About an hour and a half after arriving in Tallulah, Brown and his wife were on the road again. They made a quick detour to a Wendy's drive-through, then sped back to Mississippi for a service at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church in Vicksburg.
Night had fallen by the time Brown arrived at the church, an unadorned bungalow across from a shuttered hospital ringed by a barbed-wire fence. There were about three dozen worshipers, a mix of old women and young families with toddlers.
Brown's last sermon of the day was his most political. He revisited Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech, and wondered whether African Americans were free at last.
He said there was a growing black middle class, plenty of beautiful black people driving Mercedes-Benz sedans and sleeping on designer sheets -- and even a viable black presidential contender. But were black people spiritually free? Or were they becoming "economic slaves" to a mindless capitalism where money substituted for happiness?
He saw a problem, and summoned an answer. His rhetoric became repetitive. His chanting became rhythmic. He began to sweat.
"Jee-sus," Brown bellowed, again and again.
"It's just the Jesus in me to bring out the Jesus in you."
He went on for nearly 50 minutes, until the worshipers were standing in the pews. Afterward, it was 7:30 p.m., and he still had an hour-and-a-half drive before he got to Monroe. He was spent, but satisfied.
The marathoner for Jesus had run the Lord's errand. He'd held nothing back.
"I know I've been to church today," he said, and headed home.
miguel.bustillo@latimes.com
