How Reading the First Vision Sparked Chris Crowe's Beautiful Journey of Faith

Chris Crowe got a book as a breakup gift. The girl he loved wanted a temple marriage he could not give her, so she said goodbye and handed him a black paperback on her way out. He tossed it in his locker and forgot it. Months later, alone in his bedroom in Tempe, Arizona, he opened it and read Joseph Smith's account of the First Vision. There was no vision and no jolt, just a quiet certainty that it was true. That certainty led him into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has anchored his testimony for more than fifty years.

In this episode of Why We Believe, Chris tells host Nathan Gwilliam about the 36-hour fast that gave him an answer he did not want, the night he told his Catholic father he was getting baptized, and the lessons in Christlike leadership he learned playing for Coach LaVell Edwards. He also shares how his wife Elizabeth taught him to pray for confirmation instead of answers, a pattern that carried their family to Japan, Hawaii, and finally Provo. The retired BYU professor and award-winning author still knows Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ.

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