Brother in Christ

[Dr. Robert S. Morley]

I am South African married to an American and we have four children. My wife and I co-founded Light and Life Bible Ministries, which helps people apply God's Word to all of life.

Salvation

I grew up in the Catholic Church and always believed in the existence of God. At age 20, feeling that life had nothing to satisfy me, God said spoke to me, saying, “What about what you learned when you were young?” I responded by giving my life to Him and got changed in such a way that I have never looked back.

Called by God

In the year of my conversion, I got invited by a friend to go as part of an evangelical outreach team to other areas of the country. The experience was to be life-changing. I was so excited to see people coming to the Lord and how God used us, especially despite our weaknesses. On the outreach, I heard the testimony of a man who lived by faith as a full-time missionary with his wife and family. His account of his life resonated deeply in me, and I wanted, from then, to experience the same.

Preparation

Very soon after the outreach, I attempted to go into full-time missions. However, the leader of the organization I was interested in joining felt that the timing was not right for me. I was heartbroken but got consoled through prayer and the belief that God was leading. In hindsight, I could later see how God better prepared me by keeping me back and sowing so much more into my life. In the meantime, I took several opportunities to go on more short-term outreaches.

Called to Go

Finally, in 1991, four years after my conversion and call into missions, I received the call to go full-time. Several months after being heartbroken by a failed romantic relationship, the Lord said, “If you take care of My bride, I will take care of yours.” I knew that if I put Him first, He would care for me.
God then directed me to read, “Matthew 28:19.” Doubting that such a chapter and verse even existed, I opened my Bible and read, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” I knew then, without a doubt, that the time had come to be involved in a full-time role for this purpose.

Operation Mobilization (OM)

Later that year, I joined Operation Mobilization (OM), South Africa. After a six-month training team, I joined the OM missionary ship, MV Doulos. We traveled to many countries of the world, sharing the Gospel. While serving on board, I met Christina, a co-worker of equal passion for God, who would become my wife.

Youth Pastors

After leaving the ship, we got married and went on to serve as youth pastors at a local Methodist church in South Africa. Then, a year later, we did a short-term outreach to Japan.
After our second child was born, we attempted Bible College. We got to excel in our courses but had to abandon our studies after six months due to a lack of finances.

Youth With A Mission (YWAM)

In 2000, we were called back into full-time missions, this time with Youth With A Mission (YWAM), Worcester, South Africa. We trained and worked with them in several capacities for nine years. Our opportunity to be involved with the Bible Core Course for several years was perhaps the most significant for my passion, calling, and future.
Then, in 2010, we served YWAM, the local church, and our community as independent missionaries, which led to us founding Light and Life Bible Ministries.

Ministry

Most of our teaching is on our blog, Real Church Life, where we respond to issues in the Church and society by giving understanding and application of God's word. Our teaching includes a focused interpretation of Bible passages, more of which are on our blog, Restore the Word. We also have a Bible study training site called Bible Coaching.

Theological Studies

In recent years I decided to pursue formal theological training and have a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Christian Leaders College (2017), a Master of Theological Studies degree from NationsUniversity (2020), and a Doctor of Biblical Studies from Wesley School of Divinity (2021).

Partners in Christ

My wife and I are blessed to be supported by our local house church and others with whom we partner in ministry. Please pray for our ministry and that we will attain all God has called us to in Christ.

Edited April 16, 2023 by Dr. Robert S. Morley
fixing grammatical errors, added links, added " which helps people effectively apply God's Word to all of life," removed links

[Salyan]

Thank you for your introduction! Nice to have you here, to join in active discussions.

it is a policy of the site that links should not be shared, unless they are private. Since these fall in a bit of a gray area, I’m going to leave the links in your introduction, but asked that you refrain from including them in other posts. The point of this site is to encourage active discussion and debate, and not to promote external resources. 

[Dr. Robert S. Morley]

Hi Salyan,

Thanks for the welcome and for directing me so graciously to the rules. Not to worry, I will go ahead and remove the links in my introduction anyway. Also, I've probably offended some by including links in my posts yesterday. So I'll remove those too.

God bless, 

Rob

[Dr. Robert S. Morley]

Hi Salyan,

I was unable to access my comment here to remove the links.

 

 

[HappyChristian]

Welcome aboard.

[BrotherTony]

Thanks for the introduction, Robert! Welcome to OnlineBaptist.com!