Robbie Griggs

FAMILY

 

HOMETOWN:  Charleston, MO

SPOUSE NAME:  Jane-Ellis

CHILDREN:  Charlie (2004) and Peter (2006) George (2009)  

 

MINISTRY 

SERVING AS:  Senior Associate Pastor, Evangelism and Discipleship; Staff Theologian

DUTIES:  building and equipping teams to further discipleship and mission in our congregation and communities, teaching in a variety of settings, and preaching.

PASSIONS:  teaching, preaching, leading, and hanging out.

PHILOSOPHY OF MINISTRY & LIFE:  How does one possibly write a short statement that is also adequate?  My philosophy of ministry and life is summarized by Paul’s statement in Philippians 3: 

 

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ  9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith -  10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,  11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

 

EDUCATION/ORDINATION:

B.S. in Finance from the University of Missouri—Columbia in 2000

B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Missouri—Columbia in 2000

M.Div. in Biblical Studies from Covenant Theological Seminary in 2004

Ordained in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in 2005

 

FAVORITES

QUOTES: 

 

"My top schools where I want to apply are Oxford and the Sorbonne. My safety's Harvard."  Max Fischer in the movie Rushmore
"Sin is the punishment for sin."  Augustine of Hippo
"You can't always get what you want."  Mick Jagger
"Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?”  not sure

“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”  C.S. Lewis

“If one does away with the fact of the Resurrection, one also does away with the Cross, for both stand and fall together, and one would then have to find a new center for the whole message of the gospel. What would come to occupy this center is at best a mild father-god who is not affected by the terrible injustice in the world, or man in his morality and hope who must take care of his own redemption: "atheism in Christianity"" Hans Urs von Balthasar

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid." G.K. Chesterton

 

MUSIC:  in no particular order, U2, Wilco, The Shins, The Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, Johnny Cash, just about anything Motown, The Decembrists, The Rolling Stones, old school rap prior to the gangsta rap of the early 90s, Sufjan Stevens, Sandra McCracken, She & Him, etc.

 

MOVIES:  Rushmore, The Godfather 1, The Godfather 2, The Royal Tennenbaums, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Match Point, Gattica, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Garden State, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, etc.

 

INTERESTS: tennis, Mizzou basketball and football, single malt scotch, reading classic and current fiction, Pauline theology, Modern theology, music, Cardinals baseball, etc.

 

FOODS: anything prepared by Jim Fiala or one of his fellow chefs, pizza, meat & potatoes, etc.

 

FAVORITE MINISTRY WEBSITES/PODCASTS:   This American Life with Ira Glass, Mars Hill Audio Review, Facebook, Twitter, etc.