Meet Pastor Greg and Lucy Robbins
Pastor Greg’s Testimony
Looking back on my childhood, I realize the Lord was beginning to make His voice and leading known to me at a fairly young age—long before I had the understanding to walk with Him in believing faith. One moment I remember clearly is saying to my mom one evening at home, “Sometimes I feel like God wants me to be a preacher when I grow up.” I was ten years old at the time, and Mom was faithfully taking me and my three siblings to an evangelical church in our hometown of Montpelier, Indiana.
Things were not good between my parents, and our family was torn apart by divorce when I was fourteen. Hoping to do the right thing for her kids, Mom made the choice to remarry. Sadly, her new husband was torn between our family and his former one, and he left us twice during their three-year marriage to return to them. Yet during this unstable time, God began to deal with me in earnest.
At age fifteen, in a small Pentecostal church, a young pastor took a personal interest in me. One Sunday, he led me to walk to the front of the church and kneel at a pew beside my younger brother, where I gave my life to Jesus. That moment of salvation truly changed the focus of my life. The rest of my teen years were spent seeking the Lord and learning all I could about the Christian life from older believers who were willing to mentor me.
During a missions meeting when I was seventeen, the Spirit of God came to me in a powerful way. I believe it was then that He laid on my heart a call to a life of service. When I shared this with my pastor, he was more supportive than I expected. As a high school senior, I was invited to preach my first sermon.
After much prayer about God’s will for my life, I was very clearly led to attend East Texas Bible College in 1976. It was there that I met Paul Phillips and Dixie Holtz—who, the following year, became Mr. and Mrs. Phillips. From the start, there was a special connection between the three of us, and we knew the Lord had brought us together.
In July 1979, I married the love of my life, Miss Lucy Jurden, and we made our home in my native Indiana. But in August 1982, the Lord sovereignly led us to pack up our belongings, along with our first child, and move to Floyd, Iowa—where Pastor Paul and Dixie were waiting to welcome us home. That was over forty years ago, and we still feel at home here in Floyd.
Since then, the Lord has blessed us with four more “Iowans,” who were raised here, and we’ve welcomed fourteen grandchildren into our lives. Lucy and I remain deeply grateful to be serving the Lord and this wonderful congregation, just as we did when we first arrived.
Looking back on my childhood, I realize the Lord was beginning to make His voice and leading known to me at a fairly young age—long before I had the understanding to walk with Him in believing faith. One moment I remember clearly is saying to my mom one evening at home, “Sometimes I feel like God wants me to be a preacher when I grow up.” I was ten years old at the time, and Mom was faithfully taking me and my three siblings to an evangelical church in our hometown of Montpelier, Indiana.
Things were not good between my parents, and our family was torn apart by divorce when I was fourteen. Hoping to do the right thing for her kids, Mom made the choice to remarry. Sadly, her new husband was torn between our family and his former one, and he left us twice during their three-year marriage to return to them. Yet during this unstable time, God began to deal with me in earnest.
At age fifteen, in a small Pentecostal church, a young pastor took a personal interest in me. One Sunday, he led me to walk to the front of the church and kneel at a pew beside my younger brother, where I gave my life to Jesus. That moment of salvation truly changed the focus of my life. The rest of my teen years were spent seeking the Lord and learning all I could about the Christian life from older believers who were willing to mentor me.
During a missions meeting when I was seventeen, the Spirit of God came to me in a powerful way. I believe it was then that He laid on my heart a call to a life of service. When I shared this with my pastor, he was more supportive than I expected. As a high school senior, I was invited to preach my first sermon.
After much prayer about God’s will for my life, I was very clearly led to attend East Texas Bible College in 1976. It was there that I met Paul Phillips and Dixie Holtz—who, the following year, became Mr. and Mrs. Phillips. From the start, there was a special connection between the three of us, and we knew the Lord had brought us together.
In July 1979, I married the love of my life, Miss Lucy Jurden, and we made our home in my native Indiana. But in August 1982, the Lord sovereignly led us to pack up our belongings, along with our first child, and move to Floyd, Iowa—where Pastor Paul and Dixie were waiting to welcome us home. That was over forty years ago, and we still feel at home here in Floyd.
Since then, the Lord has blessed us with four more “Iowans,” who were raised here, and we’ve welcomed fourteen grandchildren into our lives. Lucy and I remain deeply grateful to be serving the Lord and this wonderful congregation, just as we did when we first arrived.
