World Help Founder and President Vernon Brewer is an energetic man of faith who has been given a vision for the world. He founded this Christian nonprofit in 1991 after serving as Vice President of Student Development at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, and taking thousands of students on trips to the mission field. While reaching out to children on the streets of impoverished countries, his heart broke as he saw their overwhelming needs. They were sick, hungry, and parentless, living in dirt, and without clothes to wear.
One particular boy stays in his memory . . . a 5-year-old street orphan in Brazil whom he met while on a missions trip with his family and a group of Liberty University students. His two daughters found the little boy wearing only a dirty pair of shorts. They bought him clothes and shoes, only to find the young child the next day beat up and abandoned with his new clothes stolen by the other street children. Everyone on the team was heartbroken. When a pastor friend told Vernon “You can’t save them all,” Vernon knew he could make a difference in that particular boy’s life. He approached the team and asked if they would like to help this child get off the streets? They immediately “passed the hat” and collected enough money to put that boy in a Christian children’s home for two years. One life at a time . . . that is how Vernon approaches the world.
For nearly two decades, Vernon has continued to carry out God’s work as a compassionate, inspiring leader at World Help. Every day, he strives to do at least one thing that will impact eternity and outlive him. His strategic thinking and emphasis on partnership with pastors and missionaries in other countries has breathed new life into the mission world and provided innovative ways to work together and accomplish more for the Kingdom of God. Today, he continues to travel to the least-reached areas of the world, providing both spiritual and physical help, and he is known as a speaker who ignites action.
He has conducted international evangelistic campaigns and rallies in over 50 foreign countries worldwide, as well as numerous leadership training conferences in Uganda, China, India, Nepal, Burma, Romania, and Russia. He has also led over 500 local church revival crusades and rallies, and has lectured on 30 college and university campuses. He has spoken to over one million teenagers in public high school assembly programs, and is a frequent speaker at camps, conferences, local church revival crusades, and mission conferences.
Besides sharing impassioned stories of people around the world, Vernon also brings an amazing and encouraging personal testimony wherever he goes. He’s a cancer survivor who underwent 18 surgeries and 18 months of chemotherapy. But, through this trial by fire, God has given him a renewed passion to use his life to make an eternal difference in the lives of people around the world that do not know Jesus Christ. Today, Vernon’s story remains an encouragement to others who are struggling with life’s obstacles.
Vernon is the very first graduate of Liberty University, the largest evangelical Christian university in the world. He earned a B.A. in 1973 and later received his Doctor of Divinity (1991) from North Florida Baptist Theological Seminary. He also holds an Honorary Doctor of Divinity from Emmanuel Bible Institute in Kota, India (1997). He is author of The Forgotten Children: Hungry. Hopeless. Running for their lives., Why? Answers to Weather the Storms of Life, Children of Hope: Be touched. Be inspired. Be changed, Defining Moments: A journey to the ends of the earth and back, and causelife: water equals life.
Vernon resides in Forest, Virginia with his wife Patty. He is the father of four children and five grandchildren.