Robert's Testimony

I was saved in April of 1991 as a result of a children's ministry that was done in my grandmothers home.  I can still remember to this day, the lesson on Christ's empty tomb and how that He had died for me. A month or so later I was Baptized and attended church with my parents at Fair Haven Baptist Church under the late Pastor Charles Corn.

I then, a few years later at the age of 15, surrendered to the call to preach the Gospel. Missions was quickly added to my heart. I preached a couple of years with another man at some nursing homes.

I then slowly started slipping away from God’s will. I never got out of church but I also was not serving the Lord by any means. I slipped farther and farther away until the Lord sent a major car accident that got my attention. It was also around this time that Jessica was brought into my life and heart. God used her to show me how far away I had gotten. And I then started heading in the right direction.

 Jessica and I soon became engaged. We felt God wanted us to go to a different church. There was nothing wrong with my home church, we just felt like the Lord wanted us at Anchor Baptist Church. This is where we were married and have been to this day. God has used the church, my Pastor, Dr. Randy C Barton and the ministries associated with Anchor to help me grow in Him.

Less than a month after Jessica and I were married I began Bible College there at Anchor. We also have been on various mission trips associated with our church. The first being our honeymoon as we went to help give out Bibles for the one year anniversary of the attacks on the USA on September 11th, 2001.

Since God’s call for me to preach, I have always felt a love and call to missions. I can remember, every time a missionary would come through our church feeling a draw and a burden to reach souls. Some people try to run from God’s calling to preach or to the mission field but I was not this way. When a missionary came through, I almost always would pray about if God would allow me to go there to their field. He never would. He has however, allowed me to help several missionaries with different projects as they traveled through our area and church.

In May of 2008, I left a good secular job to take my dream “job”. That is to work in the ministry full time as a technical assistant, mainly in web design. I have often thought about how great it has been to be able to work for the Lord and to get paid to do it. During this time, I have been able to study, watch and learn from my pastor in the different aspects of ministry. I believe this was all a part of God’s future plan to send us to Bolivia.

We first went to Bolivia in September of 2009 and though, it was several years ago, my heart has been in Bolivia ever since.  Many fanaticize about traveling, speaking other languages, learning other cultures. While they fantasize, I am living that dream. Is being a missionary difficult at times, absolutely. But what better joy is there as a child of the King than to be serving Him?