The Reverend Devon Jerome Crawford serves as the 18th Senior Pastor of Historic Third Baptist Church of San Francisco, a global village committed to transforming the world through radical love, prophetic witness, and beloved community. 

Before his call to San Francisco, Pastor Crawford served as the inaugural National Executive Director of the Multifaith Initiative to End Mass Incarceration (Multifaith EMI), a national effort founded by U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock. Based at Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Multifaith EMI unites diverse faith leaders and communities to confront the crisis of mass incarceration through strategic advocacy, nonviolent direct action training, and coalition building. During this time, he also served as Campus Minister at Morehouse College’s Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel, working closely with his mentor, Dean Lawrence Edward Carter Sr.

Rev. Crawford previously served as the inaugural Staff Director of the William Monroe Trotter Collaborative for Social Justice at the Harvard Kennedy School, working alongside Professor Cornell William Brooks. In this role, he guided research and strategic campaigns for racial equity, voting rights, public safety reform, and reparations—engaging eight U.S. and U.K. cities in public safety redesign after the murder of George Floyd, and advising governors on equitable COVID-19 responses. His leadership bridges the worlds of theology, public policy, and grassroots organizing, marked by a career of courageous public witness—from civil disobedience in Mobile, Alabama, to voter mobilization efforts with Chance the Rapper.

A proud son of Birmingham, Alabama, Pastor Crawford is an ordained minister, philanthropist, and scholar committed to the intersection of faith and freedom. He was baptized at New Pilgrim Baptist Church and licensed to preach the gospel at Sixth Avenue Baptist Church, both in Birmingham. He was ordained into Christian ministry at Historic Myrtle Baptist Church in Massachusetts. A Morehouse College honors graduate and MLK Scholar, he earned his masters degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School and is pursuing doctoral studies at Boston University School of Theology. He is the beloved son of Deborah and Jerome Crawford, brother to Danielle Elizabeth Crawford Banks, and uncle to Desoleil S. Banks.