He said “Yes” The Story of Derek Crumpton

Foreword

Whether you have had the privilege of knowing Derek Crumpton or not, I believe his story will inspire and challenge you. Unravelling his journey has been my quest so that this generation and the ones to follow will not lose the legacy of our grandparents. Jeremiah 6:16 says: Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.

Whilst we are excited about the new thing God is doing and saying, we need to honour those who paid a high price for the truth and freedom in which we walk today. In order to build for the future we need to acknowledge and review our roots, foundations and history.

Jesus says, For many are called, but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14). The chosen are those who say Yes to the call.

Derek Crumpton has always said Yes to God’s call, no matter the cost. Since our destiny is to co-labour with God, all He needs to accomplish the impossible are those who say, Yes Lord without an if or but. Often Derek has been a lone voice in the wilderness, standing for truth and justice whilst declaring an unpopular word – in sheer obedience to God.

Saying Yes to God has not been easy for him. He did it as a young man taking the Gospel to tribes in Nigeria; or when he gave up a lucrative career in business for the ministry; or by sacrificing everything for the baptism in the Holy Spirit; or when he had to approach the National Party government for permission to allow all races to worship together for the first time in South Africa in the 1970s. In his seventies his Yes involved taking constant trips to China to minister under gruelling conditions.

I have written this story despite Derek’s reluctance, as he feels that his life has not been that remarkable. But I have known him for 40 years, lived with his family for six and worked with him for two decades. In all that time he has never wavered in his convictions, his faith or his walk with God, and his life has impacted many nations.

Derek has never given himself a title or carried a business card indicating apostle or prophet, although he has functioned in both capacities. He has never pursued popularity, fame or the acclamation of man. In fact he has been a controversial character who is greatly loved by many and disliked by some, but never viewed with indifference.

Now at 86 years of age, his mind is as sharp as ever as he cares for his beloved wife Jean, in Johannesburg. Through the internet, television and a vast collection of books, he keeps abreast of what is happening world-wide and in the kingdom of God. With the heart of a general in God’s army, he prays daily from his little green book for his large family and weekly for many old friends and colleagues in the ministry.

In the spring of 2015 I flew to Johannesburg from London, where we were living at the time, because I felt an urgency to record Derek’s story. It was a joy and privilege to spend ten days with him as he recounted his journey. His heart tender towards the Lord, he wept often as he spoke of God’s faithfulness to him through the years. Many a time I felt we were standing on holy ground…

His is a remarkable tale that needs to be told. And I pray that as you read it, you too will be inspired and challenged to say Yes to God so that your life will, like Derek’s, count for eternity. Though you may not be famous on earth, you will be well known in heaven.

Dot Mitchell

1

Beginnings

Derek recognises that God’s hand was on him in a significant way, long before he really came to know Him. From early childhood through a series of isolated incidents, significant school teachers, chance meetings and supernatural experiences, God was preparing him for his future. A well-known song says, Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever does...

Derek said, I can remember a number of events in my life, when, but for the Lord’s intervention, I would have not have been here today.

His Birth

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

Before you were born I set you apart;

I appointed you as a prophet to the nations"

(Jeremiah 1:5).

The year was 1931 and Arthur and Dorothy Crumpton were living in the Natal Midlands in South Africa. One morning Dorothy, who was heavily pregnant with their second child, responded to frantic knocking on the kitchen door. A young Zulu woman was standing there wringing her hands and shouting in panic, Madam, you must come to my missus, she is having a baby. You must come and help her. Dorothy immediately took off her apron and hurried after the woman through the long grass veld between their houses. In her haste she tripped and fell into a ditch, then dazed and shocked, she felt her own labour pains begin.

In desperation, she cried out: God, if you save this child, I will give him to you for the rest of his life.

Miraculously the contractions stopped, and the frantic Zulu woman helped her up. She continued on her way to the neighbour where she discovered the cause of the alarm. The midwife who had been sent to assist with the birth was drunk! Ever-capable Dorothy helped to bring a beautiful baby boy into the world.

A short time later, her own baby was safely delivered in Durban on 7 December 1931 – a boy they named Derek Arnold. Interestingly, the distressed neighbour happened to be a close relative of the well-known Welsh intercessor, Rees Howell. He had felt an urgent prompting that morning to pray for her, even though he knew nothing of her situation. Thankfully God also used him to prevent the possible miscarriage of Derek’s life.

Derek actually met the Welsh family 20 years later when they returned to South Africa to show their son his birth place and to thank Dorothy Crumpton for saving his life. Through a series of chance encounters, the family was able to trace the Crumpton family living in Cape Town at the time. Derek was summoned home one lunchtime to meet them.

Who says God isn’t interested in the smallest details of our lives?

Family background

Both sets of Derek’s grandparents had moved to South Africa from England in the late 1800s. His maternal Grandfather Perrow was a tall, rather austere man with a Primitive Methodist background who knew the Lord. The Primitive Methodists were radical believers still influenced by John Wesley. His paternal Grandfather Crumpton came to South Africa as part of a Lancashire army regiment. He bought himself out of the army and became a professional portrait photographer.

Derek’s mother, Dorothy, told him stories of long hikes around Table Mountain on Sunday afternoons with her father, who called her Mark. She said they were more like route marches, up and down hills at the same pace without any form of conversation. Even into his eighties, the old man thought nothing of covering 10 to 15 miles in a few hours. As a teenager, it was during one of those Sunday afternoon walks that Dorothy responded to the Gospel message preached by a Jewish evangelist in a tent.

Derek said, My parents married despite having to face great opposition from Mum’s fiery dad. He despised my dad’s father because he was worldly and happened to be a leading Freemason. On their wedding day he gave his youngest daughter the proverbial shilling as they left home for the service, declaring no further responsibility since he didn’t approve of the match.

Derek continued, He never quite accepted my dad and always referred to him in my presence as ‘that man’. But amazingly, over 30 years later, my dad would kindly escort the frail old man to church every Sunday. Sadly though, they walked in almost complete silence. He was so unforgiving that he never ever came into our home when my father was there – a mere 10 minutes’ walk away.

One wonders whether Dorothy ever regretted giving Derek to the Lord that day. After her initial salvation experience as a teenager, she became a respectable and religious Methodist who attended church twice on Sundays, observed the Sabbath, drank no alcohol and said grace before every meal. She was a strong, rather dominating woman and Derek’s dad, Arthur, went to church with her. However, Derek never saw him pray or read the Bible. Religion was regarded as being a private affair about which one never spoke. His parents engendered in Derek and his sister, Shirley, a keen sense of right and wrong, good manners, caring about the underdog and being completely honest – some of Derek’s core values to this day.

Early Years

In hearing Derek speak, it’s hard to imagine that his early education was almost entirely in Afrikaans. The family lived in De Hoek, near Piquetberg in the South Western Cape. It was a garden village built for the employees of the cement company where his dad worked, and included a beautiful golf course and wonderful sports facilities.

Pre-war South Africa was governed by General Jan Smuts’ United Party, affiliated to Britain as a legacy of the Boer War. The Afrikaans-speaking South Africans were officially treated as underdogs which, together with the still vivid memories of their appalling treatment by the British during the Boer War, caused tension between the two language groups.

The Crumpton family, English to the core, was treated with both antagonism and suspicion in the largely Afrikaans community. Derek’s dad added insult to injury by raising a Union Jack in their front garden!

Derek clearly remembers knocking on their next door neighbour’s front door to ask if he could play with their little son. Andre’s mother yelled Voetsek! (Afrikaans for get out) and threatened to chop Derek’s fingers off with a carving knife if he should ever put a foot on their property again. Andre was definitely out of bounds, yet the two lads secretly played with their dinky cars through the fence.

Derek’s memories of home are not particularly happy ones. His domineering mother and resistant father constantly bickered, mostly over money issues. They were often preoccupied with Derek’s older sister Shirley, who was a chronic asthmatic and often victimised at school for being English-speaking.

Being one of the few children who spoke English at home, probably added to Derek’s sense of isolation - of being different from everyone else. He was a shy, deep-thinking, retiring boy and an avid bookworm who started school earlier than his peers on account of his excellent reading skills.

In strong contrast was his father, Arthur. He was a powerful swimmer and a keen sportsman, who had played seven-a-side football for Natal; won a major golf tournament in the late 1930s against Bobby Locke; played league tennis and won competitions with Derek’s mum as his doubles partner. He struggled to understand his quiet, studious son who loved books. Derek’s passion for sport, particularly cricket, developed at a later stage.

Arthur, extremely sociable and outgoing by nature, was greatly restricted by his rather religious and controlling wife who strongly disapproved of his smoking and very occasional drink. They were an incredibly musical family. Arthur played the piano, the organ, the banjo and the ukulele whilst Dorothy played the piano and sang in the Cape Town Choral Society choir. The two of them occasionally sang duets at concerts. Derek played the violin.

Derek has a vivid memory of a day when he was playing with some youngsters on the village golf course. A red-haired boy, renowned for being a bully, started brandishing a metal golf club and accidentally hit Derek on the head. He was knocked unconscious. The frightened children all disappeared and if his sister Shirley hadn’t run for help, he may not have survived the head wound – a fraction of an inch from his temple. Just one of the enemy’s many attempts to take Derek’s life…

2

Spiritual Stirrings

In childhood

Once a month two eccentric Anglican fathers from the Community of the Resurrection arrived in De Hoek on a Bluebird motorbike with a side-car. It was quite an event in the small community. Derek clearly remembers that one was tall and thin and the other, short and squat, both wearing long black cassocks with round, soup-plate hats.

They came to teach the children Sunday school and at the age of five, Derek was hugely impacted by the stories they told. They spoke about Jesus Christ and showed the children a picture of the Saviour dying on the cross. Derek says that from that time, Jesus became very real to him. He remembers singing the hymn There is a green hill far away, and telling his mother he was concerned about the people who didn’t even have enough money in their city to build a wall!

Derek said, In my life one thing has repeatedly surfaced - the ‘awareness’ I had from childhood that any situation was not all that it could, or should be. I knew that there was always something ‘other’ than what the eye could see. As a child he was not able to articulate those feelings, but today he said, I was never and still am not satisfied or complacent. I believe it is a ‘God thing’ – a discontent or restlessness that has always driven me to seek more of God.

A strange experience

At the age of six, Derek was christened after pressure from several of his mother's nine church-going siblings who were concerned about his spiritual state. He remembers wearing his best clothes with all the relatives crowded into their front room - reserved for special occasions. He has a vivid memory of the day: A flash of light hit me as the minister doused me with water and prayed for me. I was completely overwhelmed with emotion, burst into tears and ran out of the room into the garden, terribly embarrassed. Interestingly, the family