TEXARKANA MAGAZINE
The Challengers soccer team, with David Crowder standing fourth from the left in the back row and his dad, Coach Dan Crowder, on the far right
David Crowder with the Wildcats T-ball team, co- champions of the Pleasant Grove T-ball league with a 4-1 record
David Crowder in the sixth grade
crate of chocolate milk, and then swing by Shipley’s to get donuts before making the route to pick up folks who didn’t have a ride to church. That bus was WILD. I thought my dad was the coolest dude on the planet.” It is early childhood memories like these that firmly establish David’s parents, Marian and Dan Crowder, as the greatest influences of his life. “They’re amazing,” David said. “They were very much involved and active in all my extracurricular [activities]. Dad was our soccer coach. Our team was The Challengers. Our rivals were The Razorbacks. I think we won more than they did. In sixth grade, I got interested in running. The first road race I ran, Run for Hearts, started at Spring Lake Park and went to Northridge Country Club and back. On Saturdays, Mom would drive me to road races all over the Ark-La-Tex, the Chariots of Fire cassette on blast, obviously.” David met his wife Toni when he was a senior at Pleasant Grove High School. It may be rare to find true love at such a young age, but sometimes it really is love at first sight. “I was sitting in Mrs. Davis’ food and nutrition class (that was a legit class), and the door to the
Simple Wikipedia and Google searches reveal the genre-busting labels of his work as “Christian rock,” “worship,” “bluegrass,” “alternative,” “folktronica,” and “swamp-pop.” The thing that is consistent, though, is the message. “I feel like I’m redundant in my lyricism,” he said. “I keep singing, over and over—no one is too far gone, grace is expansive, and the gospel is not about making bad people good, it’s about making dead people alive.” So much has been written about Crowder, and his career is well known. But what about David? Who was that guy? How did he become the artist he is today from the little boy and teenager who left Texarkana headed for Baylor University where his seemingly providential career began? “Church was a huge part of social life,” he said. “We went to First Baptist Church (FBC) way back in the early days when it was downtown. The best Sundays were the ones we hit up Bryce’s Cafeteria after. My eyes were always bigger than my stomach.” “My dad helped with the bus ministry at the church. So, we’d be up way too early to drive the bus first to Borden’s to pick up a
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COMMUNITY & CULTURE
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