Hi. I'm Rob. I grew up in Upstate New York. In many ways, my home life was somewhat unusual compared to many. A large number of my classmates grew up in one-parent families. My father and mother were both in the home. This is a blessing that I am thankful for. We were never rich, but we were also never in want.

Although my mother and father were both present in the home, there were times that I had felt like they were not there for me. My dad worked second shift for much of my school career so there were many times that I would only get to see him on Saturdays and Sundays. Although my mom was a stay-at-home mom, there was a period of time that she was gone many nights a week. The reason was that our community had been sighted for a Low Level Radioactive Waste Dump. She had become part of a large group that was fighting against this dump coming to our area. I also saw a lot of drinking and some drugging in the house.

In elementary, I was never an exceptional student. I generally made it by getting C's and B's but had parents who were OK with that. I could have done better. The reason I know this is because I always did very well on my tests, but was always lacking in my homework. School work was never something that I took great pleasure in, and by the time I was in Jr. High and High School, I had become a much worse student with much worse (often failing) grades. In Junior High, I had failed English and Social Studies. Again, It wasn't because I couldn't do the work. It was because I didn't have any interest. It got to the point that I was on the road that would have lead to drop-out. After many meetings with my teachers and staff, it was recommended that I no longer go to my regular school and that I start attending an “Alternative School” where I ended up earning my High School Diploma.

The reason I liked school was because of the socialization that happened. Not all of the socialization was positive unfortunately. We hear about things like bullying and the effect it can have on a person's psyche now, but when I was in school, it was not an issue that was talked about. There were people who picked on me, some to the point of belittling me. One of my harshest critics were some kids that went to a Christian school in the same town that I lived in. I grew up in a house where God had never been talked about. One day, as I was getting on the bus to go home from school, I was talking to the Christian kids about what we had “learned” that day. In science class, we learned about evolution. I was telling the typical public school/humanist teaching about how the scientists had “proven” that we had evolved from lower life forms. For telling them this, I was labeled an “unbeliever.” One of the church kids went so far as to tell me that God hated me and that I deserved hell. During the socialization that happened in summer school, I was introduced to harder drugs than those I had seen my parents use.

I became a Christian when I was in High School. After becoming a Christian, things had changed in my life. In August 2001, I started Bible school. In Bible School, I had become backslidden. The two big reasons were because of the hypocrisy I saw and a bad experience that happened to me when I was in college. I ended up getting kicked out of the school I was going to. After being kicked out, I got back into the party scene. I also started living with a girl I was not married to. As I was living with her, I met my future wife on Yahoo! Christian Chat. Although I was living in a backslidden state, I still longed for true Christian fellowship. I was only looking for a friend, but I ended up meeting Christina who became so much more! She ended up moving to New York in 2003.

Because of circumstances beyond our control, Christina had to stop living with the family she was supposed to live with until we got married. Because of this we lived together until we were married on February 21, 2004.

Since we have been married, I have made some big mistakes. I have also had many great experiences and seen God move mightily. I have been made closer to what God wants me to be. I have become a better husband and father. My love for people and desire to see them become children of God and be more effective in the Kingdom of God has increased.

My desire for the church is for genuine repentance to come into the church! I also desire that the Kingdom is advanced by churches utilizing technology to reach out to people, and church members reaching out to others on a local level first. And for the church universally to eventually reach the world!

c 2009 Equip His Body ~ Springfield, MO