Van-guard (văn’gärd), noun: “The foremost or leading position in a trend or movement.”

the journey forward... exploring the emerging church... navigating spiritual formation... seeking to transform the world... ...through Christ

Bob Robinson was born and raised in Akron, Ohio. He received his bachelor degree from The University of Akron in Business Administration. He immediately experienced success with NCR Corporation (then a member of the ‘Fortune 100’), but he struggled to find meaning and purpose in life. He began attending The Chapel in Akron, and became a follower of Jesus Christ. Just a few months later, he felt that God was calling him to the ministry.

In 1996, after five years of seminary training, he received the Master of Divinity degree with honors from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. During that time he interned as Knute Larson's assistant at The Chapel.

As Pastor of Adult Ministries at The Chapel in North Canton (a daughter church of The Chapel) for three years, Bob proved to be an innovative leader as he developed a multi-faceted adult ministry through teaching, preaching, casting vision, developing programs, recruiting and training leaders, and writing curriculum. He initiated evangelism efforts, began the “Institute for Christian Living,” trained Adult Bible Fellowship leaders, doubled small group participation, and initiated many adult learning experiences, including a young adult ministry.

Bob then planted a church with the Allegheny District of the Evangelical Free Church. Starting in his family room, 20 people met and then grew as they moved to a large conference room in a local doctor's office. In the next two years, they grew to nearly 70 people. Bob preached every Sunday (the messages can be found here at this website) led innovative servant-outreach projects, and initiated community-growth programs. As the church developed, Bob's vision of ministry began to shift from "ministry as we have always done it" to "ministry for those in the 21st Century," as God was moving his heart toward the generation coming after him. The current form of this faith community is called "oasis".  "Oasis" consists of a group of people seeking to "be church" rather than "do church"--in other words, to be a spiritual community of people trying to actually live out their faith. It is an experiment in what a real, interpersonal, missional faith community can be.

Bob has extensive experience in developing visionary ministries and is always rethinking innovative ways to produce Christian spiritual formation.

In this effort, he is constantly reforming ideas for doing ministry so that the gospel can connect with people in the 21st Century (and beyond). He enjoys engaging in the theological implications of the way we do ministry, studying and engaging with other practitioners in how to implement new ideas. He feels that the unchanging Christ encourages us to constantly reform our theology and practice of that theology. This has led him to blog a lot about the "emerging church," interacting with others in the United States and other countries about how the ideas of "Emergent" and other "emerging church" voices can help in our mission.

Bob is also concerned as to how our Christian faith impacts what we do in the world. Spiritual transformation is meant to be the catalyst for transforming the world. Matters of justice, the battle against poverty, care for the Creation, issues of economic globalization, seeking peace in times of war, and issues of life are high on his social action list.

In 2005, Bob began the next part of his spiritual journey, as he became the Area Director for Northern Ohio with the CCO (Coalition for Christian Outreach). He supervises and mentors 15 staff placed strategically on university and college campuses, seeking to "transform students to transform the world," and creates cooperative ministries with churches and institutions to reach the students at all the schools in the Cleveland, Akron, and Canton areas.

Bob has been married to Linda for 12 years; they have three wonderful children, Trey (7), Joel (5), and Kaira (5).

Among his interests include sports, music (as you can tell from the Prog Rock link here), mountain climbing and hiking with his wife, reading (his favorite authors and books can be seen here), writing, playing with the kids, and talking with people over a good cup of coffee.

Bob currently resides in Canton, Ohio.

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Ministry Transformation- The Emerging Church  Personal Transformation- Spiritual Formation  World Transformation- Social Action

Interact with Bob Robinson about the emerging church, spiritual formation, or social action by e-mailing vanguard church with your comments.