About Chaplain Curtis Browder

Chaplain Curtis Browder’s life is a powerful story of transformation, resilience, and unwavering faith. Born in 1942 in Birmingham, Alabama, during the height of segregation and racial violence, Curtis—known affectionately as “Chap”—grew up in a world shaped by poverty and injustice. These struggles deeply shaped his compassion for the marginalized and helped plant the seeds for a lifetime of service.

After graduating from Ullman High School in 1958, Curtis enrolled at Daniel Payne College. However, his studies were cut short following a traumatic and violent encounter with a white police officer who threatened his life without cause. Overcome with fear and anger, he nearly sought revenge—but instead, made a life-altering decision to flee Alabama and start over in New York City. That decision, he says, was the moment God began reshaping his path.

Curtis later moved to Denver, Colorado, where he worked as a medic at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center. There, in 1966, he met Buena, a supervisor in training, and the two would marry three years later, blending their families and building a life rooted in love and faith. That same year, Curtis broke racial barriers, becoming the first African American Powerhouse Engineer for Shell Oil at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal.

But his true calling came in 1977, when he was ordained by the Faith Temple Church under Around the World for Christ Fellowship International. His passion for prison ministry began shortly thereafter, volunteering at Colorado’s Canon City Corrections Facility. In 1977, the Browder family returned to Alabama, where Curtis continued his chaplaincy work at Staton Correctional Facility. His impact on the incarcerated was so profound that 500 inmates signed a petition for him to become the full-time chaplain.

In 1978, with the support of Thomas Staton, former Chairman of the Alabama Board of Corrections, and the approval of Governor George Wallace, Curtis Browder was officially appointed as Alabama’s first Black prison chaplain—a historic and hard-won achievement in a system that had long excluded Black leadership.

Driven by his own experiences and the belief that every person is worthy of redemption, Chaplain Browder founded Faith Crusades Ministries in 1981. What began as a small prison outreach quickly evolved into a full-scale ministry serving the incarcerated, homeless, addicted, and underserved across Alabama and beyond.

Under his leadership, Faith Crusades Ministries has grown to include:

 

• Annual prison revivals across nine correctional facilities, reaching over 9,000 inmates each summer

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• Monthly food distributions, providing over 2,000 meals to families in Montgomery County and surrounding areas
   

• Transitional housing for men through the Faith Care Home, offering shelter, support, and structure for up to 40 residents

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• Community programs for at-risk youth, the working poor, battered women, and individuals battling addiction

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• International aid, including food, tents, and water distributed to orphans and survivors of the 2010 Haiti earthquake

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Chaplain Browder has spent decades entering prisons not just as a minister, but as a mentor, encourager, and example of what it means to live with dignity, purpose, and forgiveness. Even after his retirement in 1992, he continued to preach inside Alabama prisons, defusing conflicts, leading praise services, and reminding men that they were more than the worst thing they’d ever done.

As Buena Browder often says, “He’d have them men praising and dancing, playing his tambourine.” Chap believes that many of the incarcerated never had structure, love, or guidance—and through his work, he offers all three.
From street corners in Montgomery to disaster zones abroad, Chaplain Curtis Browder’s mission has remained the same: to serve those who are hurting, forgotten, or overlooked—and to remind them that they still matter to God.
“It was a calling. It’s what God wanted me to do.” – Chaplain Curtis Browder