Meet Pastor Andrew

Hey! My name is Andrew Crimmins and I am the Lead Pastor at Asheville First Church of the Nazarene. Below, you will find photos and stories that help make up my ministry journey.

I grew up a Nazarene pastor's kid, and am 4th generation Nazarene. I preached my first sermon at age 11 standing on a stool so I could see over the pulpit. about a year later, as much as a twelve-year-old boy could, I felt God calling me to the ministry. 

“Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
”
— Philippians 2:4-11

I attended Trevecca Nazarene University where i earned a Bachelor's in Pastoral Ministry, and continued on to receive a Master's of Divinity from Vanderbilt University. During my time at Vanderbilt I served in ministry at a homeless agency called Room in the Inn.  One day I was serving in our Foot Clinic at RITI which washed and cared for the feet of the un-housed folks, when I happened to meet a very beautiful volunteer named Rebecca. A few years later Rebecca became my wife and we have been ministry partners ever since. Rebecca is an ICU nurse at Mission Hospital here in Asheville, NC. 

My passion in ministry and for our church in Asheville is to see God's holy love be made tangible for our community. From my work with the homeless and my time as a Hospice Chaplain, I am convinced that for people to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ they first need to feel the good news. They need to feel God's love tangibly in their lives through the body of Christ. my hope for our church is that we would be the body of Christ that allows them to tangibly experience the love of God, so in turn they may  entrust their lives to Jesus Christ.