Clinton Brazle, minister, church planter in Montana, Canada, dies at 92
“I just don’t think you could tip him over.”
That’s how Mike Tess, an elder of the Bozeman Church of Christ in Montana, described his longtime friend Clinton Brazle.
Clinton Brazle (photo provided)Brazle, who ministered in Montana and neighboring Canada for more than 60 years, died Aug. 29. He was 92.
“Faith with Clinton is kind of like the keel on a boat, and his keel is really deep,” Tess told The Christian Chronicle in a 2007 feature on Brazle’s ministry. “His first response, if any sort of problem arises … is, ‘We should pray about it.'”
Brazle graduated from Oklahoma A&M College, now Oklahoma State University, with a degree in agricultural economics. When he and his wife, Faye, moved to Bozeman in 1950, they found a congregation with 16 members — a number that would quadruple to about 65 during their eight years there.
In addition to preaching, Clinton Brazle worked as co-publisher of the Montana Vineyard, a quarterly publication of progress in churches throughout Montana, now online at www.montanavineyard.com. He also spoke on a radio program, the “Daily Bible Hour,” which reached souls throughout the state.
Clinton Brazle worked with youth during his time in Montana and helped purchase the Bow and Arrow Ranch in 1956. The ranch later became Yellowstone Bible Camp in Pray, Mont., about 45 miles southwest of Bozeman.
He and his wife helped plant a church in Anaconda, Mont., and spent four years with the congregation. They later moved to Weyburn, Saskatchewan, in Canada and worked with the Airport Church of Christ.
While in Canada, Clinton Brazle lost his wife to multiple sclerosis in January 1972. He later married Delma Butrum, a dorm mother at Abilene Christian University in Texas. The couple worked in Canada, Boston and Oklahoma before returning to Bozeman in 1990.
In the past week, Clinton Brazle spent time with his family at Yellowstone Bible Camp, said one of his sons, Mark Brazle, a former missionary to Belgium who now serves as director for missionary care for Missions Resource Network.
“What a great legacy!” Mark Brazle wrote in a social media post about his father. Another son, Pete Brazle, spent the first week of his life at the camp, and Clinton Brazle was there during his final week of life. “Our Father has provided abundant blessing through our Dad!”
A third son, Paul Brazle, serves as a missionary with his family in Antwerp, Belgium.
The Christian Chronicle will post memorial details when they are available.
