Assured of Her Destiny

MINNEAPOLIS — Although she is only 20 years old, North Central University Bible and theology major Kaylie Crabtree already has vocational goals firmly in place: obtain a doctorate and be an Assemblies of God pastor. She would be a fourth-generation AG minister.

“I don’t want to be a pastor just because my parents are involved in ministry,” says Crabtree, 20. “My parents never pressured me. I feel this is what God wants me to do.”

Crabtree’s parents are longtime ordained AG ministers Dan and Loralie Crabtree. Dan is Old Testament, New Testament, and hermeneutics distinguished professor at the AG’s Northpoint Bible College and Seminary in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Loralie is a U.S. missionary associate and church planter of Hope Church in nearby North Andover.

“My parents have been very transparent,” Kaylie says. “I’ve seen the highs and lows of ministry.”

Kaylie decided to attend North Central because it’s her mother’s alma mater (as did Loralie’s father, Roger Robinson) and she wanted to study ministry in an urban context. NCU is located in downtown Minneapolis.

Despite her relative youth, the expressive and energetic Kaylie has been engaged in ministry a long time. She functioned as a student chaplain for a couple of years while attending Bradford Christian Academy (BCA) in Haverhill.

Kaylie’s aspirations are no surprise to Monica Romig, a Christian schoolteacher who met the 13-year-old Kaylie at BCA. Kaylie’s ministerial calling became evident immediately to Romig when the girl preached a sermon to a high school assembly as an 8th grader.

Romig, 34, went on to supervise Kaylie when she served as BCA student chaplain, which entailed coordinating speakers, leading worship, and preaching herself. But Romig expects that another reason Kaylie will thrive after her education is because of her humility.

“Kaylie will make a strong and dynamic leader because she cares for other people and she wants to promote them,” says Romig, who now is a teacher at Flatirons Academy in Westminster, Colorado. “She doesn’t seek the spotlight.”

In high school, Kaylie taught Sunday School and got involved in student-led worship at Calvary Christian Church in Lynnfield. In the summer of 2021, she worked as an intern at the AG church, gaining experience in everything from hospital visitation to preaching to youth. Now during her college years, the often-smiling, curly haired Kaylie is a youth leader at Emmanuel Christian Center in Spring Lake Park, Minnesota. In addition, she is NCU student body vice president, assisting president Derek Burgin.

Kaylie’s parents certainly are supportive of her plans. Dan taught at the AG’s Central Bible College in Springfield, Missouri, for 18 years. While there, he developed a course called “Let Them Preach,” a biblical affirmation of women in ministry.

Loralie believes it may be easier for her daughter to find a meaningful ministry role compared to when she graduated in 1986, when females represented only 13.9% of credentialed AG ministers. Now it’s 27.6%. And she notes that females represented 46.6% of newly credentialed AG ministers in 2021, a total of 624 women.

“Opportunities for women in ministry have been improving for decades,” says Loralie, 57. “It’s definitely a different era now.”

Loralie planted Hope Church in 2018 after attending a Launch Training event hosted by the AG’s Church Multiplication Network.

“There is a great need among so many population groups in the greater Boston area to befriend people and tell them about Christ,” Loralie says. “The Holy Spirit has not forgotten New England.”

Kaylie says she might become a church planter someday, raising the possibility that she and Loralie would be literal mother-daughter church pastors.

“I feel called to pastor in whatever capacity that may look like, wherever God may lead me to go,” Kaylie says.

Dan’s parents, Bob and Roberta, served as AG world missionaries in Europe before Bob became superintendent of the AG’s Ohio Ministry Network.

LOWER PHOTO: Kaylie (left) has received a rich spiritual heritage from parents Loralie and Dan Crabtree.