Duane and Lisa Crabbs

Reverend Duane Crabbs is the founder of South Street Ministries– the Akron Beacon Journal called his 11-year old ministry a “Beacon of Hope” (May 5 th, 2007, available in the Akron Beacon Journal archives to subscribers)

Crabbs spent 13 years as a firefighter for the cities of Cuyahoga Falls and Akron. He says his life was changed in 1992 when he was talking with a little boy during a church service and discovered that the boy did not know what the word “wife” meant.

Crabbs was ordained in 1997 and he, his wife Lisa, and their 4 children bought a house that was about to be condemned in the one of the highest crime neighborhoods in Summit County. Together the Crabbs founded the non-denominational South Street Ministries and signed the deed to their house over to the ministry—everything the family owns belongs to South Street. Trusting God to meet his family’s financial needs, Crabbs left the fire department after two years to focus full-time on the ministry.

The family’s home is a “church without walls,” where worship takes place and youth have a meaningful place to hang out. South Street offers several different programs available to anyone and everyone in the community, including a weekly women’s group, an after-school program, and a bike shop where kids can repair and customize donated bikes. Duane Crabbs is an original member of the Christian Community Development Association founded by John Perkins, and he was awarded a commendation for community leadership by the city of Akron in May 2007.

Speaking on his ministry: “People don’t need to hear sermons, they need to see them…Christianity should be inclusive. This is what we do at South Street that very few other churches do. And we don’t simply preach on that—we just do it.”

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