Percy Bartimus Crawford (October 20, 1902 – October 31, 1960) was an evangelist and fundamentalist leader who especially emphasized youth ministry. During the late 1950s, he saw the potential of
FM radio
FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...
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.
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 Wheaton College may refer to:
* Wheaton College (Illinois), a private Christian, coeducational, liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois
* Wheaton College (Massachusetts)
Wheaton College is a private liberal arts college in Norton, Massachus ...
. 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 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 church, he also briefly pastored the
Rhawnhurst
Rhawnhurst is a residential neighbourhood, neighborhood in the Northeast Philadelphia, Northeast section of Philadelphia, named for George and William Rhawn by area real estate developers. Roughly bordered by Pennsylvania Route 73, Cottman Avenue ...
Presbyterian Church in northeast Philadelphia. Siding with
J. Gresham Machen
John Gresham Machen (; 1881–1937) was an American Presbyterian New Testament scholar and educator in the early 20th century. He was the Professor of New Testament at Princeton Seminary between 1906 and 1929, and led a revolt against modernist t ...
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
homeless shelter
Homeless shelters are a type of homeless service agency which provide temporary residence for homeless individuals and families. Shelters exist to provide residents with safety and protection from exposure to the weather while simultaneously r ...
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, relocated to New Castle, Delaware in 1941, and then to Briarcliff Manor, New York 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 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 and the
social gospel
The Social Gospel is a social movement within Protestantism that aims to apply Christian ethics to social problems, especially issues of social justice such as economic inequality, poverty, alcoholism, crime, racial tensions, slums, unclean envir ...
, 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''. This show aired on the ABC 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. In 1958 Crawford organized a Christian Broadcasting Network (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
Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...
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 evangelistic meeting in
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster, ( ; pdc, Lengeschder) is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. With a population at the 2020 census of 58,039, it ranks 11th in population amon ...
. Billy Graham 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.