He’s referred to as dynamic and engaging. With more than 25 years in the pulpit, he’s pastored congregations both large and small. Next week, Dr. Clarence R. Brown brings his message to Washington for Finding the Way, the First United Methodist Church’s third-annual men’s conference.

The conference will be held at First United Methodist Church on March 2-3; Friday, doors open at 6 p.m. and the conference will run from 7 until 9 p.m.; following an 8 a.m. breakfast and free health screenings offered by Vidant Beaufort Hospital, it will resume from 9 a.m. until noon Saturday.

“Go and Grow — the Road to Spiritual Maturity” is the conference theme, one that organizers say is relevant to the times — and growing the conference is what they’re aiming for, according to organizers Will Page and Dick Turner. This year, they’re seeking to bolster the faith of a wider, more diverse audience.

“We start with who we have attracted: we’ve attracted a church crowd, but what we’d like is to attract both the churched and unchurched,” Page said. “We have a broad base of churches supporting this, we just don’t have a very diverse base of churches.”

Brown has experience in drawing a crowd: in the churches he’s ministered, he’s raised average worship attendance 15-60 percent in congregations where he’s served. Currently, Brown serves as senior minister of Annandale United Methodist Church, in Annandale, Virginia, a 1,700-member-strong church with two campuses. With a Master of Divinity degree from Atlanta’s Gammon Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., Brown remains in the pulpit because that’s where his heart is, according to Turner, who was a member of Brown’s church in northern Virginia.

“He’s passed up a lot of opportunity to go into senior management in the church, but he prefers to stay with the pulpit,” Turner said.

For Turner, the conference is designed to bring together people in faith.

“I think society as a whole needs to come together, to understand one another,” Turner said. “We certainly have a lot of diversity in the area, in Washington and the surrounding areas, so the opportunity is here to get people closer to together — the country is certainly going in the opposite direction.”

Tickets to the event are $20 or two for $15; they can be obtained on the conference website at www.findingtheway.com or by visiting the “Finding the Way Conference” page on Facebook. They can also be purchased at the door. For more information, email findingthewayconference@gmail.com.