Rev. W. A. Criswell

© Amarillo Globe-News

Used With Permission

Thousands turn out to say farewell to Rev. W.A. Criswell

DALLAS - More than 5,000 mourners Wednesday packed the church complex where the Rev. W.A. Criswell for decades led the nation's largest Southern Baptist congregation.

Criswell, 92, a former Amarilloan, was remembered as a Christian leader of the 20th century.

A Bible was placed in Criswell's hands, in the open casket.

Criswell, who died Jan. 10, loved to preach and write about the Bible and his devotion to work for God inspired others to follow his path, fellow pastors said during his memorial service at First Baptist Church.

"We're here today because we are caught up in his flow," said the Rev. O.S. Hawkins, president of the Southern Baptist Convention Annuity Board, who referred to Criswell as a "mighty river."

"W.A. Criswell was our Apostle Paul," he said. "He led with intellectual pursuit coupled with a passionate heart."

The crowd overflowed from the sanctuary of the two-story church in downtown Dallas. Some mourners had to view the service via television from adjacent church buildings.

Criswell was pastor of First Baptist church from 1944 to 1991. He was named pastor emeritus in 1994.

Criswell also led the Southern Baptist Convention as its president for two terms.

Under his leadership, First Baptist burgeoned from 5,000 members with an annual budget of $150,000 in 1944 to nearly 26,000 members with a budget of more than $11 million. The church also has a small college, a private school and a homeless shelter.

"I never dreamed what God would do in this church," Criswell said during a 1984 interview.

Born on Dec. 19, 1909, in Eldorado, Okla., Wallie Amos Criswell grew up in Texline and graduated from Amarillo High in 1927.

Although discouraged from the ministry by his mother, Criswell was ordained as a minister at San Jacinto Baptist in Amarillo in 1928. Criswell quickly rose to prominence within the Southern Baptist Convention, earning a reputation as a skiller orator. Criswell was a proponent of Biblical inerrancy.

Biblical inerrantists believe that the Bible is the literal exact word of God.

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