union as a pastor, evangelist and administrator until 1971, working mostly in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and Ohio.
In 1971 C.D. Brooks was asked by General Conference (GC) president Robert Pierson to serve as a field secretary for the Seventh-day Adventist world church, a role he held until 1995, making him the longest tenured field secretary in church history. While serving at the GC, Brooks took on the dual role as speaker/director for the Breath of Life Ministry, a new television ministry of the GC that was produced at the Adventist Media Center in Thousand Oaks, California. Brooks partnered with Walter Arties, Louis B. Reynolds, and the Breath of Life Quartet to produce television programming that reached out to audiences all around the world. As speaker-director of Breath of Life, Brooks took his place among legendary Adventist media revolutionaries such as H.M.S. Richards, George Vandeman, and William Fagal. In 1989 the ministry was broadcast on Black Entertainment Television (BET), and reached a potential audience of more than 90 million people a week.
Brooks was speaker-director of Breath of Life Ministries for 23 years, from 1974 to 1997. In his time at the helm, the ministry brought approximately 15,000 people to Christ, established 15 Breath of Life congregations, and was viewed by untold millions. In 1994 Brooks was inducted into the Martin Luther King, Jr. Board of Preachers and Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.
In 1996 health challenges forced Brooks to retire from the General Conference and in 1997 he stepped down as speaker-director for Breath of Life. Brooks had a long and productive retirement and in 2007, in honor of E.E. Cleveland, Charles Bradford, and C.D. Brooks, the Bradford-Cleveland-Brooks Leadership Center (BCBLC) was established. The center is housed on the campus of Oakwood University in a 10,000-square-foot, $2.5 million state-of-the-art edifice.
On December 1, 2010, the Ellen G. White Estate elected Brooks a lifetime member of the Ellen G. White Estate Board. The North American Division invited Brooks to be its chaplain in residence in 2013, a position he held until his death.
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