Winston Crawley passes

Dr. Crawley was our first area secretary as they were called in the 1950s. We met him at Glorieta the summer of 1956 and he shared with us the needs of the island of Formosa, the name used in those days for Taiwan. In 1958 he spoke in flawless Mandarin Chinese to the congregation of the Baptist Church of Keelung. He remains one of the finest people we worked with when we were with the SBC International Board. The following obit was sent from former colleague Faye Pearson. --- Britt Towery


CRAWLEY, James Winston, 90, went home to his Lord on June 14, 2010. He was preceded in death by his wife of 57 years, Margaret Lawrence Crawley; his brother, Owen Crawley; and one granddaughter, Adrienne Joanne Hesson.

He is survived by one son, Winston Jr. (Margaret); two daughters, Anne Fairchild (Ron) and Joy Bazemore (David); two grandsons, Gabriel Hesson (Ingrid) and Winston Crawley III; five granddaughters, Allyson Crawley White (Patrick), Grace Bazemore Yukich (Jonathan), Shelley Bazemore Spears (Shawn), Hillary Bazemore White (Evan) and Heather Bazemore Lee (Josh); and four great-grandchildren.

Dr. Crawley was born May 2, 1920 in Newport, Tennessee, and spent his life devoted to Jesus Christ and missions endeavors around the world. He was a graduate of Baylor University, Vanderbilt University and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He began his work experience as an English teacher at Baylor University and Blue Mountain College, but soon shifted into Southern Baptist denominational work as an editor and young people's worker. When he moved to Louisville to study theology, he was hired as the pastor of Hillsboro Baptist Church in Versailles, Kentucky. While in seminary he also worked as a fellow in the department of missions.

He and Margaret were appointed as missionaries to China in 1947. In late 1948, Communist advances in China led to the transfer of missionaries to other countries. Dr. and Mrs. Crawley moved to the Philippines where they helped to begin the Baguio Chinese Baptist Church, which he then served as pastor. Additionally, he was on the initial faculty of the Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary. From 1954 until 1987, Dr. Crawley was a missions administrator with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board.

While living in Richmond, he was an active member and Sunday School teacher at Derbyshire Baptist Church. Upon "retirement" in 1987, Winston became a wandering seminary teacher, about half the time in this country and half the time in Asia - most recently in Taiwan for the month of April 2008. Though traveling like this for months at a time, the Crawleys moved into Lakewood Manor in 1991, and that was Winston's final home. In addition to his vast experience as pastor, Bible teacher, church planter, missionary, missions administrator and seminary teacher, Dr. Crawley is the author of eight books - most recently, "God's Purpose for His People," published in 2006.