Personal Testimonial – Lisa Crawford

By Dr. Austin's Recommendation

A Personal Testimonial by Lisa Crawford

I’m not joking when I say that Gary Tonge’s artwork (as in his contest winning cover of the Fellowship’s printing of The Urantia Book) is hugely responsible for me eventually reading it. My oldest son had taken a course on World Religions at our local community college several years ago. His professor was a retired Presbyterian minister, and my son was very impressed with the class, and with Dr. Austin. One of the things that stuck with him was Dr. Austin holding up a copy of The Urantia Book in class one day and saying to the class, “I highly recommend that everyone read this at least once in their lives.”

Several years later, my son moved home for a time, and was checking out at a bookstore when he saw the book in a stack by the register. Remembering Dr. Austin’s words, he picked up a copy and brought it home that day. I picked it up and started reading the Foreword out loud to him, and within a few paragraphs, I started chuckling and said, “Oh, wow, this is way over my head. Let me know what you think when you finish it!”

Several years went by, he had moved out, and then moved back home. He was doing research for an article he was writing on women who found religious movements and as part of his research was watching a Seventh Day Adventist movie made about Ellen G. White. The movie was unremarkable, but when it was over, he said, “I think the guy who gathered and edited The Urantia Book papers was a former Seventh Day Adventist.” We talked about what he knew about the Forum and the book for a few minutes, he told me he hadn’t read it yet and I asked him if he still had it or if it was packed away. He jumped up to get it, and again, I began to read out loud from the Foreword. I was baffled that a retired minister would recommend this book to his community college students, and put the book on the dining room table, saying, “Well, hon, as much as I like theology, and studying world religions, I think this one’s a bit too complicated for me.”

I’m generally an early riser, and the next morning as I sat in the predawn quiet, having my morning coffee, I pulled the book over to admire and take a closer look at the stunning cover. I have always loved the view of earth from space—something about it takes my breath away and gives me a deep sense of awe. I was looking at the cover when I noticed that there were four parts with titles listed––Part IV the Life and Teachings of Jesus took me by surprise. Having been raised a pastor’s daughter in a conservative, evangelical congregation, I felt I knew a thing or two about the Jesus of Christianity, and was instantly curious as to what this book, claiming to be written by non-humans, had to say about the life and teachings of Jesus. I opened it to Part IV and started reading.

Four hours later when my son got up to start his day, he found me in the living room. I had been unable to put it down and sat there with tears streaming down my face as I read and absorbed the book. I was absolutely stunned and knew to the core of my being that this had not been written or fabricated by mortals. I had the following week off work and read for eight to ten hours a day—I was completely drawn into the narrative and could barely put it down. I told my son, “It’s the best biography, about the best human who walked this earth, that I’ve ever read. It’s like my whole life I’ve only had access to a trailer and now I get to see the extended version of the movie. It is everything I ever wanted to know about Jesus. It’s incredible. It’s given me back Jesus as my sovereign creator.”

Last April when Gabriel was doing his first 2023 tour in the U.S. to talk about the Center for Unity and its projects, I joined a zoom meeting where he shared the Figma prototype of the Jesus Metaverse (now known as Discover Jesus). I was deeply impressed and felt in my heart that this was the way to make Part IV of the book known to this current and successive generations. I reached out to volunteer, zoomed with Sandra and Gabriel, and offered to help in whatever capacity I could. The sense of community, of teamwork, of a higher purpose infuses the Center for Unity, and in September when they asked if I would join the Executive Team, it became my great privilege to serve our purpose and mission in that capacity.