About Us

Kristin is a Southern Georgia belle, who graduated from UGA as a veterinarian May 2010. Carter grew up in NC, went on to seminary, became an ordained pastor, and has completed his doctorate of ministry. After retiring from full-time ministry, Carter is thoroughly enjoying being a financial advisor (and volunteering on the ministry side of things). After about a month of emailing, asking questions, and going through the steps of eharmony.com, we were full of excitement and became very eager to meet one another face to face. October 25, 2009, we met and enjoyed every minute together. We had no doubt God was going to strengthen our relationship with Him as well as with one another. Carter proposed August 9, 2010 on the boat in the middle of Lake Wylie at sunset. Kristin said "Yes" after some happy tears. We got married April 2, 2011 and what an amazing beautiful day that was! God has continued to bless us throughout our marriage. On May 18, 2017, our family grew when God gave us our son, Micah. We look forward to see what He has in store for us each and every day. We are super blessed to be serving the Lord wherever we are. God is constantly surprising us with new callings!

Joy

by The Robinsons
Actions speak louder than words sometimes, don't they? We attended church while we were in Guatemala.  Like I mentioned in a previous post, English was not the primary common language. This worship experience, however, was AMAZING!  We were greeted with hugs, smiles, and hand shakes when we walked in. Before we knew it, the service started and those there were full of joy.  It was so obvious!


I had a mentor tell me once that no matter your age or stage of life, there is always someone looking up to you and watching you when you least expect it. It's so true. The Holy Spirit was filling this church! We were all smiling, humming (singing when we knew the words), clapping, many were crying tears of joy while worshipping Our Lord.  These Guatemalans knew they were blessed to come and worship as a community. My heart was overflowing...and was watching them so I saw the love they had for (and from) our Lord!  They were into the lesson and scripture being taught. They weren't worried about what time it was...they were ecstatic to just be there! Melted my heart like crazy. 



What are your actions, facial expressions, or for that matter, everything you do showing others?  My prayer for all of us is that we are producing the fruits of the Spirit…love, joy, peace,… (Galatians 5: 22)


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Foundation

by The Robinsons
Arriving at our worksite in Guatemala, the foundation was was thankfully already there, dried, and ready for us to build on.  Most of us have heard Matthew 7:24-27, "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it." God reminds us constantly that yes, when building a house, you need a strong base instead of sand.  What about our lives and relationship building? Is God the center of your life, marriage, and relationships? (Rock) Or is what every day culture is saying is ok is what is keeping you going? (Sand) Are you in an equally yoked marriage/relationship? (Rock)  Are you letting Satan win the temptation of premarital sex? (Sand) Are you keeping time with God as a high daily priority (Rock) or are you too busy for Him (Sand)?  Are you turning to temporary materialistic things to keep you happy only to realize that happiness wears out? (Sand) Is your job glorifying Him? (Rock) We could ask many more questions…  Depending on how you answered these questions, are your answers falling into the “shifting sand” category or “solid rock?”


The type of foundation we had for the house/have for our lives are so very important because as the week went on in Guatemala, we packed those huge concrete cinder blocks, one at a time, and the walls began to be built, layer by layer.  Thankfully, the layers of blocks were strong because they were placed on a solid foundation.  Had they been on sand, it would have toppled over after a couple layers. Our relationship with the Lord has layers too...you don't just start an awesome easy life as soon as you submit your life to Him. It takes time, trust, an open mind, motivation, determination, falling and getting back up again because of His grace and forgiveness, and...  (Could say so much more here...May see another post later down the road on some of this.)



If your foundation is built on sand, I have good news! It's not to late to focus on Our Rock and Redeemer TODAY and turn things around.  We started with only a slate and ended with a house for Cecilia and her beautiful family.  Lean on The One who created us and let Him have the reigns and guide you. Let's center every aspect of our lives around Him. Sounds like a challenge to me...Who's in?

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Pastor's Porch: June

by The Robinsons
From our Glades June Newsletter…

You didn’t know me back in Fall of 2012, but that is when I felt called to apply to Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary’s Doctorate of Ministry Program. I was honestly a little surprised I was accepted so quickly into the program. I was excited though to have a hand written note from Dr. David Currie, the director of the program saying he was joyful that I would not just be in the doctoral program but also be in one of the actual residencies that he taught. I was VERY nervous when I stepped on campus for my first two-week residency January of 2013. The smiling faces of Dr. David and Dr. Ken, the mentors of the program track that I was a part of, put my fears away that first day. Through the three years of residency (2 weeks actually on campus each year), I had the opportunity to get to know many other pastors, these mentors, and others. The fellowship and time together inside and outside of class with these students along with the many books read, coursework, multiple papers, and thesis have been invaluable to me as a person and a pastor. Over the three years, we studied the pastor as a counselor/caregiver, as a preacher, and as a person/ leader. My thesis focused on elder leadership and was titled “An exploratory study of first time elder leadership in the Presbyterian Church.” This study shed light on the situation of elder leadership in the Presbyterian Church. Even though I believe my thesis is just the start of my work on elder leadership, I’m excited to be working through some of the ideas and concepts that I have learned in the study and bringing them to Glades to hopefully make the elder experience here a more powerful experience.


My doctorate has taught me many things, but one thing that my parents taught me and my doctorate has reinforced and encouraged is the idea of never stop learning and growing. The goal of the Gordon-Conwell doctorate of ministry (Dmin) program is to create and "to nurture passionate reflective practitioners.” I can say that through the program I have become a more passionate reflective practitioner. A part of this was the ability to create goals and truly accomplish them. What a great and powerful lesson that was in itself!


My goal for the church and you specifically is to also to continue growing spiritually, to continue growing in knowledge and understanding of what as a church we need to be doing to fulfill the Christ mandated mission of the church (Matthew 28), and also to be able to set goals and work towards them in the process, and then evaluate them.


If we are going to move forward as a church and become the church that Jesus Christ is calling us to be… A church with a mission ordained by Christ with a vision and process to make that mission a reality, it isn’t just going to happen randomly. As a church, we will need to study, learn, grow as individuals, grow as a church, grow in discipleship, and grow in maturity as believers as a body. Basically as a church, we need to work on our own Doctorate of Church where we all become a more passionate reflective practitioner in the church so that we can truly learn to fulfill God’s mission for Glades Presbyterian Church.


Pray for our leadership as we have an officer retreat June 4th. Pray that God uses that time to teach us and open us up to where He is leading us. Also pray for open hearts of the congregation to be led by the officers of the church!


-Carter
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Universal Language

by The Robinsons
In Guatemala, many languages are spoken, but guess what? English is not the main one. ;) I tell you though...hugs, love, and smiles are!! Surrounding myself with folks that I couldn't truly talk to was way out of my comfort zone.  God calls us out of our comfy bubble though, doesn’t He?  Our first morning on the work site as soon as we get there, I greeted those kiddos with smiles, love, and hugs.  It was obvious that they knew right away that we were there to help them! Was priceless!  Those sweet munchkins and I exchanged hugs, smiles, and love the whole week! Again, priceless and hard to put into words.


Isn't it crazy to think how often in our every day lives how smiles can make someone's day? Not everybody is a hugger, but those of us who are, isn't it cool how a simple hug can let someone know you care and things are going to be ok? Love...I think that can be the trickiest some times. Yet God loves us so much He gave His only son. (John 3:16)  The least we can do is go love each other, even when it's hard or maybe even inconvenient.


Love, hugs, and smiles can go a long way... Have you told someone today that you love them? Did you exchange a hug with anybody? Have you smiled at someone who was initially frowning and actually a gotten a smile in return?
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Garbage

by The Robinsons

In Guatemala, where we were traveling and working, trash was EVERYWHERE! This post could go in all different directions, but we will keep it short and sweet. The questions God kept asking time and time again were, "What garbage are you carrying around day in and day out?" "Why haven't you let it go?" "Or if you have let it go, why haven't you TRULY let it go and let God take care of it 100%?” "Why is past or current garbage weighing you down and holding you back from moving forward?”  Don’t let trash be everywhere in your life!  Pick it up. (Name it.) Throw it away. (Give it to God.)  Don’t forget what Psalm 55:22 says, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.”

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Transformation

by The Robinsons

At Glades, we are finishing up “Transformed,” which is a seven week study by Rick Warren.  What an awesome experience!  Rick Warren has done a great job examining seven areas of our lives with hope of being transformed in each area: Spiritual, Emotional, Relational, Physical, Financial, Mental, and Vocational. 

Romans 12:2 English Standard Version (ESV)
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:2 is one of the many powerful verses from the study.  We could say it was the main theme verse though.  How cool would it be to have a better life, to be better in the Spiritual, emotional, relational, physical, financial, mental, and vocational areas of my life?

Some questions Kristin and I have asked throughout this study are:  Why is it so hard to become transformed?  Why don’t people want to be transformed?  Why would people rather conform to the world, even though they see the world around us FALLING apart?  Isn’t there a better way?  

Yes! There is a better way…God’s way!!!!

I have had so much fun teaching and leading this study. (I know Kristin has thoroughly enjoyed facilitating her small group as well.)  It's also been challenging for us as well.  We have personally experienced change in our lives, and we are looking forward to the continued changes/challenges as we work towards our goals in each of these areas of our lives.  (We set goals each week.)

Why are people so resistant to God’s way of living life?  Even though we have found ourselves here before, that is something I just struggle to understand.  We have learned over the years that God has a better way! God gives us more joy and a greater life than any worldly life will ever give us.  

Why would people rather stay 'ok' rather than be GREAT or AWESOME?  I just don’t get it.  Kristin and I ponder this often. We've been taught that there's always room to learn and be better than where/who we are now...

We don’t understand why so many people wouldn’t commit 3 hours a week to transform their lives by attending worship, participating in a small group, and staying on top of daily devotions.  What a blessing these hours have been for us! (I think those who participated these last 7 weeks would agree about how life-changing and worthwhile this study has been.)

I understand it is hard and time consuming, but nothing worth while is ever easy. We all have 24 hours in a day so we are ALL in the same boat there.

Any insight or explanation you can give us would be helpful and greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Carter
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The First Of Many

by The Robinsons

Carter and I LOVE mission trips…and many of you have been waiting to hear more about our Guatemala mission trip.  Here is the first of many more blog entries to come about this opportunity we had full of blessings.  It wouldn’t be much of a mission if we kept it all to ourselves, would it?  Many of you have heard little bits here and there, have seen some pictures, or will read more with days to come in our blog.

We get super excited about going and sharing the Lord with others through our words and actions.  Is this easy for us?  Yes and No!  It depends on what we are referring to honestly.  Weeks and months leading up to trips, I pray, pray, pray for the faith and trust to lean on where the Lord has called us and to prepare us…and to take away all anxiety that fills me.  If I am not careful, anxiety of the unknown and cultural differences (and we can fill in the blank with other things) would prevent me from sharing as well as experiencing what God wanted me to.  I think many of you have caught on by now that Carter and I make no decisions without prayer being involved.

On our first day of work in Guatemala, I couldn't help but smile as Carter asked our mission team, "Why are you here?" and "Where do you see God?" We used to ask this every day when we were constantly traveling with youth on mission trips.  Here's how it always worked with the youth...he'd ask those questions, and it would get super quiet.  Total silence. However,  as the days continued, our youth began eager to share where they saw God that day.  Guess what…this was the same with our Guatemala teammates.

Carter and I are constantly asking ourselves these questions, not just on mission trips, but also in our daily lives, as individuals and as a couple. We want nothing more than to make sure we are aligned with God's will and His plan for us as well as Glades.

So…why did we go to Guatemala?  We noticed pretty quickly through our prayers and God's answers that Glades was doing wonderfully in supporting local missions but not internationally.  So we continued to pray about where our support should go outside of FL. Next thing we know, our friendship with the Coopers kept strengthening and the door was wide open for us to join Chad and the rest of the G13 team from Michigan (where Chad, Janet, and Wyatt just moved from) on this journey.


We continued to pray about that opportunity and as you know, God led us to go and we obeyed.  Boy were we blessed beyond measures from this obedience. (Aren't we always blessed when we follow through with what God is calling us to do?)  More about this in upcoming blog posts.

And where did we see God at work while we were there?  Ya’ll, we would be here all day.  The quickest response is “Where did we not see God?”  I have page upon page of notes for possible upcoming blog entries on what all God was teaching us and others on this trip.


This is only a kick off of some of our Guatemala stories of where we saw God throughout this adventure, but as I wrap up this entry, I have 2 questions for you: Why are you here?  ("Here" could mean a variety of things...your job, at Glades, in FL, in SC, in GA, etc.) And “Where do you or have you seen God at work today?” I pray that these answers are not because of temporary selfish happiness, but because we want to obey God, be filled with His Spirit and joy, and strive to glorify Him in all we do.
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