Teena Myers

Pastor Reiger called me shortly after she was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the New Orleans Section of the Assemblies of God. She planned to launch a website as a communications hub for ministers and asked me to write their profiles. “Start with Robert,” she said. I have never regretted accepting her offer. Ministers continually amaze me with the most remarkable stories.

Robert never met his father, and his older brother was in prison. He imitated the men in his neighborhood who made their living by preying on the misery of others. Robert realized he could become either an addict or a dealer. Preferring profits to the fleeting pleasure drugs offered, he chose to be a dealer. By the time he dropped out of school, he had built a profitable illegal drug business and believed he had found an easy path to wealth.

That lavish lifestyle came to an abrupt halt when he found himself staring through prison bars, filled with remorse for the life he had chosen. Charged with murder and facing a million-dollar bond, his future looked bleak—until he remembered the stories his mother had told him about God’s miraculous power. Hoping God would do the same for him, he prayed for a miracle.

Unbeknownst to Robert, God was already at work. While he waited in the holding tank, another prisoner was reassigned to the fourth floor to share a cell with him. Ricky led a Bible study for the inmates. Robert attended the study and the services conducted by the prison chaplain. Week after week he marveled that the chaplain preached the same truths Ricky taught.

One night Robert dreamed that the police were chasing him through a rainstorm. Wet and frightened, he banged on the door of his home, pleading with his mother to let him in. She hollered through the door, “I’m not letting you in until you’re ready to serve God.”

Robert screamed, “I want to serve God!”

His mother opened the door. He stumbled inside, pleading with God to forgive him, and wept as he felt the power of God course through his body, breaking the bondages that had held him. Robert awoke, then woke Ricky and said, “I have to tell people about God. I have to tell everybody about God.”

Ninety days later, God told Robert he would release him from prison. Robert told the other prisoners he was going home. They laughed and called him crazy. Thirty minutes later, those same men watched in amazement as the sheriff appeared at Robert’s cell door and announced, “You are leaving today.”

Robert walked into freedom wearing borrowed pants, a shirt three sizes too small, and slippers. He immediately called his lawyer, who had no knowledge of the release—confirmation to Robert that God had given him a second chance.

His friends quickly organized a block party to celebrate. As Robert watched them drinking and smoking, he knew he no longer belonged among them. They offered him drugs and money. He took the much-needed cash, returned the drugs, and spoke plainly: “When we ran together I was down with you, wasn’t I?” They agreed he had always dealt with them honestly. “The same way I was with you,” Robert continued, “I’m gonna be with God.” As he turned to leave, one of them called out, “You’ll be back.”

When his former friends realized Robert was not returning, a hit was ordered on his life. He was filling his gas tank at a Shell station when a man approached him. “Robert,” the stranger said, “I took the hit on you. I don’t know what it is, but I’m not going to kill you.” As Robert watched the man walk away, the reality of a living God who had spared his life overwhelmed him.

Robert did not yet know how to fulfill his call to ministry. The answer came when he purchased flowers for his wife, and the florist handed him a video about the School of Urban Missions (SUM). Robert enrolled in the Bible college. The following year the chancellor of SUM called with a message: “God wants you to help us establish a School of Urban Missions in California.” Robert was not convinced the word was from God until the chancellor added, “He also wants you to get out of debt, finish your education, and obtain ministry credentials.” The chancellor named the exact goals Robert had written on sticky notes and posted on a wall in his home. His wife, Sherdren, loved New Orleans, but she could not deny the hand of God in the chancellor’s words.

Six years later God sent him back to New Orleans to help rebuild the city. “I thought it was a Nehemiah call to build spiritual walls,” Robert said. When he helped his pregnant wife into the car for the long drive home, he did not realize his calling was literal as well as spiritual.

They arrived in New Orleans in July 2005. The following month Sherdren gave birth to their third child. The ominous winds of Hurricane Katrina approached the city the same morning Sherdren and newborn Bethany were released from the hospital. Friends in California inundated Robert with phone calls, telling him he had made a mistake and pleading with him to return. He appreciated their concern but knew God had called him to New Orleans.

Robert found temporary housing for his family in Pennsylvania. When the floodwaters subsided, he returned to New Orleans, repaired their home, and started a trucking service. In his spare time, he assisted church efforts to help those in need. When schools reopened, he started a ministry to high-school youth. That ministry ended when he received a phone call from Journey Fellowship.

A benefactor had purchased a damaged Lutheran church in the 9th Ward and donated it to Journey Fellowship. The chancellor of SUM recommended Robert as pastor. Robert accepted. He had everything needed to conduct a church service—except a congregation.

He began each day making repairs to the church, then walked the streets of the community sharing his faith. He transformed the corner drug dealers who gathered to sell their wares into a Bible study. Week after week he told them about the power of a living God who transforms shattered lives. One evening he walked to the corner to lead the study and found everyone gone. The unrepentant peddlers had been driven from the community by the love of God.

Whenever Robert saw police questioning someone in the neighborhood, he asked the officers if he could help. One day an officer told him, “We don’t really want this guy. We want his buddy, Chucky. He has killed several people.” The next time Robert saw Chucky, he requested a private meeting. Chucky’s gang laughed, and Chucky brushed him off with a hollow promise.

Weeks later, as Robert was about to conclude his sermon, he saw the congregation scrambling to clear a path. Chucky walked to the front of the church and said, “Pastor, I want to talk to you.” Robert stopped the service and met him at the altar.

“I gotta get it right,” Chucky said.

Robert shared the gospel and prayed with him to accept Christ as Savior. Three days later, Chucky was murdered.

Pastor Robert reminds me of the messengers in the Parable of the Wedding Banquet (Matthew 22:1–14). Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet and sent messengers to call those who had been invited. When the messengers were ignored and abused, the king destroyed the city—but he did not abandon it. He sent more messengers. New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, yet it was not abandoned. There is still a messenger from God walking the streets of the 9th Ward with an invitation from God.