Dr. Brian E. Wilson serves as District Superintendent of the Southern Florida District Church of the Nazarene, having been elected by the District Assembly on May 5, 2014. Enjoying a rich and diverse multi-ethnic constituency, the Southern Florida District consists of 83 organized churches and 13 missions. Most of those churches are located along the two coastlines, from Bradenton and Ft. Pierce south. The district includes the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolitan statistical area, the 8th largest MSA in the nation, with a population of nearly 6 million. Immediately prior to his election, Dr. Wilson had been serving as District Superintendent of the Chicago Central District for over 17 years.
The son of veteran Nazarene missionaries Allen and Elizabeth Wilson, Brian was born in Guatemala, Central America and spent the first 16 years of his life in Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica, before traveling to the United States to continue his studies. Brian and his wife, Joan, also served as global missionaries for the Church of the Nazarene for 9 years, 8 of those years serving as Field Strategy Coordinator of the North Andean Field (Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela), and one year at European Nazarene College in Switzerland.
Dr. Wilson considers himself a missionary-pastor, with a special calling to urban and multi-cultural mission work. The Wilsons’ ministry includes eight years of pastoral service, four of those years in the Chicago area, one year at the Open House Church in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, one year of interim service at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene and two years of interim service at College Church of the Nazarene in Bourbonnais, Illinois, during his tenure as District Superintendent in Chicago.
Dr. Wilson holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in Religion and Theology from Olivet Nazarene University, and an M. Div. degree from Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. He has completed Ph.D. studies in Intercultural Studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois and, in the year 2000, his alma mater Olivet Nazarene University conferred on him a Doctorate of Divinity. During his years of missionary service, Dr. Wilson served as professor and Rector of the South American Nazarene Theological Seminary in Quito, Ecuador, Director of Ministerial Studies by Extension in Colombia, and as missiology professor at European Nazarene College.
A firm supporter of Christian higher education, Dr. Wilson serves on the Board of Trustees of Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee, and previously served for 17 years on the Board of Trustees at Olivet Nazarene University. He also served at Olivet as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board, and as chairman of the Business and Finance Committee and chairman of the Institutional Advancement Committee. For eight years he served on the Board of Trustees of Nazarene Bible College, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, four of those years as Chairman of the Board.
Joan grew up in southern Florida, and came to know the Lord through the Caravan ministry of the local Church of the Nazarene in Riviera Beach, Florida, specifically through the influence of a Nazarene neighbor. She followed her sister to Olivet Nazarene University, where she and Brian met. They were married following their graduation from Olivet. Joan graduated with a degree in social work and has worked for over 20 years in the dialysis field as a dialysis technician.
Dr. and Mrs. Wilson are the proud parents of an adult son and daughter-in-law, David and Kaylee, who live in Chicago, Illinois, and an adult daughter, Jennifer, who lives in Bourbonnais, Illinois.
