We join with countless readers, friends, and former congregants in mourning the death this week of long-time Alamance News columnist Stephen Crotts.
We’ve tried to reconstruct just how long Stephen had written for this newspaper.
As best we can tell, we find his first column, then entitled “Hear, Here!,” printed on August 14, 1987; he was at the time the pastor of Christ Church, a non-denominational church at 3742 South NC 49, south of Burlington.
Over the years, his columns have included insightful expositions on scriptural passages, portraits of saints and church leaders of old, as well as “advice” to those seeking guidance on various subjects (spiritual and otherwise) and, occasionally, observations on current events.
He wrote for 9½ years before leaving in 1997 (his last column in his first of two tenures was January 9, 1997) for a church in Wilmington, Myrtle Grove Presbyterian.
He returned to the area in 2001, when we were delighted to welcome him back to the printed page. His inaugural column, “The Life Letters,” was published September 6, 2001, but he adopted what became his column moniker for the past almost quarter century, “The Pointed Pencil,” the following week, September 13, 2001.
Stephen had a unique 3-way gift as a consummate communicator. He was an excellent preacher/speaker, thoughtfully expounding the scriptures, whether in a sermon or vignettes or talks before small groups of athletes, students, professors, visiting foreign scholars, or others. His low-key and often soft-spoken approach was often disarming; he would never have been mistaken for a loud hell, fire, and brimstone preacher, although he never shied away from the fundamentals necessary for faith and belief in Jesus Christ.
His ability to mingle with a wide diversity of people and discuss a host of issues – Biblical, ethical, moral, or life issues – one-on-one with those same athletes, students, professors, visiting foreign scholars, or others was, to our observation, unsurpassed.
Lastly, and the one this newspaper’s readers are most familiar with, he was a skilled written communicator. His columns often read as though they were, themselves, one-on-one conversations with our readers.
In recent years, he had often shared these weekly duties with his son, Rev. Bryan Crotts of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Burlington. We look forward to Bryan’s continuation of the Biblically-based lineage that his Dad began.
One of our favorite of Stephen’s observations about this newspaper’s role in the community was that we provide a weekly “snapshot” of life in Alamance County.
Sometimes that snapshot is pretty, comforting, or otherwise positive – and sometimes it’s less so. But a newspaper’s job is to report and reflect whatever that week’s local reality is.
This week’s reality includes the loss of a friend, spiritual leader, and columnist.
A final reflection of Stephen’s work ethic and commitment to his weekly column and our readers is that during his final days, even while in intensive care at UNC Hospitals, he was preparing future columns, which we’ll hope to publish in the coming weeks after they’re transcribed.
