After coming home from Vietnam, Brown spent a year at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas—a school for Majors and Lieutenant Colonels who were expected to advance. He was one of the youngest officers selected for this school. Here, for the first time, the Bible came alive for him. There had usually been a strong Christian influence on the bases where the Browns lived, and they had always attended church and Bible studies; but Brown had not studied the Bible for himself. His family had not read the Bible together when he was growing up, and he had not formed the habit of personal Bible study. When he did read the Bible for himself, he usually read the New Testament. He felt comfortable in the New Testament, but the Old Testament troubled him, so he rarely read it.
One of the things that stirred his interest in the Bible was a sermon he heard a classmate preach at the base chapel. The sermon, entitled “It is Written,” described many of the Bible’s fulfilled prophecies. This impressed Brown, and he began to study the Bible. The chaplain there encouraged him in his Bible study and gave him a set of commentaries.
As he studied, Brown became fascinated with the Bible. It was no longer a dry book, but the vibrant, life-changing Word of God. A few years later he began teaching an adult Sunday School class.