June 17, 2002

Circuit-riding West Texas minister's route covers eight nursing homes
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___ABILENE--The itinerant preacher moves from congregant to congregant, smiling a smile outshone only by his sincerity. He asks mostly the same questions of each person--how are they feeling, how are their children and grandchildren.

Nursing home minister Travis Crutchfield sings at Hendrick Wisteria Place in Abilene, one of eight nursing homes where he ministers every week. Due to illnesses, some members of his flock don't remember who he is, but the Baptist pastor tenderly cares for each of them regardless of their recognition. George Henson photo/Standard

___Each person he speaks to realizes this is not small talk; their pastor really wants to know about them and their family. For some, his questions are couched in such a way that it is obvious he recalls the way they answered the same questions the last time.
___Their pastor listens to them, and he remembers what they say--even if they can't remember themselves.
___As the nursing home minister for Abilene-Callahan Baptist Area, many of Travis Crutchfield's flock are Alzheimer's patients. Some he sees regularly don't remember him from visit to visit. One woman he visits weekly doesn't remember him very well, but she is certain a complete stranger is her bus driver.
___That might be frustrating for some ministers, but Crutchfield loves his place of service. He visits eight nursing homes every week. In some of the facilities, he calls on residents in their rooms, where he visits with them about their week and their health, reads Scripture and prays. Another facility likes for him to come and sing for a weekly gathering after bingo. He conducts Sunday services at one place on a rotating basis, and he has been asked to be a chaplain at yet another.
___The facilities differ as much as his duties. Some rooms are so small there is barely space for the two beds of the residents. In these rooms, Crutchfield must stand, because there are no chairs--and no room for chairs.
___Other facilities are more lavish and spacious, sometimes on the order of a five-star hotel.
___Crutchfield never seems to notice the difference. His focus is always on the people, not the furnishings.
___"I do this ministry because I love this ministry," he said. "And I love this ministry because of the people. Really that's what this ministry is--the people."
___Crutchfield became a Christian as an 11-year-old and felt the call to ministry soon after, he said. A Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary graduate, he has been pastor of a couple of churches and has done a good deal of supply preaching. But now, he has "found his niche," said Truman Turk, director of missions for Abilene-Callahan Area.
___"He is absolutely perfect for this ministry. The people respond to him," Turk said. "God opened a door for him, and we've been pleased well beyond our expectations."
___Crutchfield also believes nursing home ministry may suit him better than the pastorate, at least for now. "When I was called to the ministry, I was young and naïve, and I didn't know there was any other kind of ministry other than being a pastor or leading music.
___"But now I've found this ministry, and I love the people. There's just something in my soul that wants to help them. Like when one of the nursing homes had several people fall and hurt themselves several weeks ago. I'm not a doctor, but I can sit with them and encourage them."
___He received another chance to minister when one of the residents died. Since most of the residents were unable to leave to facility to go to the funeral, Crutchfield was asked to conduct a memorial service at the nursing home.
___"Most of the people in that particular nursing home are Church of Christ, and some of them are a little skeptical of me because I'm a Baptist," he explained. "That memorial service was just the Lord opening up an opportunity for me to get closer to them so they will trust me more and I can minister to them better."
___He spends five afternoons a week visiting his congregation in their eight locales. He keeps careful records for Turk, who forwards them to Milfred Minatrea in the Baptist General Convention of Texas office of missional church strategy. Crutchfield, a Mission Service Corps Volunteer, receives a stipend of $275 per month from the BGCT, the association and two churches in the association, Belmont Baptist Church in Abilene and Crutchfield's home church of First Baptist in Buffalo Gap.
___That stipend requires he maintain secular employment at a eating establishment in the evenings. Crutchfield's dream is that more churches will see the value of his ministry and that he can see the nursing home ministry turn into a full-time ministry.
___Turk already is a believer in the ministry's importance.
___"First, he adds an awareness of a forgotten group of people," Turk asserted. "Second, he brings an opportunity for pastors to have someone to call on to help them minister to these senior adults. And, third, he's given us all an increased awareness that God has a ministry for everybody he calls."
___

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