January 14, 2002
A brief timeline of W.A. Criswell's life and ministry
An early portrait
1909
___Born in Eldorado, Okla., to W.A. and Anna Currie Criswell.
1927
___Graduated from high school in Amarillo and headed for Baylor University, where he began serving a series of small Texas churches as pastor.
1931
___Graduated from Baylor University with major in English.
IN 1977, with Paige Patterson, Jack Pogue and Wayne Evans, signing the contract for publication of the Criswell Study Bible
1934
___Earned master of theology degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.
1935
___Married Bessie Marie Harris, a schoolteacher in his Kentucky congregation.
1937
___Earned doctor of philosophy degree from Southern Seminary.
1937
___Called as pastor of First Baptist Church of Chickasha, Okla.
1939
___Daughter Mabel Ann born in Chickasha.
1941
___Called as pastor of First Baptist Church of Muskogee, Okla.
1944
___Called to succeed George W. Truett as pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas. Criswell recalled 3,000 people were present that day at the church, which boasted a membership of 7,000 and a budget of $200,000. "When I knelt to pray, that massive throng burst into tears," he recalled more than 50 years later. "That memory is the most precious moment of the glorious ministry that the Lord gave us in the years that followed."
1946
___ Began preaching through the Bible, word by word, a project that lasted 17 years.
1956
___Received national attention for saying integrationists are "a bunch of infidels, dying from the neck up."
IN 1972, leading groundbreaking for a $3 million, six-story building to house First Baptist Academy.
1960
___Preached against the election of John F. Kennedy, warning a Catholic would be too influenced by the Vatican. He later changed his views, inspired in part, he said, by Kennedy's fairness.
1968
___Declared First Baptist Church open to people of all races in a sermon.
1968
___Elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention, serving two one-year terms.
1969
___Published his book "Why I Believe the Bible is Literally True," which is credited with energizing the conservative movement that eventually would change the course of the SBC.
1971
___Criswell Bible Institute, now known as Criswell College, was founded in Dallas to train ministers in conservative biblical theology.
1972
___Led First Baptist to open a church school, now known as First Baptist Academy.
1973
___Affirmed the Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade decision permitting abortion. Religious News Service quoted Criswell as saying, "I have always felt that it was only after a child was born and had life separate from the mother that it became an individual person, and it always has, therefore, seemed to me that what is best for the mother and for the future should be allowed." Criswell later changed his position on abortion, becoming a staunch opponent of the procedure.
1976
___ Endorsed Gerald Ford's presidential bid in an address on the front steps of First Baptist Church, shunning fellow Southern Baptist Jimmy Carter.
1976
___Saw a vision for a Christian radio station serving the Dallas market, leading to formation of KCBI radio.
1979
___Published the Criswell Study Bible.
1979
___ Nominated Adrian Rogers for SBC president during the annualmeeting in Houston, formally launching the conservative movement to change the convention's leadership.
IN 1983, delivering the balance of a $1 million pledge to the BGCT for Cooperative Program, received by James Landes and Bill Pinson.
1980
___By the 1970s and '80s, Criswell led First Baptist Church to worldwide recognition at the largest and wealthiest Southern Baptist congregation in the world. The church rolls boasted 26,000 members, and the congregation owned five blocks of downtown Dallas real estate.
1982
___Offered to buy the financially troubled Dallas Baptist College for $6.5 million, citing hopes he could develop it into "a Wheaton College of the South." The board of trustees declined his offer.
1983
___Delivers a check for $1 million to the Baptist General Convention of Texas, making good on a pledge by the church to give the record-setting amount to the Cooperative Program budget of the state and national conventions. "God, give us more dreamers like W.A. Criswell," said BGCT Executive Director James Landes.
1984
___In an interview with the Baptist Standard, Criswell defended the emerging conservative movement in the SBC, saying he "hardly recognizes" his seminary alma mater. "What these men are doing is trying to keep our denomination conservative, that's all. And when these liberals say, 'But I am a conservative,' we have to redefine our terms and get some other nomenclature for us, because they are not conservative."
1984
___Delivered the benediction over President Ronald Reagan as Reagan accepted the Republican Party's renomination in Dallas.
1984
___In a nationally televised newscast, he explained, "I believe this notion of the separation of church and state was the figment of some infidel's imagination."
1985
___Members of First Baptist gave a record $1.85 million offering on Criswell's 41st anniversary at the church. It was believed at the time to be the largest one-day cash offering ever taken by a church.
1986
___In a sermon at First Baptist's School of the Prophets, he declared that "a laity-led, layman-led, deacon-led church will be a weak church anywhere in God's earth. The pastor is the ruler of the church."
1986
___Told the First Baptist congregation of his desire to call a co-pastor to work alongside him and prevent any "hiatus" should he become incapacitated. This launched years of speculation and auditioning for the coveted role of Criswell's successor.
1988
___Speaking at the SBC Pastor's Conference in the heat of battle between convention moderates and conservatives, he explained that moderates are the same as liberals: "A skunk by any other name still stinks."
1991
___Named senior pastor of First Baptist Church, as the congregation called Joel Gregory as Criswell's successor.
1992
___Gregory abruptly resigned as pastor of First Baptist, later explaining he had not been allowed full authority as pastor due to Criswell's continuing influence.
1994
___Celebrated 50 years as pastor of First Baptist Church with a week of festivities.
1998
___A bout with colon cancer sent the 88-year-old to bed for five months, but he rallied and spoke from the pulpit at First Baptist on the 54th anniversary of his first sermon there.
2002
___Criswell succumbed, dying as his friend of 30 years read to him from the Bible.
___
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