Robert arrived back at First Presbyterian Lewisburg in the spring of 2018. He is back home in Marshall County after many years away in Chicago, Lafayette (Indiana), Birmingham, and Pulaski, TN. Robert is married to Emma Armstrong, and they have 2 children and 3 great grandchildren.
"I started out really thinking of the world as a very small place, maybe not much bigger than our family farm and the people I knew in school and in church. But over the last 40 years, God has absolutely stunned me with the people I have been privileged to meet, some from among the most troubled (and yet most beautiful) places on earth. I keep learning how easy it is for our minds to want to shrink God down to a manageable size, when it really is true that God is so far beyond our imaginations and all limits and descriptions we try to put on God.
"But the God we meet in Jesus Christ is utterly surprising to me, with the breath-taking and life-changing mercy that God offers everyone. I am a poor student, but the Holy Spirit keeps showing me that God is as interested in every person on the planet as me and anyone I know. None of us is the center of the universe, much less the judge of all the earth, but we all matter because God is the God who cares, especially for those the world may deem the most insignificant. God loves to claim as leaders the least likely among us, so I try to learn from everyone I meet, especially those I am the most prone to underestimate from a human point of view.
"God is the source of all love, wherever it is found. God is the source of all kindness, whenever is appears. God is the source of all hope, each time it comes to us, refusing to give up even when we do.
"I hope that people might trust God a little more freely and confidently because God decided to call together First Presbyterian here. It's really the only reason we exist -- or should."
"I started out really thinking of the world as a very small place, maybe not much bigger than our family farm and the people I knew in school and in church. But over the last 40 years, God has absolutely stunned me with the people I have been privileged to meet, some from among the most troubled (and yet most beautiful) places on earth. I keep learning how easy it is for our minds to want to shrink God down to a manageable size, when it really is true that God is so far beyond our imaginations and all limits and descriptions we try to put on God.
"But the God we meet in Jesus Christ is utterly surprising to me, with the breath-taking and life-changing mercy that God offers everyone. I am a poor student, but the Holy Spirit keeps showing me that God is as interested in every person on the planet as me and anyone I know. None of us is the center of the universe, much less the judge of all the earth, but we all matter because God is the God who cares, especially for those the world may deem the most insignificant. God loves to claim as leaders the least likely among us, so I try to learn from everyone I meet, especially those I am the most prone to underestimate from a human point of view.
"God is the source of all love, wherever it is found. God is the source of all kindness, whenever is appears. God is the source of all hope, each time it comes to us, refusing to give up even when we do.
"I hope that people might trust God a little more freely and confidently because God decided to call together First Presbyterian here. It's really the only reason we exist -- or should."