Rev. Dr. William P.Crawford – Senior Pastor/Head of Staff

Rev. Dr. William P. Crawford has been the Senior Pastor/Head of Staff at the Larchmont Avenue Church since 1999.  Bill is a native of Philadelphia; he graduated from Westminster College and earned a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Temple University via a National Institute of Mental Health Fellowship for graduate study.  He holds both a Master in Divinity and a Master’s Degree in Sacred Theology from Union Theological Seminary (NYC), where he was recipient of the Maislin Fellowship for advanced studies in ministry.  He holds a Doctorate in Ministry from the Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta; his doctoral thesis is entitled “When Religion Prompts Violence: A Congregational Inquiry” written in the aftermath of 9/11.

Prior to his ministry in Larchmont, Bill served as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Freeport, Long Island.  Before that, he served as Protestant Chaplain at George Washington University and Associate Pastor at the Western Presbyterian Church in Washington.  He has served previously on the staff of the Riverside Church in New York City.  Before seminary, Bill worked for the City of Philadelphia as planner/coordinator of U.S. Department of Justice programming.  During that time, Bill served as elder at the Old Pine Street Presbyterian Church and chairperson of the Youth Ministry Committee of the Philadelphia Presbytery.

In Washington, he was co-founder of Miriam’s Kitchen, a meals and service program for the homeless. He was the recipient of the George Washington University Award for leadership in the Washington, DC, community. He served as the summer staff Director of the National Presbyterian Conference Center at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. He was the Director of the international “Youth, Violence and Racism Seminar” sponsored by the Presbyterian Church USA and the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland; Frankfort, Germany; London and Northern Ireland. Bill’s leadership and service also includes Moderator of the Presbytery of Long Island; President of the Freeport Interfaith Clergy Council; convener of Presbyterian Urban Ministers Council (Washington, DC); Board Member, Hispanic Resource Center (Mamaroneck, NY); co-recipient of the 2002 Award for Best Religious Programming on Public Access TV from the National Alliance for Community Media, with Rabbi Jeffrey Sirkman for “The Reverend and The Rabbi” on LMC TV. He is on the board of the Auburn Theological Seminary Center for Church Life.

Bill is married to Rev. Julie Faith Parker.  They are the proud parents of a son Graham (16) and Marisol (14).  Rev. Parker is an ordained Methodist Minister; she is currently a PhD student and teaching assistant in Hebrew Scripture/Old Testament at Yale University.

Bill has been a Larchmont-Mamaroneck recreation league basketball and girls’ softball coach. He ran the New York City Marathon, but now he bikes whenever he can. He is a die-hard Bruce Springsteen and NPR fan. He loves the theatre and movies, watching the TV shows “Office” and “American Idol”, especially with his family.