Pastor Rob
Do you know Pastor Rob?
Pastor Rob was born in a small town 45 miles west of St. Louis, Missouri called Gray Summit. He was named after his father and grandfathers. The name Robert has been passed down in the family from oldest son to oldest son for six of the last seven generations of Whitworths. He lived in Gray Summit for his first ten years, growing up next door to his grandfather's small farm where he spent his time chasing the cattle or stealing strawberries from his grandfather's garden.
Pastor Rob has two brothers and two sisters. Joan (husband Lance) is the oldest then Rob then Jim (wife Beth), then Kris (husband Bobby) and then Shawn (wife Denise). The family moved to New York when Pastor Rob was ten. It was quite a change from a rural town in Missouri to an urban setting in a north suburb of New York City. The town's main claim to fame was it was where Sing Sing Prison was located.
In 1976 the family moved to Palatine, Illinois while Rob was in the middle of his eighth grade year. He went to William Fremd High School and graduated in 1980. He then attended Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri graduating in 3 ½ years with a degree in Religion and minors in History and Philosophy. He went immediately to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and graduated there in 1987. He went back for a doctorate in church Growth in 1991 and graduated with distinction in 1993. He was the first student in the seminary's history to graduate with a degree in Church Growth.
Along the way he met Julie while a youth pastor in Hillcrest Baptist Church in Country Club Hills, Illinois and they quickly knew God had brought them together. They were married August 3, 1985 at Hillcrest Baptist Church. Their first church was East Louisville Baptist Church where Pastor Rob was ordained in 1986. He was previously licensed by First Baptist Church of Palatine in 1981. Rob and Julie worked with inner city kids there trying to reach the housing projects with Christ's message of love.
They then went to serve as pastor of East Frankfort Baptist Church in Frankfort, Kentucky. They served there for seven years while God doubled the size of the congregation and building a new sanctuary and classrooms. It was there that all three of their children were born. From December 1989 to January 1993 they did their best to keep Lexington Baptist Hospital maternity ward in business.
In February of 1993 they moved to Cincinnati with three kids still in diapers to become the pastor of First Baptist Church of Mason. During their seven years there God build a large family Life Center with a gymnasium and numerous classrooms. God also started 40 new ministries and doubled the size of the church.
In 2000 Rob was feeling totally drained from ministry and a calling back to the Chicago area. He took a position as Education Pastor at First Baptist Church of Crystal Lake. The church was the fastest growing church in Illinois during this time, but it was there that he came to the realization that he was at heart a pastor and that calling could not be set aside. In March of 2003 Pastor Rob came to Meadowridge Church to fulfill his calling as a pastor and lead us closer to our Lord.
Pastor Rob is a movie buff and loves to sit with the family and watch old movies. He is a genealogist and has traced his family history to the 1500's. He can usually be found reading two or three books at a time and enjoys historical novels, but has been know to read science fiction, mystery, horror and westerns. Numerous people have asked if he really read all the books in his office. The answer is excluding reference works 95 % of them. If you think that is a lot of books you should see his home office! He enjoys swimming, bike riding, fishing and walks in the woods. His passions are his wife Julie and his children Alyssa, Robert and Alex.
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