Evangelist, pastor Bob Cryder

dies at 54

     CANBY – A survivor of a rough childhood who had become a prominent Portland-based international evangelist and then, in recent months, pastor of a California church, died last month at age 54.
     Rev. Bob Cryder of Canby passed away Dec. 5 of pneumonia following a stem cell transplant for cancer. Memorial service was held Dec. 9 at New Hope Community Church in Clackamas. A similar service was held Dec. 17 at Arcade Church in Sacramento, Calilf., and was to be held this month at First Baptist Church in Yucapia, Calif.
     Cryder was born in 1951, one of 11 children from eight fathers and the same mother. When Cryder was a toddler, the family was broken up and the siblings separated, ending up in orphanages and foster homes. He was adopted by a Santa Barbara, Calif., family. He eventually earned a bachelor’s degree in religious studies at Westmont College, a Christian college in Santa Barbara. He later earned a master of divinity degree from Western Seminary in Portland.
     While Cryder was in seminary, Western’s president noticed that Cryder’s sermons succeeded in leading people to Christ. Cryder was soon traveling the West for the seminary to churches, Bible camps and conferences. That was the beginning of Cryder’s traveling ministry. Eventually, he went all over the world with his calling, Bob Cryder Team Ministries, formed in 1981. At times, Rev. Billy Graham’s ministry team called upon Cryder to preach for them when the famous evangelist brought his crusade to a city.
     Cryder also was known locally as host of Hot Potato Radio, a weekly program on Portland’s KOTK that addressed issues from a Christian perspective to a secular audience.
     Cryder was diagonosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2003. Specifically, he had mantle cell lymphonma – an aggressive form of the disease that is often resistant to chemotherapy. Cryder underwent chemotherapy and radiation, but the cancer progressed.
     Although his prognosis was not good, Cryder in November 2004 received a call from Arcade Church in Sacramento, Callif., which wanted him to be the pastor despite his serious health challenges. Cryder preached about a dozen times for that church, returning to Oregon for treatment. An Oregon Health Sciences University team sought a suitable stem cell donor for Cryder, eventually finding a 19-year-old man in central Europe whose stem cell structure matched Cryder’s. The stem cells were flown from Europe and injected into the pastor. But several weeks ago, Cryder’s health started to fail.
     Cryder is survived by his wife, Jenny; son, Josh; daughters Carrie and Laura, all of the Portland area; and his mother and three sisters in California. Memorial donations are suggested to the Mantle Cell Lymphoma Research program at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland or to Arcade Church in Sacramento.