Who Ya Gonna Call? Floyd Craig, Of Course!
A Tribute Series of People Who Positively Impacted My Life and Ministry
Who Ya Gonna Call? Floyd Craig, Of Course!
I do not remember exactly when I first met Floyd Craig. Or who introduced us. It was the mid to late 1970s. We immediately struck up a relationship. We knew so many of the same people. He even knew of my father’s ministry in denominational service during the 1960s and 1970s.
The years he served as Deputy Director of the Governor’s Office of Citizen Affairs and the Governor’s Citizen Advocate (Ombudsman) for North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt were the same years my parents lived in Raleigh, NC.
Every time I was in town I would go by the governor’s office to see Floyd. Even visiting with him was a communications education as he explained to me what was going on and why.
We also saw one another at denominational gatherings in the 1970s, 1980s, and even the 1990s after our denomination split.
The first time I formally benefited from his communications service was during the mid-1980s. I served on the staff of the national missions agency for my Baptist denomination. I was chairperson of a staff subcommittee to recommend if the agency should invest millions of dollars in a new emerging Christian television network.
The agency president only wanted to invest the millions if doing so was an effective means of evangelism. It was not. I knew that from the beginning. But I did not have the expertise and credibility to say “no” to the president. Floyd was one of the people with whom I consulted whose voice would be heard.
Based on my subcommittee’s recommendation the president did not invest any money in the network. I used Floyd’s name in the report.
Another project in the 1990s was when I was on staff with the South Carolina Baptist Convention. I managed a statewide project for the convention staff of 100 people. Three colleges plus our agencies and institutions supported the project.
It was known as Empowering Kingdom Growth. It focused on the vitality and vibrancy of our almost 2000 churches in South Carolina. Later the title of Empowering Kingdom Growth or EKG was picked up by our national denomination.
We needed to know if our efforts were effectively communicated throughout the local Baptist associations, church pastors, church staff, and key lay leaders.
Twice—two years apart—Floyd conducted focus group interviews in multiple locations throughout the state. This evaluation process sought to discover if we were clearly communicating, and if our constituency was responding and taking actions to empower Kingdom growth.
We were on target. Floyd was able to provide proof. Especially the second time he conducted the interviews we were definitely on target because we followed his recommendations from the first round.
The last time I saw Floyd was about ten years ago. I was in Nashville, TN where he lived and took him out to dinner.
Several months before Floyd’s 90th birthday on February 25, 2023, his wife Anne contacted me and ask me to write a letter to Floyd. Then send it to her for inclusion in a book they were compiling for him.
Here is the text of my letter. (You should know that with Floyd it was always fun to laugh about people—including ourselves—and how well or not well they were doing their job. That spirit of being fun-loving but not judgmental is seen in my letter to him.)
February 25, 2023
Dear Floyd:
I celebrate with you and for all of us that you have reached your 90th birthday. I thank our God for every remembrance of you!
Among the many reasons I am blessed by your life is that you were born on February 25th. As much as I already appreciated you, my appreciation went even higher when I realized you were born on the same day as my oldest grandson. Except you two are exactly 70 years apart.
Every day for the past two years, I thought about and admired two earthly creations of our God. One was my wife, Betty. We are now in our 51st year of marriage.
The other was Floyd Craig.
Every time President Donald Trump walked in the briefing room to give an update on the pandemic I would think – “These people need Floyd Craig to write and have full authority to manage a crisis communications plan. Their briefings will be memorialized in communications classes and executive leadership programs throughout the world as models of how not to do it.”
It was a matter of “Who ya gonna call” and the answer would be Floyd Craig!
You would have taken the President aside after each briefing and said, “You turkey that was the dumbest thing you could have said!” Only you would not have cleaned it up like I just did.
Poor Anthony Fauci would try – and I admired the guy – to provide some common sense and facts – if allowed. However, the one I suspected knew exactly how things should be done was Deborah Brix. She was a class act! Of course, her facial expressions as she sat to the side wondering if Trump was going to allow her to speak were priceless.
Betty did not want to miss any briefings where she was present. She always enjoyed the scarves she wore and wanted to see her jewelry again.
Whether it is seeing you at some Baptist gathering, coming by the Governor’s office in Raleigh, having you come to Columbia, or a visit – even a dinner – with you in Nashville, every day is a better day if there is some Floyd Craig time in it.
I am sorry I could not be with you for your 90th, but I sure did laugh a lot while writing this letter to you. It was great therapy which means that once again Floyd Craig has made my life better. Certainly, increased my enjoyment.
Love You Bro’
George Bullard
Afterword
Floyd died on August 30, 2024. His memorial service is Saturday, October 5th. One of the officiants is David Sapp who has been a friend of mine since seminary days in the early to mid 1970s. He and Floyd worked together of the Christian Life Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.
About Bosses, Mentors, and Colleagues
I realized in 2021 that too many people who had a positive impact on my life and ministry were dying. Due to time, distance, and various life events, I had not spent time with these people in recent years
I decided to see more of these people and reminisce about life and ministry. I wanted to express my appreciation to them for the blessing they have been in my life. Thus, I spent time with some of these people, but not enough of them.
Now that I am in my mid-70s, the time and distance issues prevent me from doing all I would like to do.
I want to express publicly my appreciation for these people. These brief manuscripts allow me to do this. It is a way I can bless the current lives of these people or honor their memory.
This series includes people still living and those who have moved on to eternity.
I urge you to honor those who contribute in positive ways to your life. You have great power to bless them as they have blessed you.
Access the FREE Lawrence Childs tribute flipbook HERE!
FREE BONUS: See/download the flipbook on George’s manuscript regarding The Congregational Life Cycle HERE!
OR
Grateful for your influence in my life as well. Perhaps it was in part the influence of this one I never knew, Floyd Craig.