Union AME Church welcomes new pastor

WARWICK - The Union African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) of Warwick, 98 McEwen St., recently welcomed its new pastor, the Rev. David Leon Crumpton. His previous assignment before coming to Warwick was as pastor of Greater St. James AME Church in Brooklyn. Union AME of Warwick’s previous pastor, the Rev. Dr. Robert A. Brown, has been reassigned to Greater St. James Church in Brooklyn. Crumpton, who was appointed to serve at Union AME by Bishop Franklin Norris, comes to his new assignment with a diversified background. “I did not receive my calling to the ministry until I was in my mid-thirties,” he said. “And before that I held a variety of positions as well as being self employed.” After graduating from his hometown high school in Tuckahoe, Crumpton went on to earn a bachelor of science degree in physical education at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C. He then went to work for Abbott House, a children’s home providing services for abused, neglected and abandoned children and their families, in Irvington. For a time after that, he ran a carpet cleaning business and then his own delicatessen. Finally he joined Wachovia Bank where he rose from teller to auditor to assistant manager. “I received my calling in 1988 and I enrolled at an AME ministerial institute,” he said. “I was ordained a deacon in 1992.” In 1995, while also working full time, Crumpton attended New York Theological Seminary and in 2000 he received his master of divinity degree. Crumpton and his wife, Geraldine, have two grown sons and three grandchildren. He is currently comminuting to Warwick for church meetings and services on Wednesday evening and on weekends. “I love Warwick,” he said. “This is a great congregation, the people of Warwick are friendly and the area, with all the foliage and greenery, is beautiful.” - Roger Gavan