Bishop’s Passing

We lost a legend last week when our senior pastor, lovingly referred to as “Bishop Craft,” passed away.  He was two days shy of his 91^st birthday.

I met Bishop for the first time when hubby and I came to Mississippi for his residency program interview at University of Mississippi Medical Center.  I’m sure many of you know about Match Day when all U.S. medical students find out the residency program with which they’ve been matched after a semester of interviews.  

In the months before Match Day, our then pastor in Houston, Rev. Jerome Bourn, was working on trimming out Bishop’s office in First Pentecostal Church’s new church building, and Bishop asked him, “Whatever happened to that young couple who interviewed here a while back?”  

Pastor Bourn said, “Oh, they’ll be coming here.”

Bishop asked, “So they found out already?”

Pastor Bourn smiled, shook his head, and said, “No, not yet.”

When we moved to Mississippi in 1999, Bishop took us under his wing, as he’s done so many other young couples, and made us feel like we were his most favorite people in the world. His door was always open at church and at his home, and he answered his phone whenever we called.

He dedicated each of my boys to the Lord. He put hubby in charge of our Foreign Missions department (truly Bishop’s heartbeat), and hubby organized a fundraiser to build a Bible College in Guatemala in Bishop’s name. They went together with a group from our church in 2008 to dedicate it.

He was available for every occasion that was important to us–the Fourth of July gathering we hosted, a dove hunt we hosted, 40th surprise birthday parties, graduation parties,….

He chastised me a few times in the 24 years that I knew him.  Several times, he told me to slow down when I was eating a meal with him (his meals could last three hours), and I always reminded him that a mom of three has to eat in a hurry.  Another time was on my 36^th birthday when I confessed to him that I was struggling with the idea of getting older.  He promptly advised me, “Get over it!”  So I did.

I will always boast that I had the great honor of moving him into his most recent home, giving him a hard time about such an old man moving into a young family’s house, complete with upstairs study areas, a fabulous spa-like backyard, pool, hot tub, cabana, and pond!  He responded, “There’s land for sale across the road. Buy it and build your own dream house!”  So we did buy the land, though we built our dream house thirty minutes north of him.

Because our new land purchase was in such close proximity to Bishop and his sweet wife, we had the joy of celebrating grandchildren’s birthdays with him and popping in to each other’s abodes for events or just because.  We were so blessed!

We could talk about anything and everything with Bishop.  He represented our Heavenly Father so well to each and every one of us.  He signed his name, “T.L.C.” (for Thomas Lynn Craft) and meant it.

This week, the church is aflurry with activity as we prepare to receive hundreds, if not thousands, of guests who will come from around the world to honor the precious man who officially pastored me and my family from 1999 until he handed off the responsibility to Rev. Greg Frazier in 2014. He unofficially pastored a bit after that as well!  

He was a driving force in the United Pentecostal Church International, and the spirit of his life and love for people will continue to affect all the ministers, missionaries, and regular folk like me that he touched with his unique way of calling us to Christian discipleship. He will be missed for a very, very long time.