Todd Crouch

Todd Crouch (pictured at right with his wife Denise) is living one of his life’s dreams. “For as long as I can remember, even from age four or five, I have always wanted to know God and to really understand the Bible. I even talked to my Methodist minister about becoming a pastor.” Todd’s dream came true and he now pastors three GCI congregations: Wheeling, West Virginia; Washington, Pennsylvania; and Cambridge, Ohio.

Growing up in the small town of Speers, Pennsylvania, Todd’s first contact with GCI was through a cousin. “He gave me a subscription to The Plain Truth as a Christmas gift in 1974. I read it and for some reason it struck a chord…there was a real zeal. I appreciated that the WCG encouraged people to look into Scripture and that Christianity was meant to be something engaging that would change us.” Todd began attending WCG in 1981 in Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania (now the Mt. Pleasant congregation), and was baptized later that year.

Todd met his wife Denise at a church function. She was attending the Washington, Pennsylvania congregation. “In 1983 we got married and we moved to Bentleyville which is where we still live. It’s about halfway between our two families. We attended the Washington church with family.”

Todd and Denise have two sons, both married. David and his wife Elissa live in Moore, Oklahoma. David works as a SharePoint Administrator for Chickasaw Nation Industries. Elissa is a meteorologist for Weather News in Norman. They attend the Oklahoma City church. No grandkids yet.

“Our youngest son Jonathan is an officer-ranger with the Pennsylvania Department of Natural Resources and Conservation policing the state parks. His wife Jill is a forensic scientist with the Pennsylvania State Police. Jonathan is a member of the Washington, Pennsylvania church. Jill attends the church she grew up in. No grandkids yet.”

Todd, who worked in advertising, was asked to become the bi-vocational associate pastor of the Mt. Pleasant congregation in 1999. “I’m not sure what led to it other than at that time when many were leaving our fellowship, we stayed. We attended new pastors’ training at HQ in 2000. In 2005, Todd was hired full time and became the senior pastor of the three congregations.

What Todd enjoys most about being a pastor is, “Telling others about Jesus and having conversations with people about Jesus. I also love fellowship and worship. Pastors have the opportunity to participate with Jesus in ministering in many ways. You are bound up with the lives of so many and you experience so much through these relationships. Building relationships with other Christian pastors and churches is also a big plus.”

His most memorable moment as a pastor happened in Palm Springs during the International Pastors’ Conference, “when I first realized that Jesus had not left his humanity in the grave and is thus still ‘one of us’ and always will be.”

Speaking about GCI, Todd said, “God has given us a unique history and story to be a part of. I also like that so many of us know one another and have mutual friends. Also there is an intangible quality with GCI that is hard to define, but it’s there. It’s the desire, I think, to be transformed by the Holy Spirit with the focus on Jesus. We desire to know Jesus deeply and to see lives changed as we understand what Jesus has done for us all.”

Todd loves to share what God is doing with the three small churches he pastors. “We have a radio program called Fountain of Life. It is heard on a small radio station here in Washington and we have an ever-growing audience of online listeners in over 310 cities in America and all over the world at www.rkpradio.com. This shows us that Jesus uses our loaves and fish as we bring them to him.”

When does Todd feel closest to God? “In times of worship, both privately and when the church comes together.”