Kenneth Crow, 80, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, passed away 24 March 2022. He was a missionary who served in South Africa from 1965 to 1973. He also served as an educator in Colorado and Oklahoma and senior program manager of Research at the Global Ministry Center.

Even when he retired, he continued to do statistical research and writing as a consultant until he was 77.

Crow was born in the Sand Hills of Nebraska to Elmer and Ruth Crow. Kenneth and his three brothers graduated from Bethany Nazarene College. 

His soulmate for the last six decades was the love of his life, Edythe. Kenneth and Edythe married after her senior year and his sophomore year in college. They were blessed with three children: Gregory, Angela, and Philip.

Kenneth worked as a framing carpenter in high school and college for his dad, whom Kenneth said was “the best boss I ever had.” After college, he was proud that every paycheck he earned was from the Church of the Nazarene. 

He summarized his career as follows: “In my 20s, I was a missionary; in my 30s, I was a pastor; in my 40s, I was a professor and administrator, and then a church researcher for the rest.” 

While at Nazarene Theological Seminary, he was called to be a missionary. Later, he and Edythe were commissioned at the Nazarene General Assembly in Portland, Oregon. 

After a year of training on maintenance and operation for all the printing equipment at Nazarene Publishing House, they were sent to Johannesburg to run the Africa Publishing House. 

Kenneth loved to read, was endlessly curious, and was usually enrolled in a course at a university or seminary. He wanted to understand church growth, so at age 37, while pastoring in Colorado, he enrolled in a Sociology of Religion doctoral program. 

After he earned his master’s degree, he taught sociology at Mid-America Nazarene College. He then went to Nazarene Headquarters to conduct institutional research for Bill Sullivan, who convinced him to finish the doctoral degree because the Church needed insights based on reliable research. 

In all his service to the church, his longest position was in the Research Center at headquarters. In 1999, Grow magazine unofficially named him Minister of Research and noted that “it appears that Dr. Kenneth Crow knows more about Nazarenes than anyone else, living or dead.”

“Ken Crow was a Christian intellectual with varied interests,” said Stan Ingersol, former Archives manager. “He was a preacher, teacher, and sociologist of great ability whose every work was guided by a strong pastoral instinct and solid grounding in the Wesleyan theological perspective.”

He is survived by his wife, Edythe, his children and their spouses, Gregory and Janet, Angela, and Philip and Lisa; his grandchildren, Jonathan, Kate, Elizabeth, and Samuel; and his siblings and their wives: Linda, Chuck and Imalee, and Rich and Betty. He was preceded in death by his older brother, Walt, and his parents, Ruth and Elmer Crow.

A visitation for Kenneth will be held Friday, 1 April 2022 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Chapel Hill Funeral Home, 8701 Northwest Expressway, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73162. A graveside service will occur Saturday, 2 April 2022 at 10 a.m. at Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens, 8701 Northwest Expressway, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73162.