Percy Bartimus Crawford (October 20, 1902 – October 31, 1960) was an
evangelist
Evangelist may refer to:
Religion
* Four Evangelists, the authors of the canonical Christian Gospels
* Evangelism, publicly preaching the Gospel with the intention of spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ
* Evangelist (Anglican Church), a c ...
and
fundamentalist
Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishi ...
leader who especially emphasized youth ministry. During the late 1950s, he saw the potential of
FM radio and UHF television and built the first successful Christian broadcasting network. He also founded
The King's College and Pinebrook, a Bible conference in the
Pocono Mountains
The Pocono Mountains, commonly referred to as the Poconos , are a geographical, geological, and cultural region in Northeastern Pennsylvania. They overlook the Delaware River and Delaware Water Gap to the east, Lake Wallenpaupack to the north, ...
.
Youth and conversion
Crawford was born in
Minnedosa, Manitoba
Minnedosa is a town in the southwestern part of the Canadian province of Manitoba situated 50 kilometres (32 mi) north of Brandon, Manitoba on the Little Saskatchewan River. The town's name means "flowing water" in the Dakota language. Th ...
, Canada, and was reared in
Vancouver, British Columbia
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...
. He dropped out of school to help support the family after his father left his mother and their three children.
As a teenager, he left home and completed high school at the
YMCA
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...
school in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
. Preparing to enter the
University of California at Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
, he was converted to Christianity on September 23, 1923, at
Reuben Torrey's Church of the Open Door
Built in 1914, the 4000-seat Church of the Open Door was conceived by R. A. Torrey who had come to Los Angeles to start a Bible institute (now known as Biola University) similar to Moody Bible Institute. The church was to be strictly non-denominat ...
, under the preaching of itinerant evangelist W. P. Nicholson.
Education
In 1924 he enrolled at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (
BIOLA), where he was mentored by Thomas Corwin Horton and Reuben Torrey. At BIOLA Crawford discovered his gift for evangelism and committed himself to full-time Christian service. After briefly studying at UCLA, Crawford earned a bachelor's degree at
Wheaton College. During summer months of his student years, he made successful evangelistic tours with a gospel quartet, in one summer recording eight hundred professions of faith in Christ.
In 1931, while a seminarian at
Westminster Theological Seminary
Westminster Theological Seminary is a Protestant theological seminary in the Reformed theological tradition in Glenside, Pennsylvania. It was founded by members of the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary in 1929 after Princeton chose to ...
he started his own youth-oriented radio program on a single station in Philadelphia, calling it the "Young People’s Church of the Air." Within a decade he had built a radio ministry that aired on over 400 stations and included evangelistic "fishing clubs," a bookstore, and book clubs. After being ordained by the
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
church, he also briefly pastored the
Rhawnhurst Presbyterian Church in northeast Philadelphia. Siding with
J. Gresham Machen and the fundamentalists in the Presbyterian church, he resigned from the Presbytery of Philadelphia—but "without fanfare or publicity."
Marriage
In 1931, he met and, two years later, married a very young but gifted pianist and arranger from
Collingswood, New Jersey, Ruth Duvall, who became his lifelong partner in evangelism. Ruth Crawford assembled a musical entourage—vocal quartet, brass quartet, men's and women's ensembles, and later a full orchestra—that distinguished Crawford's evangelistic ministry from others of his era. The Crawfords had five children, four sons and a daughter.
Ministries
In 1929 Crawford began speaking on radio station
WPEN,
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
for the
Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission
Sunday is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. In most Western countries, Sunday is a day of rest and a part of the weekend. It is often considered the first day of the week.
For most observant adherents of Christianity, Sunday i ...
, a
homeless shelter and soup kitchen, which recorded its Sunday morning service before hundreds of homeless men. In October 1931, he started his own radio ministry called the ''Young People's Church of the Air'', and within a decade the program was broadcast on four hundred stations.
In 1933 Crawford founded
Pinebrook Bible Conference for young people and brought to it the nation's leading fundamentalist Bible teachers and musicians. A few years later he added Shadowbrook camp for boys and Mountainbrook camp for girls. Crawford directed Pinebrook for nearly 28 years.
In 1936, he founded
The King's College, a Christian liberal arts college. The institution began in
Belmar, New Jersey
Belmar is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated on the Jersey Shore. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 5,794,[New Castle, Delaware
New Castle is a city in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. The city is located six miles (10 km) south of Wilmington and is situated on the Delaware River. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 5,285.
History
New Castl ...]
in 1941, and then to
Briarcliff Manor, New York
Briarcliff Manor () is a suburban village in Westchester County, New York, north of New York City. It is on of land on the east bank of the Hudson River, geographically shared by the towns of Mount Pleasant and Ossining. Briarcliff Manor in ...
in 1955. Crawford served as president for 23 years. Although he was very much the dominant personality, he was frequently absent conducting his other ministries, and his "autocratic style" limited the long-term effectiveness of the college.
Crawford and his wife often traveled 40 to 50,000 miles a year with a quartet, and later their five children, conducting meetings and rallies mainly in the northeast but also on cross-country tours to the west coast. In 1953–54, the evangelistic team made an 18-week world tour that included three weeks in
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
preaching to American servicemen. The Crawfords typically used upbeat, easy-to-learn choruses in their services, and the Young People's Church of the Air eventually published thirteen books of gospel songs. Although Crawford remained a staunch foe of religious
Modernism
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
and the
social gospel, he also increased his audience appeal by avoiding controversy in his preaching and rarely making personal attacks.
In 1949, Crawford began the first coast-to-coast religious program, ''
Youth on the March
''Youth on the March'' is an American religious television program originally broadcast on ABC from October 1949 to May 1952, and by the DuMont Television Network from October 1952 to June 1953. The show was presented by the Young People's Churc ...
''. This show aired on the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
network, moving to the
DuMont network for 1952–53. In 1956 Crawford organized a novel youth rally format in Philadelphia's Town Hall, which he called "Youtharama." The program emphasized large-scale musical productions with chorus and orchestra, humorous skits, and high-profile youth-oriented guest speakers who gave Christian testimonies before Crawford closed the meeting with an invitation and
altar call
An altar call is a tradition in some Christian churches in which those who wish to make a new spiritual commitment to Jesus Christ are invited to come forward publicly. It is so named because the supplicants gather at the altar located at the ...
. In 1958 Crawford organized a
Christian Broadcasting Network
The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) is an American Christian media production and distribution organization. Founded in 1960 by Pat Robertson, it produces the long-running TV series '' The 700 Club'', co-produces the ongoing ''Superbook'' ...
(not to be confused with the
Pat Robertson-owned network of the same name) that eventually included six radio stations and one television station—although with mounting debts. Crawford and the Young People's Church of the Air also began operating the Philadelphia
UHF television station WPCA (today
WPHL) on July 17, 1960, the world's first religious television station.
Death
Crawford died on October 31, 1960, of a heart attack suffered while driving to a
Youth for Christ
Youth For Christ (YFC) is a worldwide Christian movement working with young people, whose main purpose is evangelism among teenagers. It began informally in New York City in 1940, when Jack Wyrtzen held evangelical Protestant rallies for teenagers ...
evangelistic meeting in
Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Billy Graham
William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. He was a prominent evangelical Christi ...
was the main speaker at his funeral.
[.]
References
Bibliography
*Bahr, Robert. ''Man With a Vision: The Story of Percy Crawford''. Chicago: Moody Press, n.d.
pprox. 1961
*Carpenter, Joel A. ''Revive Us Again: The Reawakening of American Fundamentalism''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, ch. 9.
*.
*Crawford, Percy. ''The Art of Fishing for Men''. Philadelphia: Mutual Press, 1935. Paperback edition, Chicago: Moody Press, 1950.
*_________. "A Modern Revival." Revelation (August 1932); 325,349-50.
*_________. ''Salvation Full and Free: A Series of Radio Messages (Preached on 250 Stations Over The Mutual Network).'' Philadelphia: Westbrook, 1943.
*_________. ''Whither Goest Thou? A Series of Radio Messages Preached on 250 Stations over the Mutual Network.'' East Stroudsburg, Penn.: Pinebrook Book Club, 1946.
*Larson, Mel. ''Youth for Christ''. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1947.
*Vaughn, Gerald F. "Evangelist Percy Crawford and The King’s College in Delaware, 1941–1955." ''Delaware History'' 27, nos. 1-2 (Spring 1996-Winter 1997): 19–41.
External links
Percy Crawford website by Dan Crawford
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, Percy
1902 births
1960 deaths
People from Minnedosa, Manitoba
People from Philadelphia
Christian fundamentalists
American evangelists
Biola University alumni
Wheaton College (Illinois) alumni
Christian revivalists