Being here is like a dream come true
American minister Wes is delighted to be in Paisley
The Scottish roots of Presbyterianism have brought a minister all the way from Tennessee, in the USA, to Paisley.
Forty-eight-year-old Rev Wes Brandon is serving as assistant minister at the Kirk’s Sherwood Greenlaw Church, in Glasgow Road, for a year.
And for Mr Brandon it’s like coming home, having grown up in a Presbyterian church at home in Knoxville.
He said: “There is a very close relationship between the two denominations.
“Tennessee, particularly east Tennessee and North Carolina, is where a lot of the Scotch-Irish moved to the hills that reminded them of the Highlands.
“And in particular what drew me to Scotland was about 25 years ago a Church of Scotland Minister from Glasgow, who had a parish down in Maybole, transferred to the United States and became the minister of my grandparents’ church and he’s the one that brought me over here and said you need to move over. “He was John Stuart.” Mr Brandon became a minister because he has always felt at home in the church, as well as being drawn to help others.
“I’ve always felt God calling me to serve others,” he said.
He added: “I have always just felt the nurturing of the church, and of God, through my grandparents and watching them serve and helping others, and seeing how the community has always loved and supported them.”
Mr Brandon, who was born in Germany, first came here 17 years ago and had always wanted to explore the world, especially Scotland.
“Being a Presbyterian, Scotland is a kind of a home base, it’s kind of the Jerusalem for Presbyterians in the United States,” he said.
“Presbyterians in the United Sates want to take a pilgrimage to Scotland. “It’s the ultimate dream. “If you grew up Presbyterian in the United States that’s where your roots are.”
Mr Brandon says he is delighted to be in Paisley and dismisses its sometime reputation as a town with rough edges.
“There’s a reputation that precedes Paisley, which in some degrees I find completely untrue,” he said.
“First thing, anybody who has not been to Paisley, and when Paisley is mentioned, they say it’s a dangerous place. I find that furthest from the truth.
“And the minister that I served with down in Ayr 17 years ago, his son works for the ambulance service here in Paisley and he says that rumour is untrue.
“As I’ve been walking around I am just enamoured by Paisley.
“The people, not just the congregation, have been very friendly.
“I love the town centre, the abbey, just the history of it.
“Paisley is fairly large yet has a small-town mentality and I’m learning about the history and St Mirin, it’s just rich in history.”
And Mr Brandon wants to extend that experience even further.
“My ministry here is one of outreach and not waiting for people to come to me,” he said.
“I want to get to know the people in my parish.”