Friday, May 3, 2024
Pastor Barry Robinson didn’t grow up in church. “About the only time I heard God’s name growing up, it was followed by a four-letter word.”
Robinson is the new pastor of Acton Methodist Church. He moved to Granbury with his wife Denise and their youngest daughter Savannah. Robinson was selected as the result of a nationwide search for the ideal pastor after the church split from the United Methodist Church. The Robinsons were previously serving in Greenville, Kentucky.
The path to the pulpit for Robinson was an interesting road paved with earnest faith and God’s intervention. As a young man, Robinson could not imagine any other path than the one he had dreamed of since childhood — he would be a meteorologist. He had planned this since age 10.
But something else was stirring in young Robinson besides the career goal he dreamed of. Around the age of 17 something began to stir in his heart, a restless wondering, a desire to know God. The young man who had not grown up in church wanted to know if God was real.
“At about the age of 17 I had this desire to know God; I didn’t even know if he was real. I just prayed and said, ‘If you are real, God, let me know.’ The entire summer I kept praying and asking God to show himself.”
One day late in the summer Robinson’s dad sat his boys down and said, “You boys are going to church tomorrow.” Robinson’s grandad had invited them to a revival. Robinson said, “I was so excited! I thought, ‘Yes!’” Robinson was surprised his dad was allowing them to attend because his dad had grown cold toward church due to his grandparents.
Immediately Robinson felt something different when he entered the revival. “You felt the holiness, you felt the spirit right there,” he explains, “There was a heavy-set man up at the front and he said, ‘Someone here has been asking God to reveal himself to you.’”
Robinson cites that night as the night he was born again — “I said ‘yes’ that night. And everyone said they were so proud of me. But I didn’t know what to do next.” The new convert struggled as a new believer without someone discipling him or teaching him how to follow God.
Robinson enlisted in the military, which would allow him to pursue his dreams of a career in meteorology. But something else was happening alongside his military service and education. Robinson became involved in a church on base and the chaplain there took him under his wing. “He really discipled me and showed me how to be a Christian,” Robinson says.
There was a little church right off base Robinson decided to attend one day. He remembered the time of service incorrectly and when he arrived service was well under way. As he walked into the church there was a young lady singing at the pulpit. “I thought, ‘That woman is going to be my wife. I am going to marry her.’” Robinson and Denise were engaged within three months of meeting and married within six months. They have now marked 28 years of marriage, with three grown daughters — Clarissa, Carrie and Savannah — and two sons-in-law.
Life seemed to be going according to plan. “I wanted to chase storms. I had my whole life planned out, how all that was going to work, but things worked out differently than I thought. I was off the coast in Hawaii, and I heard — not audibly, but heard it all the same — I was being called to ministry. I said, ‘No! I already planned this! I can’t speak well, and I am not good at that.’ I did my devotion that night and the devotion for that day was about how Moses couldn’t speak well, but God called him.”
Robinson was already approved to attend the military school for meteorology; he had attended the basic school and was approved for B school. Robinson was approved as an E-5 even though most of the students were rated E-6. He and Denise planned to move out of base housing, and Denise went back to Mississippi. But at the last minute, the officer who was to replace him was arrested. Robinson had to stay in his post.
“I was furious. But that is when God got me alone and called me to the ministry.” Robinson then went to the chaplain to confirm what God spoke to him as Robinson told God he would do. The chaplain and Robinson shared tears and the chaplain spoke to God saying, “God! You have called one of my kids (a young man that the chaplain had discipled)!”
When Robinson called Denise to share the news, somehow, she wasn’t surprised, and neither were her parents. Denise’s father was a minister, as well, and Denise’s mother said she knew he was called from the first time she met Robinson — she was just surprised by his keen interest in weather.
In fact, no one seemed very surprised by this new call on his life except for Robinson. “I had plans to reenlist, to go to school. So, my whole plan changed. I moved to Mississippi where my wife was. God got me connected to a Methodist church. They put me in there with no training, no idea how to put together a sermon and they mentored me. We were there for 6 years.”
Robinson earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Southern Mississippi University and then a master’s in divinity from Memphis Theological Seminary. Seminary was 3.5 to 4 hours away; Robinson stayed at school during the week and came home to his wife and three daughters on weekends.
Robinson and Denise felt it was “important that our daughters understood the relationship aspect of Christianity. That it’s never about performance. Our girls got to experience a house full of grace, a house full of love. They are still excited about church and still involved in church.”
Some time over the years Robinson’s father and grandparents reconciled. Robinson’s parents began going to church. Pastor Robinson served in various churches with his last stop before Granbury a 25-year assignment in Greenville, Kentucky. The Robinsons were in Greenville when they felt called to Granbury.
In a statement, Acton Methodist Church said, “Pastor Barry was selected after a nationwide search for a senior pastor for Acton Methodist Church. His qualifications, experience, calm spirit, and love of God made him shine above all other candidates.”
“My hope for the church is that we would love God and love others. That we would grow even closer to God and to one another. A family. I love to see God’s people together having fun and celebrating life and where we also walk together and cry together. I pray we will exalt Christ together in a tangible way. There have been a lot of wounds (in the congregation), a lot of heartache and loss, but healing is taking place, and they have all grown closer to God. They are excited about the future of the church. I’m excited too,” shared Robinson.
More information about Acton Methodist Church can be found on its website at actonmethodist.com.
