Pastor a fan, scholar of ‘The Andy Griffith Show’

Neal Brower holds up a letter jacket from the fictitious high school mentioned in the Andy Griffith Show. Brower, a Methodist minister and expert on the Andy Griffith Show, recently moved Kannapolis to pastor Jackson Park Methodist Church. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Neal Brower points out signatures of cast members and others connected with the Andy Griffith Show. Brower, a Methodist minister and expert on the Andy Griffith Show, recently moved Kannapolis to pastor Jackson Park Methodist Church. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Neal Brower points out cast members from a reunion of Andy Griffith Show at the Stevens Center in Winston-Salem in 1995. Brower, a Methodist minister and expert on the Andy Griffith Show, recently moved Kannapolis to pastor Jackson Park Methodist Church. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Neal Brower, a Methodist minister and expert on the Andy Griffith Show, recently moved Kannapolis to pastor Jackson Park Methodist Church. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Neal Brower wrote the book Mayberry 101. Brower, a Methodist minister and expert on the Andy Griffith Show, recently moved Kannapolis to pastor Jackson Park Methodist Church. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

KANNAPOLIS — When the Rev. Neal Brower isn’t writing a sermon, leading a church service, visiting the hospital or counseling his congregation, he follows another calling.

A Mayberry ministry.

Brower, the new pastor at Jackson Park United Methodist Church, carries an encyclopedic knowledge of television’s “The Andy Griffith Show.”

His lectures and writings have earned him the unofficial title of “Professor Brower” among show aficionados. During this month’s Mayberry Days in Mount Airy, he will again give a lecture at the Downtown Cinema Theater.

About 25 times in eight different community colleges across the region, Brower has taught a 10-week, scholarly course on “The Andy Griffith Show” and how it relates to N.C. history, Southern culture, television writing and production.

But that’s not all. A dozen years ago, Brower wrote a book, “Mayberry 101,” which remains in print and has sold some 22,000 copies since its debut.

He also put together successful Mayberry Reunions in 1990 in Charlotte and 1995 in Winston-Salem. The first one attracted 10 former cast members; the second, 20.

This fall marks the 50th anniversary of the homespun comedy’s first episode, which aired on CBS Oct. 3, 1960. Characters such as Sheriff Andy Taylor, Deputy Barney Fife, Opie, Aunt Bee, Floyd, Gomer, Goober, Otis, the Darlings, the Fun Girls and Ernest T. Bass are ingrained in the psyche of many Americans who watched the original episodes and the reruns for much of their lives.

Say some of the episode titles — “The Pickle Story,” “My Fair Ernest T. Bass,” “Opie the Birdman,” “Mr. McBevee,” “Rafe Hollister Sings” “A Date for Gomer” and “The Darlings are Coming” — and the storylines come flooding back.

Brower considers the connection he developed to the show a gift, a passion — a kind of balance to his Christian ministry.

“It was an outlet for me from my church work,” he says.

You probably figure that Brower often blends the two — his love of the old television show with his role as a Methodist minister. But he seldom does, fearing his church family would tire quickly of the approach, even though he acknowledges that most episodes of the show carried an important lesson.

“I don’t talk it all the time,” he says.

Brower also has shied away from memorizing all the trivia about “The Andy Griffith Show,” unlike many devotees who can tell you things such as the license tag number on the Mayberry squad car.

Brower always has carried a deeper fascination about how the shows were written, produced, photographed and scored. His book, “Mayberry 101,” looks in depth at 79 of the show’s 249 episodes in this light.

“I do know a lot about the show,” he says.

A native of Asheboro, Brower watched the original “The Andy Griffith Show” as a kid, fascinated that the stories mentioned real places in North Carolina such as Siler City. He also was interested because Ron Howard, who played Opie, was the same age and had one of the show’s more significant roles.

In 1985, when Brower was a young Methodist minister out of Duke Divinity School, Channel 2 in Greensboro announced it would show each of the show’s 249 episodes in order. Brower decided to tape and watch each one.

He became caught up in the life of fictional Mayberry for good.

Brower soon sought out other Andy Griffith fans and, through new connections such as Mike Tobkes of New York, began researching what information existed on the series.

If a course in “Star Trek” could be offered at a community college, Brower figured, there was room for a course on “The Andy Griffith Show.”

At the time, he was pastor at a Monroe church and, with help from Charlotte radio personalities John Boy and Billy, who were strong fans of the show, Brower developed and promoted a first-time class for Central Piedmont Community College.

“It was not a hard sell,” Brower says, looking back.

Brower kept teaching the course, while also becoming a popular speaker on the civic club circuit. This was all in addition to his full-time duties as a Methodist minister.

The Mayberry Reunions in 1990 and 1995 followed, along with the start of his annual speaking appearances at Mayberry Days and a regular column — “Professor Brower’s Class” — for the newsletter of The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club.

Each column centered on a different show from the television series. He researched each episode with the help of interviews he conducted with the show's writers, actors and producers.

The column served as a natural springboard to the 500-page paperback book, “Mayberry 101,” in which he covered specific episodes written by Harvey Bullock, Everett Greenbaum, Bill Idelson and their partners.

Again, pitching the book idea to John F. Blair Publishing in Winston-Salem was not a hard sell.

Brower says he is thankful for all the show’s great character actors, writers and producers he has met personally through the years, though he has never spoken with Griffith or Howard.

“I’ve had fun,” Brower says. “It has been a wonderful experience. I’ve had so many opportunities through this and my love for the show.”

Brower has cut back significantly from his strong Mayberry period. He last taught his community college course in Alamance County six years ago.

He still belongs to the Barney Chapter in Greensboro, his last church stop before his transfer in June to Kannapolis.

Walk through the Methodist parsonage, and Brower already has affixed some of his Mayberry-connected drawings and paintings to the walls.

Graphic artist Mike Johnson took his community college course once and began producing much of the Mayberry artwork that Brower owns.

Brower points out Johnson’s depictions of Sheriff Taylor’s desk and Barney’s deputy stuff, in addition to pictures of Myers Lake and Opie and Andy walking together, as they did in the opening and closing credits.

From closets, Brower brings out a Mayberry pennant and a leather varsity jacket from fictional Mayberry Union High. It has the orange and blue colors, as noted in the episode titled, “Class Reunion.”

Outside of church, Brower remains a bit of a television addict. He has a fondness for other old programs such as “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “M*A*S*H*” and “The Wonder Years.”

He currently is watching all 234 episodes of “Leave It to Beaver,” reporting he is up to the eighth episode of the second season.

Of current shows, he enjoys “Friday Night Lights,” “Dexter,” “Project Runway” and “Top Chef.” Of more recent comedies, he liked “My Name Is Earl” and “Everybody Loves Raymond.”

Brower says his wife, Toni, is not a big fan of “The Andy Griffith Show” but tolerates his passion for it. Their 14-year-old son, Keaton, mainly won’t watch the series because most episodes were in black and white.

Brower will have to nip that attitude in the bud.