Meet the Pastor
Dr. Gary Crawford, Senior Pastor
Dr. Gary Crawford has served Westside Baptist for 29 years. Over the years at Westside Baptist, the Lord has called more than 100 persons into Vocational Ministry and Missions, serving in more than 15 countries and 9 states. Westside has multiple partnerships around the world and Gary has served on mission trips to numerous countries including Brazil, Argentina, Australia, Peru, Africa, England, Sweden, Russia, Asia, and Niger. Gary was born in Lake City, Florida. He was married to Freda Mangle (deceased) in 1970 and has two children, John (married to Tina Rakes) and Christa (married to Bill Latham), and five grandchildren.
Within church, the body of Christ, we are taught to "look after one another."
Rob Hall was a veteran climber leading his eighth climb to the summit. Before the journey he said, "With enough determination any bl...
» More
The Lord’s vision was so compelling that the twelve disciples left everything to follow His lead and since then multiplied millions have done the same.
In his book, Visionary Leadership, Bert Nanus defines vision as a “realistic, credible, and attractive future for your life or ministry organization...
» More
Every Sunday God does something special in each service.
Discipleship Now…for all our youth and families was a wonderful event – “process” I should say, because the spiritual growth of our youth and ...
» More
Jesus was never interested in having admirers.
In his new book, “Not a Fan,” Kyle Idleman makes this statement.
The dictionary defines a fan as “an enthusiastic admirer.” Fans want to be...
» More
It’s not that climbing mountains and jumping out of planes is a bad thing.
Ten months after Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was nearly assassinated in Tucson, Arizona on January 8, 2011, she gave an interview with the assist...
» More
"Can you think of someone for whom you would walk through walls?"
The Servant, by James Hunter is a book about leadership based on love. It is a worthy read.
The question was asked, "Can you think of som...
» More
Sanctity of life means that life is holy.
Sanctity of life means that life is holy- set apart by God as precious. Human life is in the "image of God" (Genesis 1:26-27). Life begins at concept...
» More
Resolutions help us identify our priorities.
Resolutions help us identify our priorities. They clarify how we want to invest our time and resources- instead of spending them. The New Year says ti...
» More
Happy New Year
Charles Schultz, in a Peanuts comic, showed a conversation between Lucy and Charlie. Lucy said that life is like a deck chair. Some place it where the...
» More
What did you give for Christmas?
Mark Hall wrote about an important question we often overlook. A few years ago he overheard some teenagers at church talking about the presents they...
» More
