Mirror photo by Rachel Foor / Pastor David Crumrine sits at his desk in his office at First Church of the Brethren, Roaring Spring. Crumrine entered ministry after almost 40 years as a principal and teacher.

ROARING SPRING — After spending nearly 39 years in education and helping raise three children, it’s no wonder that David Crumrine has managed to build a bond with the younger members of his congregation.

A former teacher and principal at Spring Cove’s Central High School, Crumrine serves as the pastor at First Church of the Brethren in Roaring Spring.

He is able to maintain a “very good rapport” with the school-aged kids, First Church of the Brethren’s Board Chair Kaye Russell said.

“So the youth in our congregation always follow his lead. It’s not like he’s an old man talking at them,” Russell said.

Before being certified as a pastor, Crumrine worked as director of ministry and planned worship and taught some Sunday school and Bible studies. Now, he performs weddings and funerals, visits people in the hospital and helps out any way he can.

“The relationships I built I think have been an advantage,” Crumrine said. “I learned how to deal with people who were having the worst day of their life in a lot of ways.”

Beside teaching and preaching, his favorite part of being a pastor is being able to see people “grow in Christ.”

“I know that’s tough to quantify, but when I was principal, my favorite day of the year was commencement — watching kids see all that hard work pay off,” Crumrine said. “I guess now, I’m going to say the same kind of thing.”

While Crumrine enjoys being a pastor, Myers said it puts more pressure on him than being a principal, as he is on-call around the clock.

“He has such a drive for it; he does such a good job,” Myers said. “He’s very supportive with the kids in our church.”

Church groups and programs a priority

This is especially evident with the church’s 5th Quarter program. After each Central High School home football game — played about a block away from the church — community youth in grades 5 through 12 are invited back to the church for indoor games, refreshments and motivational speaking, Russell said.

The free program has about 18 to 25 kids attend each week, with most coming from the community rather than the congregation.

“Pastor Dave goes every time whether he’s the speaker or not,” Russell said.

Russell and Crumrine were classmates in high school and have attended the same church for at least 30 years, she said, adding that they work together on almost everything “as far as the functioning of the church is concerned.”

“He’s very easy to communicate with, very easy to work with. He doesn’t try to dwarf any new ideas we throw at him.”

One of those things is the support group Good Grief that Russell began five years ago that meets monthly at the church.

“He’s not required to be there, but he and his wife have not missed a meeting,” Russell said. “He simply comes to try to learn what those of us who are grieving need in those situations.”

The meeting usually brings in between six and 12 people, half from the community and half from the congregation.

Crumrine even took a course on death and dying recently, Russell said.

“Lord willing, if my health stays good, I’ll probably work as long as I can,” Crumrine said.

Back to school

Before transitioning from a career in education to one in ministry about four years ago, Crumrine, then 61, said he was “beginning to feel like” the biblical figure Jonah — who, when “God called him, he went the wrong way” and ended up in the belly of a fish.

Around that same time The First Church of the Brethren in Roaring Spring — where Crumrine has been a member for more than 40 years and where he married Dawn, his wife of 42 years, in 1980 — was looking for a new pastor.

Crumrine was on the church’s search committee when he decided he’d like to throw his hat in the ring, said volunteer Janie Myers.

“He said that the Lord was working on him,” Myers said.

Despite already holding a doctorate, Crumrine had to go back to school to earn the credentials the Brethren Church requires, Myers said.

Crumrine completed a training in ministry certificate program mostly online through the Brethren Church.

“It was a lot of work, but it was fun,” he said.

Crumrine said his entire family, and especially his wife, has been very supportive of the change.

“I think she just wants me to be happy so she wanted to support what I was doing,” Crumrine said.

One day at a Bible study, Crumrine said he was looking at Psalm 92 that talked about “staying green and bearing fruit even into old age.”

“I can’t just sit at home and watch TV,” he said. “I don’t golf, I don’t have any hobbies like that so I guess my hobby is taking courses now and doing more reading.”

All in the family

Crumrine wasn’t the first member of his family to enter the ministry — or even the second.

Crumrine’s father took a church in the Cove and moved the family there when Crumrine was a freshman in high school.

While Crumrine thinks his father — who passed away about 12 years ago — wanted him to go into the ministry from the start, he said he had his own ideas when it came time to choose a career.

Crumrine’s brother, Duane, is also a pastor and has been ordained for about 20 years, he said. However, his first job is as a pilot, having flown for United and Sheetz, as well as a company based out of Latrobe.

Home every other weekend, Duane co-pastors Clover Creek Church in the Cove, Crumrine said.

The pair were even interim pastors at a church in Williamsburg about five years ago.

“That had an influence,” Crumrine said. “I’m sure dad often wondered if either of his sons would ever go that direction but we both went with different careers and then answered the call later on in life.”

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.