MEET OUR MINISTER OF EDUCATION
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Richard Crawford joined the staff of First Baptist in March 2007. Prior to coming to Jonesboro he was at Briarlake Baptist Church in Decatur, GA. A native of Tuscaloosa, AL, Richard was born into an Air Force family and literally grew up all over the world, from Germany to California and all points in between.
Upon his father's retirement, the family returned to Alabama where he graduated from Tuscaloosa High School and the University of Alabama. Richard attended college on an Air Force scholarship and after graduation served for almost five years as a nuclear missile officer at Grand Forks AFB. North Dakota. In 1982, he left the Air Force to attend New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary graduating in 1985.

He is married to his college sweetheart, Janice. The couple have three sons: Beau, Tory and Hunter. Their male dominated family was changed for the better in August of 2001 with the marriage of their son, Beau, to Valerie Huffman.

Richard and Janice have served churches in Alabama, Georgia, and North Dakota. From 1989 until 1999, they were Southern Baptist International Mission Board appointed missionaries to Taiwan where they worked in Mandarin and Taiwanese Chinese. From 1999 until the Spring of 2003, Richard was assigned to the Middle America Region with responsibility for Chinese language and College Ministry in British Columbia, Canada. His interests include bird watching, hunting, fishing, history and government. He loves 1969's and 70's Rock and Roll and is a recent fan of Country Western.