The Following questions have been gleaned from the kind of questions Church Pastoral Search Committees like to ask and will no doubt help to answer some of your questions. Although please note, that some of my opinions have changed substantially over the years! The more I mellow and grow in grace, I suspect they will continue to change—— somewhat!

1) Would you mind describing your experience of coming to Christ. How long have you been a follower of Christ?

I have been a follower of Christ since August 28th 1979. That’s currently 31 years. From a Roman Catholic background, I became a Christian in 1979, aged 19, whilst serving on a Polaris boat; Her Majesties Submarine, Renown.
Coming under increasing conviction of sin, I was led to the Rev John Cropley, a ‘missionary to the Royal Navy’, who was working with The Royal Sailors Rest (Aggie Westons) in Scotland where I was then serving. He explained to me from the Scriptures that The Lord Jesus Christ died on Calvary’s Cross for my sins, and that if I was to repent of my sin, bow my knee, believe on Him, and confess Him as my Lord and Saviour, I would be saved, and would know it. I did, and I did!!

Immediately this missionary to the Royal Navy discipled me and my wife, taking us through G.I. Williamson’s shorter Catechism, as well as involving us in visitation with other sailors, and also encouraging us to give our testimonies publicly as much as possible.

My call to preach grew the more that I shared my testimony. It became evident to others that this is indeed what I should be doing, and this ‘local church verification’ tied in with my heart’s desire. This I know is my business here below, to cry, ‘Behold the lamb’. I am a preacher evangelist with what people have described as ‘ a prophetic edge’.
I am blessed to have a sure partner in the Gospel, in my wife, Bridget. Who is a good soldier in the Lord, amply gifted, and very strong in the Lord. We both have experienced the grace and the goodness of God in our lives, in an extraordinary way and long to share the grace and goodness of God with others.
I have observed, that our society is increasingly sick, and even many non-Christian psychologists are calling this fragmentation of the individual and communities a ‘spiritual dis-ease’. I am interested in the correct and thorough public exposition of the Scriptures, in as real and relevant way as is possible, to present Jesus to sick people, and sick communities in a way that promotes healing and wholeness to those individuals and communities. I want to see disciples who grow and mature in the Lord and are able to produce the same. A lack of rich and real Biblical preaching has led to a subtle idolatry in may churches where the God of the Bible is neither truly known nor then, truly worshiped.

I love the Lord, I love His word, and desire to see a real coming together of the Word and the Spirit, in reality and truth. This is my goal.

2) Could you describe your faith journey for us please.

My faith journey has been primarily one of the Lord Jesus Christ knocking the sharp edges of Victor Robert Farrell to make him a more rounded and whole and holy person. Frankly, I wish He would hurry up and do it and with far less pain.

I feel my ‘faith journey’ has been a full and substantial one with many twists and turns, defeats and victories on the way. There is too much to write here. Suffice to say though that first of all, with respect to me personally: I love the Lord very much, I want to know Him more and my chief aim is to hear Him consistently say that He is pleased with me. Secondly with respect to ministry I believe very much in the primacy of the preached / proclaimed word but especially in the context of real community and actual release of my brethren into the desired destinies and ministries that God has for them. I am more of a servant in this than I have ever been. I want this more than anything.

3) Tell me Robert, what do you do to keep your spiritual life sharp?

Of course we are all slightly different chunks of iron that get sharpened in slightly different ways, so for me, the current way I remain sharp are primarily to get, for me, what is the right kind of rest! My right kind of rest is :-

• Good Food

I really do enjoy getting away with my laptop to places like Panera Bread where they have free WIFI. A hot cup of peach and ginger tea, soup and a sandwich and a couple of hours eating good food, relaxing and checking out the world from a comfortable environment I find most relaxing indeed.

• Good Poetry

I am very artistic and my soul is regular need of stimulation. Again great poetry and good acting really stirs me in my inner man. Once my soul’s fire is lit, I find it experientially easier to allow my body to connect with my spirit. In other words, for me the soulish interface between my spirit and body really needs activating to move me into experiential wholeness and therefore spiritual sharpness. Mind you, a good hot bath does exactly the same for me as well! See below.

• Good Preaching

My favourite preacher is Dr. J.V. McGee. I love listening to one of his Sunday Sermons on a Monday morning. ‘Him being dead, yet speaketh’

J Vernon was a’ one off’ kind of Guy, a ‘good old boy’ from a different generation and for me, a different country but this man had PASSION for both the Living and written word, for both Jesus the Lord and the Word of God. His sermons move me to tears, chiefly because he was moved to tears! This man loved Jesus, no question about it and I love his ministry. I try and listen to him at least once a week. He is one of my mentors.

• A Good Hot Bath

There is something about a good hot bath that allows the body’s electromagnetic field to conduct a little better. I have great ideas in the bath and have untied many a knot in the process. For me a bath relaxes the body and gives clarity of thought to the mind and so you guessed it, allows a better conductive-ness in my spirit.

• Motorcycling

Most middle aged men want a Harley! I used to have a Yamaha Virago 250cc. I love the freedom of motorcycling. Again, it allows me a chance to spiritually breathe.

• Boxing / Gym

I was a terrible amateur boxer but I love coaching, and sparring. Boxing allows me to work out some of the emotional poison that builds up with spiritual conflict. A good workout is great therapy. It clears out the inner springs of emotional rubbish that the waters of life may flow a little better.

Only when I have regularly indulged in one or more of the above, am I able to get the most out of the Word and prayer and Christian community. Well you did ask!

You are probably completely different to me and have a different set of stuff that gives you life but I have learned, that these things work well for me, to keep me spiritually sharp.

4) Could you provide a summary of your philosophy of Spiritual leadership.

My Philosophy is one of true service and release. Whilst being responsible for the teaching of The Word, I do not want to become an overlord, not even a nice one!

I want to make sure that I mirror the servant leader qualities that Christ commanded and that is chiefly of being servant of all and the foot washer of all, especially after you’ve had to tell someone that their feet are dirty!
This is a tremendously difficult task for leaders in today’s church where the Mega church Pastors exhibit mega money, mega houses and live a mega distance away from their flock! In one large church in South Florida an attendee of the mega church who was greatly moved by the Pastors message insisted on getting some solid and further counsel from the preacher himself. He was told that was not possible and was physically removed and ejected from the church!

Another gleaming teethed Pastor visited the area I use to live in for a single sermon. Together with his entourage and growing dynasty of successors he was escorted by the Police from the local airport to the venue where thousands waited on what turned out to be, in my opinion, a most pitiful word. Unfortunately, we have Super Wal marted Christianity in North America and are doing a good job of it in the UK, and have turned our leaders into superstars. To compound the problem further most of our seminaries are turning out Pastor Teachers like you would churn out vehicles from a car plant. They all look the same and want the same Kudos that follows their mentors. Tozer spoke about this situation many years ago!

My heart breaks over this. I mean despairs! So, I want to make sure that as a leader, my chief goal is “the release of the saints into the ministries God has called them to do.” In this respect I am in the S.A.S., that is, stores and supply. I want to be a true servant leader and stand shoulder to shoulder with other brethren in the fulfilling of this mighty and forgotten task.

The church in North America today wants their leaders to stand head and shoulders above them and every other leader! The last time this happened in Israel of old, the leader who was head and shoulders above everyone else came to a very sorry end. Beware!

5) What drives you to seek out places of more spiritual profit?

I am 50 years of age. If I were to add the same number of years to my life before I died I would be 100. I do not believe I shall make 100 and don’t know if I want to. In light of this, my life is right now beyond half over. I am therefore numbering my days in terms of wanting fruit that remains, both in quantity and especially in quality.

• Ruth was gleaning in the fields when she met her future husband Boaz. While I am gleaning in Jesus’ fields I want to meet Him as well. If not, then I am in the wrong field! I will travel the globe to meet the greater Boaz whilst gleaning in His fields. If I don’t meet with the greater Boaz in the field in which I am working. Then I shall find another field.

6) Describe your experiences with the some churches in which you have served.

I have been in a church planting mode for several years now. Some of the churches that have mostly influenced me and which I was involved were The Church of Hollywood Downtown and The Church of Pembroke Pines. The former was a daughter church plant of the latter, it being a Mega Church and also the first church in America to do ‘7 Nights of Worship.’ Church 7 days a week. Imagine that!

I was kindly invited to be on staff there and take care of the spiritual formation side of things whilst investigating their movement into Multi-Site ministry. After a few months of investigation, including a visit to Willow Creek, I realized that The Mega Church Multi- Site ministry although being the latest fad in church growth, church planting and ministry, was probably the most destructive thing to ever come upon the church in its 2000 year history.

You see, whilst providing great financial franchising and money saving and money making ideas, and a multitude of live worship bands and new music into the religious industry, we are never the less producing a few soppy superstar Senior Pastors and a multitude of desperately sick and dozy disciples. Tough words, but I believe they are true.
These are also broad brush statements I know and passionately charged as well but it is how I genuinely feel about the whole mess of it all.

I went into the church planting movement as the PURPOSE DRIVEN CHURCH planting man! Only to find that this could be done very, very, effectively without God. You did not need God to plant this kind of church. That was a shocking discovery. It was simply a matter of good marketing techniques, great commercial programming and the right kind of hooks. If God joins in then that would be cool! If not, it will work very nice without Him anyway, thank you very much. Most church planting is like this and especially like this in the mega church multi-site model.

I may sound bitter and twisted but I am more than that! I am genuinely concerned about our future as a viable church in the West. We need to have a multitude of leaders released into service. We need to have the whole church released into their ministries. This current major model of church growth which I once espoused to earnestly does not, and will not allow it, and God help, is quite professionally destroying the church and it’s leaders……….In my humble opinion of course!

My philosophy of ministry has been so changed as to increasingly desire to become one the people A.W. Tozer writes of in his book, ‘Christ the Eternal Son’:-

If there was ever an hour I which the church needed courageous men of prophetic vision, it is now. Preachers and Pastors? They can be turned out in our schools like automobiles off the assembly line. But prophets? Where are they? The simple and humble men who are willing to serve and wait on God in the long silences, who wait to hear what God says before they go and tell the world these-do not come along too often. When they do, they seek only to glorify God and His Christ

7) Describe your philosophy on church finances.

I don’t want anything to do with them except a weekly report and a good salary!
Finances are very important for sure but I want my eyes on the Lord and not the check book.
I want to be consumed by Him and His Word and not Budgets and Fund raising.

Money raising has become too big a part of our gathering together. Usually the Pastor is at the forefront of it all as well. I am not really interested in that.

What do you see as your top two strengths and top two weaknesses?

Strengths:-

1. Courageous
2. Understanding

Weakness

1. At times it has been remarked by others that I can be a tad, impatient.
2. It has also been said that “I do not suffer ‘fools gladly” (2 Cor 11:19)

How do you strive to meet the qualifications described in I Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9?

Mostly by trying to engage my brain before opening my mouth. No honestly! I am what I am. I want to please and glorify God in my life. If that doesn’t do the job, then nothing will.

9) What are your long-term goals for your ministry?

Without adhering to a gospel of health and wealth, I do desire to be truly prosperous. I want to have more than enough of everything that I might over flow and be a blessing to others. I want to prosper spiritually in my relationship with Jesus, in my relationship with others to the production of fruit that remains, fruit of both quality and quantity.

One preacher has said “The Devil is in no hurry to get any of us and it’s a long march home!” I believe this to be so. There is no room for complacency in the Christian life and even less so if you are well along the Kings Highway. I want to remain vigilant and victorious to the very end. I want neither myself nor my ministry to be castaway

10) What is your leadership style?

I want to bring out the best in people. I want to honour who they are and where they are whilst encouraging them to be all they can be. I suppose my leadership style is chiefly that of being a Fully Playing Coach!

9) How do you interact with:

Church Staff

Mutuality of honour, respect & Care.

Lay leaders/volunteers

Mutuality of honour, respect & Care. I do not distinguish between Clergy and laity. It’s a matter of paid and unpaid ministerial work

Congregation members

Mutual Respect & Care. I am a member of the body of Christ with them. I am not above them. I am their servant.

11) If someone were having difficulty in a marriage and contemplating divorce, how would you counsel them if:

They found their mate unfaithful?

i. Forgiveness is harder but much better.
ii. Where at all possible let the marriage be redeemed and made better than before.
iii. God can and does make everything new. Everything!

They didn’t love their mate any longer?

i. No Excuse, let emotions follow the will.
ii. I really believe this. Emotions are important but they come and go!
iii. The will needs to master the emotions and they will indeed follow.
iv. Again this is a very surface answer to issues that would really need to be talked about and talked out..

Their mate hindered their spiritual growth and church involvement?

Nonsense.

i. Grow up and Get real
ii. No one and nothing can stop your spiritual growth.
iii. If they are stopping your church involvement, then this needs discussing. Maybe that is what needs to happen. Nowadays especially there are a multitude of aids and community connections that make contact and care possible in the most difficult of marital situations. If this is impossible then there are far deeper issues in the relationship that need examining.

12) Could you make a statement that reflects your understanding of, or feelings about the following:

Eternal Security

i. NT teachings testify to the safety and security of the believer as a result of His faith in Christ and His resulting position in Christ (Rom. 8:28-39; Eph. 1:1-14; 2:8-10.). The Christian’s fidelity and obedience will be rewarded at the judgment seat of Christ. Their salvation is not affected by lack of human faithfulness, but His rewards are. Final perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will but upon the immutability of the decree of election flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father. In other words, those who are real Christians cannot fall away or be eternally lost. Their position in Christ by the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit assures their eternal salvation. When people begin to interject human faithfulness and human works into the question of their eternal salvation, they take it off the rock of Christ’s finished work and place it upon a flimsy basis. If getting to heaven depended upon human merit or faithfulness in any degree, no human being would ever get there or claim merit for entrance. Christ will abundantly reward faithfulness in His redeemed children, but He can never accept their faithfulness as merit for salvation. Those whom God has accepted in the Beloved and sanctified by His Spirit will never totally or finally fall away from the state of grace but will persevere in the end.

Predestination

i. The scriptures teach the offer of eternal life is to all people. Acts 17:30-31 “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, “because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” (NKJ)

ii. Nevertheless, Election is Gods eternal choice of some persons to eternal life not because of foreseen merit or faith in them, but because of His mercy in Christ. Those who have been predestined to be saved are called, justified, sanctified and glorified.

Marriage between a believer and unbeliever.

i. Of course the scriptural injunction is that this should not occur. However it does happen, is nothing new, and is always a challenge. Sometimes God is gracious, ( I was NOT a Christian when Bridget ( a professing believer) married me!) and the unbeliever gets saved. Often times it is a very difficult and soul destroying situation!

Positional vs. Experiential Sanctification

i. You cannot have one without the other. End of story

Joel Osteen

i. Nice Teeth, creepy kids, trophy wife, dynastic church structure, poor preacher, mediocre motivator, great business man and incredible entrepreneur. Osteen has made the best use possible of the media and music. I am sorry, but Joel Osteen is the epitome of everything that annoys me about the church in the West in the 21st century. God bless him and God love him and use him. Please!

Seeker Sensitive Ministry

i. All ministry is seeker sensitive. Think about! At Southern Seminary, Rick Warren, the darling of the seeker sensitive movement was once it’s hero. The present swing towards hyper-Calvinism means he has fallen out of favour and become the butt many a pro-exegetical manuscript.
ii. I truly believe that all ministry is seeker sensitive. Good grief just read the gospels and look at Jesus! Was our Lord seeker sensitive or what! He puts Rick Warren and Willow Creek to shame!

John MacArthur, Jr.

i. I don’t follow Christian pulpit stars. None except JV McGee that is. God bless him!

Beth Moore

i. . The Life-Way Baptist Babe- Absolutely Awesome! Which I could communicate as well as she does. She is quite simply, Joyce Meyer but without the testosterone. Beth is amazing.
Filling of the Holy Spirit
i. Yes please. All the time. Vital & Biblical
Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit
i. Not a good idea obviously. Excellent debate starter though

Dispensationalism

i. Very American though rooted in Darby’ism and the brethren movement. Still alive in England and in Plymouth, though not so well lately! I am more of an historical pre-millions than a dispensationalist though I am very familiar with the thought’s ideas and schemes. I was especially exposed to Ryrie as a Dispensational Guru. It is nothing I would die for either in defence or argument!

Emerging Church

i. Emerging from what? Upon examination there is no such thing. It’s the same old same old but thi9s time in Jeans, open neck shirts with backing candles! I am disappointed with the emerging church as some of its streams are now just plain heretical.

James Dobson

i. Nice bloke. Very political. Good on him.

Rick Warren

i. Rick Warren, the darling of the seeker sensitive movement was once its hero. The present swing towards hyper-Calvinism means he has fallen out of favour and become the butt many a pro-exegetical manuscript. Rick Warren genuinely loves Pastors and the Pastorate. He is made extensive use of the internet to get tools out to ministers.
ii. Oh dear, so we have Willow Creek turned into a publishing house, Saddleback into a mimic machine, Capitol Hill into a genealogical spiritual examination health center, or a spiritual proctologist depending upon your viewpoint. The bottom line is that BIG always insists on sharing….and if it can make a few more dollars in blessing the poorer relations in the church then all the better.

Healing

i. I do believe that God can if He wants miraculously heal through answered prayer.
ii. I am not a cessationist. I do believe that the gift of healings is for today. I have only ever met two people in my life that might possess and practice such a gift.
iii. This gift, or rather the faking of it, has led the church into great disrepute. Never the less, I do believe we should look for healing today.
iv. If we cannot get it we need to ask why?
v. If the answer to our question is ‘ live with the problem’ then we need to ask for the grace to do so.
vi. I need healing now and want it now. Anyway anytime I can get it. Amen.
Abortion
i. My wife was once the Exec Director of a crisis pregnancy center. I am against abortion!

Rated R Movies

i. I love Movies; I think good acting is amazing. Hollywood is not a Christian organization and I therefore do not expect them to act as such. In light of this, I thank God for the fast forward feature! I wonder if God is Sovereignly allowing redemption stories to be embedded in many Hollywood movies. Many people think so, and indeed in many movies there are a number of Segway scenes that lead directly into the gospel or Biblically related matters.
ii. My favourite Actor is Al Puccino, desperately frightening in Devil’s Advocate http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118971/ one of the most despicable and unfrocking films about the devil ever made)
remarkably brilliant in Insomnia http://dontcloseyoureyes.warnerbros.com/ (Robin Williams did a great job here as well, and Hilary Swank was typically swanky but very good) and of course
unsurpassable in Scent of A Woman http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105323/ ( I collect great speeches and Al Puccinos speech at the Baird school is dynamite.)
iii. All of these particular R rated films have allowed me to have in depth conversations about the nature of evil, the wounded spirit, and how we try and justify our sins. That and a whole lot more.
iv. Hollywood at the moment is producing a number of films with fine actors but is in absolute over drive in the present use of gratuitous sex and very bad language, so like I say ,I thank God many times for the fast forward button.
v. Lastly Hollywood Jesus, http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/ is an interesting place to discover and discuss spiritual threads that run through our culture.
vi. Finally. What Rating would the film board give the Bible? Or better still, what rating would they give to just say, the last few chapters of the book of Judges! Good grief Hannibal Lecter couldn’t compete with that!

Speaking in tongues

i. Very occasionally, when words will not suffice. If ever proclaimed in public, then public interpretation should be called for. I am not phased by this at all. It is NON issue.

13) Tell me Robert, what translation of the Bible do you teach from? Why?

i. NKJV and
ii. The Message
iii. I am British and a Poet. THE NKJV is majestic in its language. Eugene Petersons The Message is unsurpassable in its contemporary relevance. Peterson is an amazing writer. No doubt if around at the time of Christ he would have been used to write the autographs!

13) From the following selection, please would you indicate the top 5 words that best describe you, as well as the top 5 words that least describe you.

trustworthy dependable active compassionate reliable quick thinker spontaneous decisive teachable team player humorous thoughtful solitary leader cautious risk taker patient reflective honest organized creative disciplined faithful good steward teacher good listener approachable outgoing discerning progressive

Top 5 Words:-

1. Risk Taker
2. Spontaneous
3. Creative
4. Approachable
5. Discerning

5 words that least describe me

1. Solitary
2. Patient
3. Cautious
4. Reflective
5. Progressive

14) How would you describe your love for the Lord and your compassion for people?

• I love the Lord but His people can be really annoying most of the time.
• I love honest, broken people who are in love with Jesus.
• The rest, I mostly pity.
• This helps me in my compassion!

15) Could you tell us the top three books that have most impacted your life or ministry, other than the Bible. Briefly tell us why you chose each one.

1. I have at least a top 20 book list…but out of them I would choose maybe, today, being a Thursday and sunny outside:-
2. The Secret Life of Bees – Sue monk Kid. I wish I could write like this. The writer has inspired me to choose my words most precisely when preaching.
3. Any books by Adrian Plass – Because he is real and loves Jesus very much.

Poem for the day. It is a soul touching non-Christian word fest devotional that makes me think about the Lord in all situations.

16) Robert, what are your views on women in ministry?

Thanks God for them!
Though I do believe in Male Elders and male headship in church and home

16) Robert, how do you determine God’s will for a particular situation?

Always, and I mean always with the greatest of difficulty!

17) Robert, assuming change is necessary, how would you anticipate approaching and initiating change in a congregation that has been in the same groove for many years.

I would approach it as I would approach an unexploded bomb. With fear, trembling, prayer and many changes of underwear.

If you Instigate change, is it more important to you to ensure that current members if at all possible, are brought along through the process. If not then, you must focus on attracting a fresh population that “get it” quicker?

Why & How would you balance the two?

You use the word change an awful lot in your questions. My experience is that if you try and fly world War I bi-plane like a Boeing 747, the wings will come off!!
Most established churches need to ensure that they have

• Maintained and Greater Unity
• Greater Community
• Greater Outreach
• Greater Love for Jesus.

I like that very much indeed. Especially the last one. For a church to want to fall more in love with Jesus is the safest and most secure path is can ever be on. It is totally contrary to the spirit of the present church age and something you are to be commended for if that is your church. Who could not want to be involved with a church that wants to love Jesus more? However, some folks talk about change until it comes upon them and then, they want none of it. Most Pastors discover that the change talked about at the interview, was the change of on old chaplain of church activities for a new one.

18) Robert, what think would be the top five goals to head for during the first 3 years of any ministry in a new location

Phew that’s a hard one! Here goes then, and this if course very general.

Year One

ESTABLISH WITH THANKSGIVING – (PAST) -

1. Begin Get to know the Congregation
2. Begin to discover Jesus more thoroughly TOGETHER! Primarily through the age old staples, which everyone will be familiar and in agreement with, of good Christian practice in :-
   1. Preaching
   2. Praying
   3. Praising
3. Allow the congregation to get to know the new Pastor!
4. Begin to thoroughly exegete the area.
5. Lead the congregation to acknowledge and appreciate all the good and great things God has done for them and in them, in the past and in so doing help them to see and rejoice in the Father of Mercies and the God of all comfort. The churches history is as important as their future. Of course if the church history has been a poisonous cesspit, then it needs filling in and bulldozing over and new vision needs casting immediately.

Year Two

DISCOVER WITH DESIGN – (PRESENT)

1. Begin to help folks individually seek and find their God given destinies.
2. Begin to together discover God’s direction for the future of the church
3. Begin to coalesce the whole congregation in terms of understanding the discoveries and mapping their implementation. In other words let discovery lead to unity of purpose
4. Begin to discover true Christian friendship
5. Begin to discover true Christian community

Year Three

IMPLEMENT WITH RELEASE (FUTURE)

With what we have learned over the last two years we need now to:

1. Grow in quality and quantity
2. Grow with Grace
3. Grow in Goodness
4. Grow with Guts
5. To Gain the Glory that will be yours!

Just how the church will do this will be somewhat dependent on the history of the church in the past, very dependent on its grasp of its gifts, graces and callings of the present, and vitally dependant on its faith and vision for the future. Of course, the first 3 years of any new ministry are simply the starting point.