This past Sunday was quite a memorable day. That afternoon Abilene Christian University hosted a ceremony and reception in Nashville honoring my Dad with their Distinguished Alumni Citation. Most of our family was there, and there were somewhere around 100 people attending.My sister Lauren & I initiated the process to nominate Dad for the award, and we drafted several others to assist us in our efforts. Thankfully the ACU Alumni Board agreed with our assessment that Dad was a most deserving recipient. Below I share with you the letter that Lauren & I submitted to officially nominate him. I know many of you will agree with our views.
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It is our pleasure to submit our father, Gayle Crowe ('63), for consideration for ACU's Distinguished Alumni Citation. He has led a life of faith and service and has demonstrated the highest form of God’s love for his family, friends, colleagues, and the congregations he has served.
During his preaching career of over 40 years he was well known for being an excellent communicator with thought-provoking and challenging sermons. But that was only one aspect of his life of ministry. He always welcomed those seeking spiritual guidance, including and especially those who did not have a spiritual background. He always looked for the value in everyone, including those who were on the fringes of the church or in larger society. He excelled in a mentoring role for dozens if not hundreds of people. Young ministers and Purdue college students were just some of the people with whom he would go to the gym or grab a quick meal and offer support, encouragement, and even "tough love" when needed. He has a gift for striking a balance between grace and truth: he is sensitive to people’s struggles yet honest, telling people what they need to hear. He served only two churches in the last 33 years of his ministry, a rare phenomenon in the Church of Christ fellowship, and a testament to his success.
In addition to his roles as preacher and counselor, he has served as lectureship keynote speaker and teacher, youth camp director and board member, and small group ministry leader. More recently he began a new role as Vice President of Programming at World Christian Broadcasting, an organization where he served on the Board of Directors for over 25 years. To this ministry he has brought the same work ethic and passion for sharing the Gospel.
Speaking as his children, we can provide a brief perspective of Dad in his roles as father and husband. The love he holds for Mom has always been crystal clear and God-centered. He is supportive and respectful of her always, and encourages her in her professional life and in her ministries. He provided a great model for us in this way. And as his kids, we knew that family came first for him. He was always home for our evening dinners and attended as many of our concerts and sporting events as he could. He was extremely humble about his accomplishments; he rarely mentioned to anyone that he was Ivy League educated or that he finished both high school and college early. This also was a silent lesson in humility that he taught his children. But at the end of the day, the master of our home growing up was God, and as Christians, we can't imagine a higher praise.
In early 2008 we read the ACU Today issue that contained articles describing the 2007 recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Citation, each of them certainly worthy of the honor. And after reading the issue, we both realized that what our father has accomplished in his career of more than 40 years of service is, in our opinion, more than deserving of this recognition as well. Once we decided to nominate him, we quickly concluded that a simple letter from his kids probably couldn't adequately tell the whole story of the impact our father has had on so many lives. We thought it would be advantageous to enlist some help from some people who respect Dad and whom Dad respects as well. Therefore, enclosed in this package are some letters we have received over the past year from several close friends and colleagues who can provide for you some meaningful perspectives into Dad's life and career.
It was quite moving for us to receive these letters and see how others have come to appreciate Dad so much. Indeed, we feel that submitting any of these letters alone would be a great testimony to Dad's life. However, the accumulation of such heartfelt and persuasive points of view we hope will give you a broad understanding of how ACU can be proud of this former Wildcat.
All of the superlatives you will read in the enclosed letters are well deserved, and we will share these with Dad eventually. But before he reads them, we offer these to you and hope you might agree with all of us that Gayle Crowe would be a most worthy recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Citation. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Darren M. Crowe (’90)
Lauren (Crowe) Cunningham (’92)
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