The following article appeared in the  Erie Times-News / Sunday, November 26, 2006

CHRISTIANITY, KARATE CO-EXIST IN J. BROWN’S BOOK

Conneaut businessman, Christian minister and karate teacher J. Brown is now an author too.  His “Street Smarts from Christian Martial Arts.” (USA Martial Arts, $14.95) was recently published and is currently available online.

            Before becoming a minister, Brown spent nearly 20 years teaching martial arts in Conneaut, and has several qualified instructors under him at his Main Street location there.

            “Street Smarts” is a compilation of Brown’s accumulated wisdom from both teaching karate and working in Christian ministry.  Each of the chapters in the book conveys a different life lesson as a holistic approach to healthy living.

            Currently holding a sixth-degree black belt, Brown began his martial arts training in the late 1970s.  He taught for Tae Bo founder Billy Blanks of Erie and was senior instructor at two locations of the Billy Blanks Karate Academy before launching nine of his own schools in the early 1990s.

            Last year, Brown graduated magna cum laude from Concordia University in Austin Texas, where he studied Biblical languages and theology.  Currently, he’s finishing his final academic year at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Ind.

            For details about “Street Smarts from Christian Martial Arts,” visit Brown’s web site www.UsaMartialArts.org/media.  The books are sold for $14.95 and can be ordered online.