Paul Chappell: Bobby Roberson: Friends and Mentors Now in Heaven Series

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As I was recently browsing old photos, I was blessed to realize that God has allowed me to know some truly great men. Over the past few months, I’ve been sharing some of these pictures and memories to introduce readers of this blog to some of these men.

Bobby Roberson

Unique Trait: Loyalty

Bobby Roberson was a giant amongst men. He was a man of great faith who encouraged me in ways I’ll never forget. I first really got to know Dr. Bobby through Bible conferences I would attend. When I preached for the first time at a Sword of the Lord meeting, he befriended me. I remember how he walked me around the church, introduced me to the tomato sandwich, and simply determined to be my friend. He also invited me to preach at his church.

Dr. Bobby preached for us many times at Lancaster Baptist Church, West Coast Baptist College, and Spiritual Leadership Conference. He often reminded me through the years concerning building programs, “If God is in it, God will develop it.” That was good advice, and it’s proven true again and again. 

God used Dr. Bobby to build a great work at the Gospel Light Baptist Church in Walkertown, North Carolina. In 1956, at the age of twenty-four, Dr. Bobby became the pastor of that church. Five years later, at the age of twenty-nine, he suffered a heart attack. I’ve heard him tell how in the twenty-one days he spent in the hospital, he went from over 200 pounds to 145. Besides the burden of his physical health, there was trouble in the church, and he didn’t think he could go on. He lost his appetite, dreaded preaching, and told his friend and mentor, Dr. Harold Sightler, “I feel like I’m about to die if I stay there.” But he did stay there. He stayed for sixty-two years. And God used his faithfulness to not only build a church, but also to challenge and encourage hundreds of preachers to be faithful through the times of testing.

Every time I was with Dr. Bobby, I was challenged by his compassion for the lost or the hurting. I remember one time in particular when I was preaching at his church. As we walked across the parking lot, he saw a man he didn’t know. He stopped to meet him, asked him if he knew the Lord, and led him to Christ right there in the parking lot. He was never too busy or preoccupied to care about a lost person and take time to share the gospel with them.

One of the most humbling moments of my life occurred on a July Wednesday night. I was in the middle of teaching our Wednesday night Bible study when I saw Dr. Bobby and his daughter, Molly, walk into the back of our auditorium. He had preached the previous evening in Los Angeles and drove up to Lancaster that day to hear me preach. I asked him in my office after the service why he had come all the way up to see me. He said that he had heard some criticism of me and of our ministry from certain men back East. But he wanted to look me in the eye and tell me that he loved me and believed wholeheartedly in me and our ministry. And, even though some who had criticized had preached for him or at conferences he hosted, he wanted me to know that he didn’t listen to the criticism. His making that trip was totally unnecessary, but it was incredibly encouraging. 

Dr. Bobby was a true, burden-bearing friend to me over the years. I know the Lord used the heart attack and breakdown he suffered in his twenties to give him a level of compassion and a depth of perception for the needs of other preachers that is rare. I was never with him—in person or on the phone—but that he encouraged me in the Lord. I’m thankful for his loyal friendship and the tremendous influence he had on my life. 

Previous posts in this series:

• Dave McCoy
• Lee Roberson
• Shane Lewis
• Tom Malone
• Curtis Hutson

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