Robert Crum

Robert Crum

Interview transcript

RC: I called it the house of refuge. And in time we had youth who were troubled, we had battered women and children. And it was an eye-opener to live there with people struggling like that. And I remember one evening, after about 5:00. There was a knock on my office door and I said “Come in.” And a young man came in and I noticed that there were other people with him, a women and two children. And he quickly closed the door and didn’t invite them in. And, he told me, he said, “I hear that you’re a minister and I wanted to talk to you before I go down the street here and rob this filling station. We’re at wits end, and I can’t feed them, I don’t have any place to put them.” And I said to him, “oh, we’ll give you a place to stay, and we’ll feed ya, and take care of you and try to help you find a job.” And it was about oh, maybe a month later. And he came and said, “I’ve lived with this women for six years and these are my two children.” But he said, “I’d like to honor them with marriage.” And he said, “Would you be willing to perform the ceremony?” And I said “Sure.” And we performed the ceremony and they were married. And the last I heard he had a job and they were making a go of it. And in my ministry it was the most beautiful time, and, I said that I quit preaching the gospel and began living it.