First Baptist's Rev. Crough Received Calling While Dabbling in Theater Arts

A teacher at heart, the Rev. Patrick Crough, pastor of in Tiverton, is a scripture scholar, whose strong, passionate voice echoes throughout the sanctuary, where Pilgrims once worshipped.

Preaching from the pulpit is second nature to this Baptist minister, yet, like Jonah, he tried to avoid the inevitable.

“God doesn’t let go,” he said laughing. “God in His sense of humor wanted me in ministry.”

Pastor Pat was raised in the Roman Catholic faith.

“It didn’t do it for me,” he said. “It wasn’t my path.”

A theater arts major, he attended West Chester College in Pennsylvania.

“I went to college as a functional agnostic,” he said.

He began meeting with fellow students, who called themselves “Born Again Christians.”

“I spent time with them and discussed my experience as a Christian,” he said. “I needed a group of people who had a better foundation of their faith than I had.”  

At 10 p.m. July 14, 1978, Pastor Pat made a commitment to Christ, accepting Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior.

“That started a different journey for me. I studied everything at that point,” he said.

Pastor Pat became a church member of a nearby Baptist Church, a stone’s throw from campus.

“Back in ‘78 when I was converted, the people of the church were wonderful; but the church had some serious leadership issues,” he said. “Having come from my childhood church that didn’t click for me and years of agnosticism, then having another experience that turned out so disappointing, my first reaction was to just dump the whole thing and go back to where I was before I was going to this church. But it was at that moment I heard a voice in the back of my head: ‘Who do you believe in, him or me?’ That one moment kept me focused on where faith really rests.”

Although Pastor Pat felt that God was calling him to ministry, he said that he had to take some time.

“I was halfway through college, and I left,” he said. “I laid low for two years. I tried a few different career options – all disastrous. I would pray to have God fix things, and within 24 hours of each time I prayed, something got worse.”  

He started attending church again.

“I bounced around a lot but kept turning back to the Baptist Church,” he said.

Eventually, Pastor Pat returned to West Chester College and graduated with a degree in theater arts. He enrolled at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, outside of Philadelphia.

He married his wife Judy during his first semester of seminary.

“Yeah, it was a good idea,” he said smiling. “We have been married 23 years.”

The couple has two adopted children, Amanda and Timothy, and two grandchildren, Anya and Chase.

He said that his background in theater provided him with two basic tools: the ability to speak clearly with volume and to distinguish between sincerity and a show.

“A lot of good ministers put on a show,” he said.

Pastor Pat graduated with a master’s degree in Divinity in 1981 and was ordained. His first church was in Manchester Center, VT.

“After five years there, it became apparent that the church and I were simply going in different directions,” he said. “So I started looking around for other churches to pastor.”

He sent his profile throughout New England, but the only churches that contacted him were in Rhode Island.

“It was kind of a sign,” he said.

After a phone interview, the Block Island church committee told him he was too progressive for them. The Wakefield church had internal problems. That left the Tiverton church.

“During the first interview, I crashed and burned,” he said laughing. “It did not go well.”

 As it turned out, the other two candidates they had interviewed accepted other positions.

“They found themselves at square one,” he said. “They took my file out of the trash and arranged a preaching date at a neutral pulpit. The church committee came and heard that. They were very impressed and at the end of the process voted unanimously to call me.”

Pastor Pat has served the congregation of Old Stone Church for almost 15 years.

“It’s been a really good arrangement because the church has been allowed to grow, and personally I’ve been allowed to grow as a person and pastor,” he said. “I can take no credit for the spiritual growth of this congregation. My job is to get out of God’s way and allow Him to work. That’s the only real success I can claim.”

First Baptist Old Stone Church is located at 7 Old Stone Church Road in Tiverton. Sunday school starts at 8:45 a.m., followed by the 10 a.m. Worship Service. For more information, call the Rev. Patrick Crough at (401) 624-4155.