Bob's Multi-Faceted Ministry, Part 1: College Ministry
Bob Robinson’s Ministry Newsletter.
Hi, friends!
I pray this newsletter finds you enjoying the summer and seeing the goodness of God and His creation!
My family is certainly seeing God’s goodness and enjoying His creation!
We recently went on a hike in our local park. Joel is working in Columbus with a large construction firm, procuring and delivering the supplies for the construction of a hospital there. He is also playing guitar in not one, but two, bands. Trey is working throughout Northeast Ohio as a sales representative for a basement and foundation company. Kaira helps people with their plants and gardening needs. Linda continues her work as a Physical Therapist and as a board member for the Haiti Rehabilitation Foundation, which runs the first PT and OT school in Haiti (at which Linda teaches).
Bob has been doing several things. And that’s what I hope you learn from this here newsletter!
I have three constituents:
(1) I reach out to and disciple College Students (through my partnership with CCO (Coalition for Christian Outreach).
(2) I help ministry leaders encourage and equip God’s people to be missional in and through their vocations (through my partnership with the Missional Innovation Hub and their “Kingdom Collective” of pastors meeting each month).
(3) I equip organizational leaders in the marketplace to reintegrate their organizations to the kingdom of God (through my partnership with The Good Place Institute).
Look for “Part 2,” where I share my work with ministry leaders and organizational leaders!
College Ministry at Three Campuses!
My ministry as a Campus Minister with CCO has expanded. In addition to my ministry reaching out to college students at Kent State University at Stark in Canton, I added two more campuses to my weekly schedule, Kent State Main and Walsh University.
At Kent State Stark, I led a Bible study every week, and watched students have several “Ah Ha!” moments when a biblical truth would come alive for them and make an impact on how they think and how they live. I began meeting 1-on-1 with Cameron when he told me that didn't know much about Christianity. I bought him a study Bible, and beginning the next week, we began reading the Bible together. He didn't even know chapters and verses. But he is so intelligent, he was grasping everything I was teaching him.
On April 22, I had him read Romans 10:8-13. I asked him, "Do you believe in your heart that Jesus was raised from the dead?" He said, "Yes." Then I said, "Here is the tough question... Are you willing to declare out loud to me that Jesus is Lord? This means that you yield to Jesus as the King, that you will no longer live according to your own rules, but that you will obey Jesus because you know he is offering you a new way of life. Are you willing to yield to Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord?" He hesitated a bit on that. I said, "This is the biggest decision of your life. I understand if you need to think about it." He looked at me and smiled. "Yea, I can say that. Jesus is Lord." We prayed and then I had him read the passage again. I looked him in the eye and said, "Cam, I am very happy to tell you that you are saved!" And the angels rejoiced!
I began working at Kent State’s Main Campus, helping my CCO colleague, Kris Herman, disciple students in the “Late Night Christian Fellowship” there.
I taught a couple of times about the implications that the gospel story ends with the “restoration of all things.” Afterward, Kris drove Terence, a PhD student in Chemistry from Kenya, home. Kris texted me, “I didn’t even have to ask Terence about tonight. We just got in the van and he said, ‘That was amazing. It provides a totally different way of looking at everything!’” And it does. If God’s missional plan is to restore all things, including our bodies, this planet, and the work of our hands, then everything in this present world matters because it is all sacred to God. (If you want to learn more about this, check out the latest episode of the Reintegrate Podcast with our special guest Jordan Raynor, titled “Your ‘Secular’ Work is Sacred”), where we talk about the half-truths that we have come to believe about heaven.
I also reconnected with a former student leader of mine from seven years ago, Brendan Romigh (who some of you remember being the cohost of the podcast for the first 2-1/2 years). He is now the Director of College Ministry at Riverwood Chapel in Kent! When I told Brendan that I was going to pioneer a new ministry at Walsh University in North Canton, he immediately connected me with Abe Nagy, a staff person with another campus ministry, The Navigators. He was also trying to pioneer a new ministry at Walsh University. We met a couple of times and felt that the Lord was leading us to team up and reach out to students at Walsh together. We began a small group Bible study with Rhyme, a student he knew through family. She invited a friend, Tamera. Then we connected with a basketball player, Ben. Then Jonah came. And then Ben invited Paul. Before we knew it, we had a pretty good group of students meeting every Monday in the Walsh University Student Center. I recently invited them and the Kent Stark students over for a cookout. We played lots of games, including Badminton. Pray for Paul; I shared the gospel with him, and I have been following up with him this summer.
Will you consider giving today to my ministries?
In order to minister to college students, church leaders, and business leaders, I need more people to give generously to my ministries. My 2025 goal is to raise an additional $1,500 per month.
Would you prayerfully consider helping me with this goal? All gifts are tax deductible.
Give a one-time gift or a monthly gift by following this link.
Thank you for considering!
NEXT: PART 2: MINISTRY LEADERS AND ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERS