The Brown Family

An Interview with Andy and Katie Brown

Are you coffee drinkers? 
Yes, absolutely. 

How do you like your coffee?
Katie: I like my coffee with my cream and sugar.

Andy: I like sweet coffee with cream and sugar in the mornings and in the afternoon I like my coffee black.

Have you tried all the coffee shops and have you picked a favorite?
Andy: When we first got here we saw the Starbucks and thought, ok we’re good, there’s a Starbucks. But we’ve recently grown to really like the local shops. 

Katie: I’ve only tried Strangebrew and I really like it, but I like sweet coffee.

Andy: If I want sweet coffee I go to Strangebrew, but if I want some good pour-over black coffee, I really like 929. 

What is your guilty pleasure song? Like if you hear it, you have to contain yourself.
Katie: Oh no. Are you sure you want us to answer this? Mine would be “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Crazy Train”. I really like Rock music.

Andy: “Foreplay” by Boston. Horrible name for this answer, but there it is. 

What is a TV show/movie that you could watch over and over again?
Katie: Oh, Gilmore Girls, no question. 

Andy: We’ve watched Amazing Race together since we have been dating, but I also like NCSI and Sherlock.

What has been your favorite restaurant in Starkville so far?
Andy: Well the only restaurant we have been to more than once is Mugshots.

Katie: We really haven’t been able to explore very much.

Andy: Their fries remind us of the fries at Carolina Ale House. I believe they are beer-battered fries and that reminds us of Carolina.

What are you most looking forward to with your new life in Starkville?
Katie: To finally put roots down and stay. 

Andy: We really felt a strong sense of community here, it’s very unique. The geography of Starkville drives that. This is not demeaning in any way, but there’s not much to do here except be together and do life together. So that’s what we’re most looking forward to, the community.

What’s your favorite summertime activity?
Katie: The beach. Adalee and I love the beach. 

Andy: I have always loved July 4th, the whole day, because after that day summer is over. It’s kind of like a send-off to summer. I love going to the lake and watching the fireworks, it’s just a good time. 

What is your biggest irrational fear?
Andy: Water. I do not like dark water. Especially water where you can see trees sticking out of it. There’s just something so ominous and eerie about that, there used to be land there and now it’s underwater. What is down there?

Katie: I mean, I have ways that I don’t really want to die, but I don’t have many irrational fears. I’m not a huge fan of flying because I had a bad experience flying during a storm. But other than that nothing irrational.

What are you really bad at? Like you avoid doing it at all cost because you’re so terrible at it.
Katie: Golf, it’s not like I’ve tried very hard, but I’m really not good at it. 

Andy: You know, I saw my calendar last night and there is a college basketball night coming up with our college ministry and I felt anxiety. I am terrible at basketball. I was a lineman in football. I do not play basketball. You talk about irrational fears, if a 9-year-old was one on one with me, I would be terrified.

Have you ever done something really adventurous that people wouldn’t expect from you? (Lots of thought went into this.)
Katie: Well you’ve always wanted to go sky diving, but we’ve never done that. [long pause for thought] Andy went horseback riding, fell off, and got stitches.

Andy: Yeah I’m usually pretty adventurous, if we go skiing I go to the top of the mountain, if there’s a rope swing, I’m the first one on it. It’s just a matter of opportunity. Back to irrational fears, we were on a hike once around a lake and we saw a rope swing. I was the first one on it and I took off, went into the water, and my feet touched some brush at the bottom. I came up and immediately thought, “what is below me and what did I just disturb?”

What is your favorite piece of memorabilia that if your house was being destroyed you would grab it?
Andy: Oh that’s easy, we have Katie’s bouquet preserved. I’d grab that.

Katie: Yeah I would probably try to grab baby pictures and our wedding album.

Andy: Our wedding DVD?

Katie: Ehhh

Andy: Yeah it was not good quality.

Katie: Well it was 14 years ago. We should re-create it.

Andy: No.

Do you consider yourselves organized/structured people or free-spirited in your home life vs your professional life
Andy: I would say that we would love to be structured, but we’re pretty free-spirited.

Katie: Yeah that’s just kind of how we roll right now, we have to be pretty free. But I think you [Andy] are pretty structured here around the office.

Andy: Yeah I’m more structured here…but still pretty free.

Morning person or night owl?
Katie: Neither, I used to be a night owl then I had kids.

Andy: We just like sleep. Our dogs have been keeping us up lately and if it’s not the dogs, it’s the kid. They alternate. I used to be a morning person, but I struggle with being a morning person when I have interrupted sleep. I’m not a night person at all, we don’t stay up past 10. I’m more of a morning person than a night person, but morning is becoming difficult too. 

Toilet Paper: Over or Under?
Andy: No question, over! If it is under, I will change the whole roll. I don’t understand people who do under, it’s ridiculous. You pull it and the whole thing comes out. 

What is your favorite Bible verse and why?
Andy: Proverbs 3:5-6 These were the first verses I memorized, even before John 3:16

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.

In fact, when we got married we discussed what would be on my groom’s cake. People always try to ask me what my hobby is and I don’t have an answer. I would love to be able to say Photography, Woodworking, Blacksmith, Painter…but I don’t have time for many hobbies. My time goes to my family and preaching. Adrian Rogers once said his hobby is preaching and I get that. So for my groom’s cake I said I wanted an open Bible with Proverbs 3:5-6 on it. When we got to the reception and I saw my cake it was a Bible with the words “Proverbs 3:5-6” written on it. I had intended for it to say the whole verse, but they were very literal and just put the reference. It was a good cake though.

Katie: Lamentations 3:22-23

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

If you had one hour, completely alone, with no interruptions, what would you do?
Katie: I’d cuddle up on the couch with a blanket and a bowl of ice-cream.

Andy: Jeez. I don’t know.

Katie: You don’t ever get that so…but you’d probably read a random book. Not a theology book though.

Andy: Nah it’d probably be a theological book…I really don’t know though. Would I be sitting or would I be out doing something? I’d probably be doing that hobby we discussed earlier, that I don’t have.

Katie: You like to be active.

Andy: Yeah I definitely would not be sitting around doing nothing. I could never binge-watch something on TV. I’d grab a book first thing, then get bored. I love planting flowers. I don’t like gardening, but I like planting flowers. OH WAIT, I know what I would do! I would probably play NCAA on the Xbox.

Katie: Now see to me that’s wasting time.

Andy: No, you get a sense of accomplishment from the game.

What verse or story in the Bible do you struggle with?
Andy: There’s many, let’s see if I can narrow it down. 

Katie: Not sure I’ve ever thought about this.

Andy: I’ve always wondered about the witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28) when Samuel comes back. I just always think, “what in the world is going on there?”

Have you read the Bible in its entirety? If so, how many times?
Katie: I have not. Collectively yes, but not all once.

Andy: Yes and I have no clue. The first time I read the Bible all the way through was in college. But given Seminary and all that, probably less than 10, but more than 5.

Katie: So 6,7,8, or 9 times.

If you weren’t the Pastor of the church, what is a ministry area you would love to serve in?
Andy: Probably college or youth. College first, then youth.

What ministry area did God not gift you in?
Andy: Probably children’s ministry. I just can’t…like why don’t you understand the hypostatic union?

Side note: I had to go look this up. Here’s the definition for anyone who might need it:
hy·po·stat·ic un·ion
noun theology
the combination of divine and human natures in the single person of Christ.

Katie: I’d say college ministry.

Andy: Really?

Katie: Yeah, I prefer kids to college or youth. 

What do you think is the most misunderstood verse(s) in the Bible?
Andy: Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.

Katie: Spare the rod spoil the child. I think this one is just misunderstood.

Andy: I think that this verse has caused so much anxiety for people that have raised their children in the ways of the Lord and then they depart from it. Those parents fall back upon that verse and they say, “what did I do wrong?” That’s not the intention of that verse. It’s a principle more than a promise. That’s why I think it’s so misunderstood, people think it’s a black and white promise and it’s just not. There’s no guarantee because we have free will. I can do whatever I can for Adalee, Titus, and Ezra, but their actions are their actions. They make their choices. That verse has to be balanced with wisdom. 

There are so many though. Generally, people just don’t understand the Bible. Sally Lloyd Jones, the writer of the Jesus Storybook Bible, says it best right at the beginning, “Some people read the Bible for moralism, searching for how to behave, or a guidebook for life, but every story whispers His name.” That’s the whole point, it’s not a story about us, it’s a story about Him and what He did for us. I think we miss that in the way that we read the Bible: it’s my quiet time, God speaks to me for my life, as opposed to showing us the paradigm of life. The archetype of Jesus and how our lives fit into His life. So I think most of us read the Bible not with that story in mind, but with our story in mind; how do I get to Heaven? How do I avoid Hell? How do I have my best life?

If you hadn’t gone into ministry or been a stay-at-home mom, what career path would you have taken?
Andy: I would have been in the Military.

Katie: I would probably be a nurse, at one time I had wanted to be a Child Life Specialist. It was my dream to work at St. Jude.

What do you feel is the most ridiculous expectation placed on you as a Pastor and Pastor’s wife?
Katie: I don’t know if it’s an expectation from others or if I put it on myself, but that my kids should be perfect little angels, sit perfectly, and not be running around.

Andy: Two divine attributes that I think people lay upon their pastor are that they’re omniscient and omnipresent. That I know everything and I can be everywhere. I have had this conversation so many times: 

"Them: I was in the hospital

Me: Oh really? Did you tell anybody?

Them: Well, no.

Me: Then how was I supposed to know?

People think that I know everything and that I can be everywhere at once and I just can’t. 

Katie: I have another one, like what Andy said.

“People think we know everything, but I am just as normal as you are. I struggle just like you, I’m not any better, God still has to work on me just like He does everyone else.”

What is your most challenging aspect of being a Pastor’s wife?
Katie: Sharing my husband with everyone. There are times where he’s gone, and that’s fine, I know it’s part of the job, but it’s hard. Especially when it’s the kids asking “Where’s Daddy”. 

What are you most looking forward to starting within the church?
Andy: A clear discipleship pathway, where we clearly define what a disciple is, and how we celebrate that our church is making disciples.