Georgia Phillips Crawley went to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ at her home in Grand Bay November 11, 2023, surrounded by her loved ones.
Georgia was born at home on February 2, 1936, in Antioch Mississippi. She is preceded in death by her parents James Otho Phillips and Eunice McNeil Phillips.
She is survived by her husband of 65 years, Delaney Crawley, children Larry Crawley, Marilyn Crawley, David Crawley (Diane) Iris O’Brien (Joby) and Grandchildren, Nicole Taylor (Chris) Rachael Sigsbee (Shane) Ivey O’Brien, Emma Sakon (Ethan) Sage O’Brien, Savannah Crawley, Jack O’Brien, Jorgia O’Brien, Amelia Lee Crawley, Great Grandchildren, Truett Taylor, Riley Mae Sigsbee, Tag Taylor and Shepard Sigsbee.
Georgia was a great lover of family, music, food, education and ministry. At eight years old, she sold two calves which she raised to buy her first piano. At the age of twelve, she became the church pianist at Antioch Baptist Church. She later learned to play the organ and would play piano and organ for multiple congregations for over seventy years. She taught piano lessons for the better part of her life. She was often found sitting at her piano playing hymns from her childhood, late into the night.
In High School, she won the state championship in Mississippi for her cherry pie. This earned her a trip to the National 4-H Convention in Chicago, IL.
She graduated from Jones Junior College and Mississippi University for Women (the “W”). She met Delaney Crawley, a Mississippi State student, whom she met at the “W’s” BSU Valentine’s banquet. They fell in love and were married nine months later. She graduated in 1957 with a Bachelor of Fine Art’s Degree in Home Economics.
Following Delaney’s graduation, they moved to Mobile, Alabama and finally settled in Grand Bay. In 1969 Georgia started Magnolia Springs Christian School, where she taught first and second grades. She later went on to earn her Master’s in counseling from the University of South Alabama and became a Guidance Counselor for Theodore High School.
She and Delaney started Children’s Church, a new concept, at Friendship Baptist in Grand Bay which continues to this day. They also started an inner-city ministry in the Happy Hill’s area in Mobile. In 1973 Georgia and Delaney started a telephone hotline ministry, to lead others to faith in Christ with a three-minute Gospel presentation. They later expanded this ministry to Washington D.C.
In 1974 they worked with Here’s Life Gulf Coast through Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) and were also in charge of showing Christian films in the local theaters in Mobile. They felt called into part-time Christian Ministry with Here’s Life America (CCC), while Delaney continued to work with the U.S. Navy.
In 1976 Georgia and Delaney led CCC’s “I Found It” campaign for the Mobile area.
In 1978 Georgia and Delaney were called to part time staff with CCC.
When ‘The Jesus Film’ was released, their lives were changed forever, and they joined CCC’s Jesus Film Project. Georgia and Delaney took ‘The Jesus Film’ to Haiti in 1982. Realizing the great impact of the film, they both left their jobs and launched into full time Christian ministry. They soon became the field reps for The Jesus Film Project and spent the next 41 years taking ‘The Jesus Film,’ and the Gospel of Christ to over 40 nations.
In addition to showing ‘The Jesus Film,’ drilling water wells, discipling and starting new churches, Georgia would lead women’s conferences while Delaney discipled the men.
Taking the Gospel of Christ to the ends of the earth, Georgia and Delaney found themselves hundreds of miles up the Amazon River, in the Arctic of Siberia, and in the deepest parts of the African Congo. They lived in Moscow, The Republic of Georgia and The Ukraine.
In 1997 they retired from Campus Crusade and started ‘Here’s Life Africa,’ in Tanzania and seven surrounding nations. In 2013 they left to start a new ministry, ‘Mission To Zambia,’ which continued up until 2023.
Georgia helped to start the current food pantry at Union Baptist Church and was also a member of Union Baptist’s Dixie Dulcimer Players.
Growing up in the rural in Mississippi, education was of utmost importance to Georgia, and she was very proud the education of her children and grandchildren. She was always counting the schools of higher learning where her immediate family had studied.
The most important thing in Georgia’s life was that her children and generations that follow, would walk with The Lord. She taught her family how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. She died with perfect peace, and she would love for you to experience that same peace she had through Christ.
“But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)
The family would like to thank Adonis Caring Hands for ministering to their parents in their time of great need.
Services will be held on Wednesday, November 15, 2023, from the chapel of Serenity Funeral Home at 12 o’clock noon. A visitation will begin at 10:00 a.m. until service time. Interment will follow at Serenity Memorial Gardens.
In lieu of flowers, the family would ask that donations be made to the food pantry at Union Baptist Church, Grand Bay, Alabama.