wfn.org | The Rev. Peter D. Crouch Named CWS Development Officer

["Carol Fouke" <carolf@ncccusa.org>]

National Council of Churches/Church World Service
Contact: NCC/CWS News, 212-870-2252/2227

THE REV. PETER D. CROUCH NAMED CWS CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER

	April 4, 2002, NEW YORK CITY - The Rev. Peter D. Crouch, an ordained
minister and development officer with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Foundation, has been named Chief Development Officer for Church World
Service.  He will begin work in CWSs Elkhart, Ind., offices on April 15.

	I feel called to this position in two ways, he told the CWS Board of
Directors, which confirmed the appointment at its regular spring meeting
(March 19-20, Linthicum, Md.)  First, as a call from God to serve the
ecumenical church and Church World Service in particular during this
exciting time in its life.

	I also feel called by the people in need and hear their cries of pain,
hunger and hopelessness, Crouch said.  One of my tasks will be to give
voice and tell the stories of those in our world who are often without a
voice or a vote, who nevertheless need our love and support.

	Crouch was born in Bangkok, Thailand, the son of Presbyterian missionaries.
After the family returned to the United States, his father, the Rev. Ted
Crouch, served as a refugee resettlement officer in Central California under
the auspices of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Church World Service and
the National Council of Churches.  Crouch says that is when he first learned
about Church World Service.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of
California (1984) and his Master of Divinity degree from San Francisco
Theological Seminary (1989), then worked for the seminary for three years as
Associate Director of Development.

While serving the 600-member Newport Presbyterian Church, Bellevue, Wash.,
as associate pastor from 1992-97, he was moderator of the first Endowment
Fund Committee for the Alaska Northwest Synod, whose 638,000 square miles of
territory extends from Alaska through Washington and into Idaho.  He also
chaired the Church Council of Greater Seattles development committee.

	From 1997-2000, he served as Director of Development, Communications and
Stewardship for the Presbytery of Chicago, where he developed a
comprehensive development program and raised annual support by 14 percent.
He secured $1.5 million annually from congregations for denominational
mission support, planned gifts for presbytery endowment funds and capital
gifts for congregations and the Presbyterian Camps at Saugatuck.

This enabled Chicago Presbytery to be the second largest donor of mission
dollars while having the fifth largest membership in the nation, Crouch
said.

	Since 2000, as a development officer for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Foundation, Crouch, of Naperville, Ill., has served as a planned giving and
endowment fund consultant to four middle governing bodies (Presbyteries),
340 congregations and 65 Presbyterian-related institutions in Illinois.

	Church World Service is a global humanitarian ministry of the 36
Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican member communions of the National Council
of Churches.  CWS has work in more than 80 countries around the world,
including the United States.

	In 2001 its $64 million expense budget included support for refugee
resettlement and assistance, domestic hunger and development, disaster
relief and recovery, self-help development assistance, education and work in
support of justice, peacemaking and human rights.

-end-