Tom Crouse 45, has been a Pastor since 1990. Tom is currently winding down his time as the Senior Pastor of the Holland Congregational Church where he has led a multi-pastor staff. He began as an Assistant Pastor as Faith Bible Church. After three years there he took the Pastorate at Holland Congregational Church, a tiny liberal church of 20. Tom went in and preached the Word of God, and God through the preaching and teaching of His Word has grown the church to 400 people since 1993.

Tom is the author of the book “Don’t Strike the Rock”. He also is a talk show host of “Engaging Your World”, a one hour live call in talk show heard daily on 760 am WVNE in Worcester Ma., as well as throughout New England on the weekend show. Tom has spoken around the world at pastor’s conferences, seminars, and churches. He is currently preparing to transition into a position with ACTION INT'L Mission, where he will work in National and International Pastor Leadership Development, where he will be working with needy pastors around the world. Outside of his ministry work, Tom has been the VP of marketing and conducted business opportunities seminars around the country in the 1980 as well as consulting for a number of businesses in the area of marketing and businesses in the area of marketing and business development.

He has been married to Cheryl since 1985 and they have three great children; Nick, Tina & Joel, all who are in music ministry. Tom’s passion is to preach the truth of God’s Word and see His church become the God centered church He has called us to be!

From the Springfield Union News - Aug. 1991 written by Tom Shea

Probably the craziest thing Tom Crouse ever did was eat a glass bottle of beer. “It was a 12-ounce bottle, it took a lot of chewing,” Crouse said, shaking his head at the decade-old memory. “I should be dead from doing something that crazy.”

He’s not.

Instead Crouse is assistant pastor of Faith Bible Church on Shoemaker Lane in Agawam. It’s been a long strange trip for him through alcohol, drugs, fighting, gambling, rock’n’roll and big time wrestling.

“I tell kids whatever you do - sex, drugs, drinking - it won’t be enough” Crouse said. “Whatever it is it won’t satisfy you. There will be that emptiness that only Jesus Christ can fill. I know. I’ve been down all those other roads.”

He was drunk for the first time at 12 years old.
He has consumed bathtubs of schnapps.
With the cocaine he’s snorted he could line the streets of Springfield.
He has won and lost $20,000 at Atlantic City in a weekend.
He has been arrested and charged with inciting a riot.
He has toured the South fronting a rock band and heard the radio play a song he recorded.
He has attended Killer Kowalski’s Wrestling School and as “Larry Biggs” grappled Chief Jay Strongbow’s brother on national television.
And he has eaten a 12-ounce bottle of Budweiser beer.
“Nothing was ever enough” Crouse said. “Until Feb. 29, 1984.”

The day he was “born again.” His friends from Classical High School, his future wife and his father all thought this “born again” thing would be a phase.

“Tommy being Tommy,” said long-time friend John Danieli, now an engineer in eastern Massachusetts. “He was always into something new. We thought this was just another fad.” Seven years later Crouse is an assistant pastor, head of the youth ministry, and attending seminary with the goal of being an ordained minister. He also owns his own business and is the father of two children. Life, he said has never been better.

“If Tommy didn’t end up saved he would have ended up dead,” said Cheryl Crouse his wife. “I consider it a miracle,” said Crouse’s father Thomas. “I would be in bed at night listening to the police sirens and knew he was into something. It was a fear l lived with day in and day out.”

“I couldn’t do anything to reach him. I sent him to Stonehill College, put him on the road with a band, bought him a car. Nothing worked. I’d like to tell people out there who might have a kid who is more than a handful, miracles happen. I have always been proud of my son, but now I am amazed. God kept Tommy alive for a reason.”

The Rev. David Lanquist, pastor of Faith Bible Church, said the reason might be Crouse’s rapport with children. “They flock to him like the Pied Piper,” he said. “He relates well to kids. He’s been on both sides of the tracks. He talks their language. He listens. He’s packed a lot of living in a short time.”

Crouse, 28, said being a “born again” Christian wasn’t in his plans on that Leap Year evening. He was visiting a friend in his old band Pandemonium, when the friend started talking about what God had done in his life. “I’ve always been pretty open-minded,” Crouse said. “When my friend asked me if I wanted to accept Jesus Christ into my life, I thought, “Why not?”

Crouse said he suddenly had a purpose. He said it was like a great weight was lifted from his shoulders. He couldn’t get enough of the Bible, preaching and church. “I wanted to go to church every night,” he said.

Within three months Crouse felt a calling to ministry. Seven years later he assures old friends his embrace of Christianity wasn’t and isn’t a fad. It’s a lifetime commitment. “A few weeks ago I was driving back from preaching in New Hampshire,” Crouse said. “I had my Bible next to me and I was thinking, who would have believed this 10 years ago. Not me. Not my family. Most people figured I would have been dead by now.”