New Biography Tells the Story of How a Hollywood Housewife Personally Organized and Led a Successful Multi-Agency Church Missions Outreach to China

Author shares the true story of one woman's leadership in uniting multiple agencies to reach an unreached Buddhist people group located deep inside mainland China

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., July 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Author Daniel Crawford has released a new biography, "Girl Transformed: How an Ugly Duckling Became a Beautiful Swan: The Story of Joy Crawford," that tells the story of how a housewife and church volunteer revolutionized the way her Southern California church undertook missions to mainland China.

In "Girl Transformed," readers can experience Joy's proposal to her church missions board that they adopt an unreached Buddhist people group located deep inside mainland China, and how she was then asked to personally lead that project. What she then did was mobilize eight to thirteen mission agencies to work together to accomplish it, which they proceeded to complete under her overall leadership, to achieve successful results deep inside mainland China which are described in the book.

"I feel Joy Crawford's life story is fascinating because it tells a great adventure story, and it deserves to be widely shared because of the powerful message it conveys," Crawford said. "Even an ordinary housewife, mother and lay person like her can successfully lead a church international adopt-a-people project, just as the U.S. Center for World Mission has advocated, and other churches can do it too."

Though Joy herself was never residential to China, she led the project as the project's overall strategy coordinator, guiding a large team of mission organizations through the project to achieve ultimate success. The book includes photographs and personal stories to show how the project was accomplished.

"Joy's story is a blueprint for changing the world and making it better, one unreached people group at a time," Crawford said.

"Girl Transformed: How an Ugly Duckling Became a Beautiful Swan: The Story of Joy Crawford"
By Daniel Crawford
ISBN: 9798385047833 (softcover); 9798385047840 (hardcover); 9798385047826 (electronic)
Available on WestBow Press, Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the author
Daniel Crawford was married to Joy for sixty years. Desperately in love with her, he walked beside her as she journeyed through her life while she created a beautiful story and legacy with her life. Although Crawford was trained as a missions strategy coordinator himself, he spent his career working as a chemical engineer on large international projects, which helped him understand how to make a large international project completely successful. To learn more, please visit https://www.westbowpress.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/865569-girl-transformed.  

General Inquiries:            
LAVIDGE – Phoenix                                                                                       
Cydney De Los Santos 
[email protected]

SOURCE WestBow Press