come to nearby Temple Baptist Church. Students were from Viet Nam, Uganda, Gabon, China and Armenia on a recent and “pretty typical” Sunday, said the teacher known affectionately as “Dr. Kenny.” “It’s all about relationships,” said Shirley of their engagement with international students. “That’s what really matters.” As if that is not enough, Kenny also leads the music (a role he defines as “songpicker-outer”) for a small Baptist church that meets earlier on Sunday mornings and is deeply involved in an ecumenical prison ministry called Kairos. “It about what is really important,” he said. “It is nonjudgmental and emphasizes the four L’s: love, love, listen, listen.” The Crumps are well invested in their family too, which includes six grandchildren. One daughter’s family is in Ruston, and the other is in Katy, Texas. Their son is a medical doctor and researcher at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Cal. He also picked up a master’s degree in theology along the way and further stirred his father’s interest in reading theological works. Kenny serves on the board of directors of Baptists Today and has been treasurer for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of
Louisiana since 2004. When not engaged in family activities, volunteer service or sorting through risk assessment data, one is most likely to find Kenny on his bike. For six summers he and his son took long bike trips to destinations in the West or in Europe. In 1993 they rode all the way across Canada. More recently Kenny has taken his biking adventures to Oregon, California, Hawaii, Ireland and, his favorite, New Zealand. “I am blessed because Shirley enjoys sagging for me,” said Kenny of the important role of having a support vehicle. “I still often carry my bike on land trips, and I seldom use my car except on Sundays.” Born and reared in the small town of Haynesville in northern Louisiana, Kenny has seen a lot of the world and done a world of good with his groundbreaking research and caring ministries. An inmate who participated in a retreat that Kenny helped lead last April said appreciatively: “You treated me with respect.” That’s the way Kenny and Shirley relate to everyone. They love, love and listen, listen — because “relationships are what really matter.” BT
Kenny Crump (left) talks with Bernd Schroeder, chair for mathemathics and statistics at Louisiana Tech.
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August 2013
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