The Everyday Apostle
The Everyday Apostle
The Everyday Apostle - EP006 - Eric Robinson
What does it take to transform a troubled past into a powerful ministry of hope and recovery? Pastor Eric Robinson knows this journey all too well. Growing up in Miami with challenges such as being raised by a single mother and lacking a relationship with his father, Eric found solace through his devout grandmother's influence in the church. A pivotal moment came when a spiritual awakening during his time in jail ignited his passion for juvenile intervention and addiction recovery. Now, as an associate pastor and certified addiction counselor, Eric dedicates his life to guiding at-risk youth and infusing his community with faith and purpose.
Balancing ministry and family life is no small feat, and in this episode, we explore how faith-driven service can sometimes lead to burnout. Drawing from scriptures in Matthew about the call to serve others, we discuss the importance of communication and prioritization within the family unit. Eric shares personal insights about maintaining a supportive partnership and keeping Christ at the center of the household. We also delve into the inspiring creation of Saving Families, an initiative born from the founder's challenging upbringing, aimed at providing stable family environments. Tune in for a heartening conversation about resilience, faith, and the delicate balance of service and family.
Welcome to the Everyday Apostle, where ordinary lives meet extraordinary faith. Join our host, kendall Peterson, as we explore how everyday men and women bring the gospel to life wherever they live, work and play. Let's dive into it right now.
Speaker 2:Hello and welcome to episode six of the Everyday Apostle podcast. I'm your host, Kendall Peterson, and it is an honor to bring these inspiring stories of people trying to live out their faith in their daily lives, and I hope you guys are enjoying this show. I've been receiving some amazing feedback. If there's anything you want to see that you're not seeing you, let me know. Big thank you for all of the prayers, the messages, the support that I've been receiving, and especially for today's partner.
Speaker 1:The Everyday Apostle is brought to you by our partners, the WOW Center. For over 50 years, the WOW Center has been transforming lives in South Florida by empowering adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They offer life skills, training, employment opportunities and social activities that help foster independence and build community. And there's an exciting event coming up you won't want to miss. Join us on October, the 25th 2024, at the beautiful Coral Gables Country Club for Wow.
Speaker 3:Royale.
Speaker 1:Starting at 8 pm. It's going to be an unforgettable evening with fantastic entertainment, gourmet dining and the chance to support a truly wonderful cause. To learn more about the WOW Center and get all the details on the WOW Royale event, visit wowcentermiamiorg. That's wowcentermiamiorg. Get involved, make a difference and be a part of something amazing. Involved, make a difference and be a part of something amazing the Wow Center, empowering lives and building brighter futures. See you at the Wow Royale.
Speaker 2:Please check out the Wow Center if you're not familiar with them. You will not be disappointed and I'd love to see you guys at Weill Royale. I will definitely be there Today without further ado. I'd inspiring to me personally and to my family. Pastor Eric Robinson, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:Kendall, I'm just going to read your bio because this is a pretty incredible story. So Eric Robinson knows firsthand the challenges of a troubled past, with a history that includes arrests for assault and battery, gun possession, theft and cocaine possession. Pastor Eric has seen it all, but in 1998, while serving time in a Dade County jail, he experienced a life alteringtering out-of-body experience with the Lord Jesus Christ. This profound spiritual awakening ignited a passion in Pastor Eric for juvenile intervention and prevention. After having his rights restored by former Governor Jeb Bush in 2003, he shared his powerful testimony with a hearing officer at the Department of Juvenile Justice in Tallahassee. This pivotal moment opened doors for him to connect with and guide juveniles who are making the same mistakes he did over 20 years ago.
Speaker 2:Pastor Eric served at the Juvenile Detention Center in Miami for over 10 years and continues to mentor young people. He his dedication doesn't stop there. He also served as the associate pastor at the Way Fellowship Church in Pembroke Pines, florida, and is certified by the state of Florida as an addiction counselor, behavioral health technician and peer recovery specialist. A devoted husband and father, pastor Eric continues his vital work in the field of addiction, using his personal experiences and his professional skills to make a difference in the lives of many, and I have seen some of that firsthand. Welcome to the show, pastor Eric.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Pastor Eric, I know you through my wife, through my wife's organization, and she had nothing but really really positive things to say about you. And, as I said before, I've seen some of your work, great reputation in the community that you have, but I don't know anything about you, so let's kind of get to that. Where did you grow up?
Speaker 2:I grew up here in Miami Florida okay, which part of Miami were you in? I live in city, okay, all right. And did you grow up with a mother, father and siblings and all of that? Typical, yeah, can. I grew up in a single parent home.
Speaker 3:I was raised by my mother. Okay, all right, if you don't mind me asking, was your father ever a part of your life? Or? I didn't have any recollection of him or had any interaction with him and so, like I said, I grew up with only my mother.
Speaker 2:Okay, Any brothers and sisters.
Speaker 3:Unfortunately, Ken, I'm the only child.
Speaker 2:Okay, so what was? Was there any faith in your home as you guys were growing up? Did you guys go to church or anything like that?
Speaker 3:Yes, there was my grandmother. She was a very devout Christian and she made sure that her grandson was in church Every Sunday, every Tuesday and every time the doors were open.
Speaker 2:You know it's funny how often the grandmother is that Sunday, every Tuesday and every time the doors were open. You know it's funny how often the grandmother is that you know matriarch of the family and brings, makes sure that people come into church. So it definitely sounds like that was no different in your family. In what ways did you guys live out your faith other than going to church on Sunday? Were there other other things that you guys did? Well, growing up?
Speaker 3:I can't really recall any other way that we, you know, showed our faith besides going to church. One thing I could can say about my family they were always givers Anytime that someone had a need. My family, my grandmother, mother they would always try to help anyone in the community.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can see where you get your servant's heart. Then Talk to me a little bit about those ages where it gets a little bit tougher.
Speaker 3:Right, Middle school, high school, you start to kind of flex your independence, especially as a male, so tell me about those years in your, in your life, well, kendall, it started back in elementary school, when I went to the inner city school and called Ponceana Park. That was the first time I realized I didn't have a father. I was a part of the Cub Scouts and they asked us to bring our fathers. The next day I went home crying and asked my mother where was my father? And from there the anger set in. I began to become rebellious by the time I was in the eighth grade, and from high school it just got worse.
Speaker 2:Yeah, those are some challenging times. I've, you know, experienced in my own family as well. What kind of things when you talk about anger and acting out, what did that look like practically? What kind of things were you doing?
Speaker 3:So once I hit junior high school being that I'm the only child, I believe I was bullied as a child, and once I stood up for myself, I think I went a little overboard and I got suspended for fighting, and from there my behavior totally changed, where I was now the aggressor, but, like I said, it came from anger of not having a father. And so once I got to high school I got with the wrong group of people and I joined the gang and from there my life was uncontrollable.
Speaker 2:Do you think that joining the gang know part of something a little bit larger having other role models, older kids and things like that. Do you think that was a surrogate for the missing father? Yes, it was. Um, I would imagine you know, fast forward a little bit. I would imagine in your professional career you've seen a lot of that, right right.
Speaker 3:Unfortunately, Kendall, I do. I pastor at Everglades Correctional Institute here in Miami Florida, and basically every man there does not have a father present in their life. So if I'm in a room of 50 men, maybe half of them never even knew their fathers, and so we know where the problem is. It lies with the fathers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a big role when you're a father, if you actually understand that it. You know there's a tremendous responsibility, not just for the immediate term but also for, you know, the future and future generations. So fatherhood is a critically important role that we have as men. Let me so talk to me a little bit. You're angry, you're acting out. You're now pushing into gang life. Acting out, you're now, you know, pushing into gang life, and I don't imagine that the you know that gang was, you know, planting flowers in the park and doing all kinds of great community service projects. So what kind of things did you find yourself involved in?
Speaker 3:We found ourselves you know strong armed robberies stealing out of stores, strong armed robberies stealing out of stores selling drugs, and so you know, whenever you join a gang, you have to do what the other ones do, especially the older ones, and so I found myself in a life of crime.
Speaker 2:And so how long was it before you first went to jail?
Speaker 3:How long was it before you first went?
Speaker 2:to jail.
Speaker 3:The first time I went to jail was in. I was 19 years old in Key West Florida and I was charged with cocaine possession, strong, strong armed robbery and aggravated assault.
Speaker 2:Probably not victimless crimes. But so that was you said the first time. Why don't you go ahead and just kind of walk me through your criminal career? What I ultimately would love to get to, eric, is that you know in that part of your intro where you had a profound experience. So lead me through your jail time, your criminal time and all of that up to that experience.
Speaker 3:So from, I can say, 1989 until maybe 1998, I was, you know, in and out of incarceration. I've never been to prison, only county time. And so this last time when I, you know, committed a crime, mama couldn't get me out of trouble because I did something so profound. I went back to my job with a gun and I threatened people. You know to make a long story short, you know I was wrong, even though the people that were there did something to me that I won't get into. But I was wrong for going back to my job with a, with a gun. From there I was facing 10 years in prison and only through the grace of God, I only did a year in the county jail and most and some of it was spending work release.
Speaker 3:But while I was there, kendall, I was attending church because I knew that's where I could find peace, because that's where a grandmother would always take me when I was young, and one church service I came back to my cell and I got on my knees and I said, god, if you're real and I know that you're real come into my life and save me. And, kendall, I have to tell you that night I wasn't in the cell, I was on a cloud, kendall, and I'm scared of heights, and I was looking down and I heard this voice say jump. And it's feel like I stood there forever and I kept hearing this voice said jump. And I took a chance that I jumped, kendall. And when I jumped on the next cloud, it lit up and I heard a voice said said, I know he's real. I heard myself say I know he's real.
Speaker 3:And I was thrown into my body and when I jumped up, I didn't know where I was at and I began to cry. And when I began to cry, I I just, I just asked I well, what's going on? And I heard a voice, kendall. It said I took the anger from you. And I thought I was going crazy because I heard this voice and I said what was I angry about? He said you hated your father. I said I didn't even know about father. He said that's why you were so angry, because you never had the love of a father. And from that day, kendall, I've never been the same.
Speaker 2:What I mean. That's an amazing story, eric. It really is. So what was the immediate change? Obviously that's a remarkable experience and there's the shock of it and then probably some questioning about whether that was real or you made it up Like, talk to me a little bit about maybe that first day after all of that happened.
Speaker 3:After that experience, kendall, I knew that God took the anger from me because I didn't feel angry anymore and he allowed me to sit in Dade County Jail for that year and profess my faith not only to the inmates but to the staff. And the way I was able to do that is by being a model of inmate. While I was there, I gave them no trouble because the anger was gone. Kendall, and the people, the people around me, they saw that you know, I wasn't the same person that I was. I attended church, I was back on time from work release and I did everything that was expected of me and I was released early.
Speaker 3:But it started right there and, if I can add this, kendall, and so when I was released, um from work release, and I was walking to my, to my vehicle, I said I'm never coming back. And I began to cry, kendall, because I heard that voice again. And he said you will be back because you got to tell other people about the good news of Jesus Christ. And that's why today, kendall, I'm still doing prison ministry at Everglades Correctional Institute over 10 years.
Speaker 2:Institute over 10 years. That's amazing, eric. That's why I love doing this. Conversion stories and stories of how God acts and Jesus is truly present in your life are so remarkable. So here you are. You're still a young man, you've made a decision I'm never coming back to prison on this side of things, but obviously there's a little personal commitment to going back and and serving as a witness to those people that need to hear that message. Um, how, what then happened? What did you do to to align your life to the profession that you have now?
Speaker 3:I had to find me a good Bible teaching church, kendall and I landed at a church called 93rd Street Community Missionary Baptist Church under the leadership of Pastor Carl Johnson, and there he raised me up in the Lord. That was my second birth. I had already been saved, but I rededicated my life right there at 93rd Street Community Missionary Baptist Church and I began to get busy for the Lord. I was on the feeding ministry, I drove the bus, I did juvenile ministry. I stayed busy in the Lord.
Speaker 2:Do you think that's important? Do you think that there's a power in motion to our faith?
Speaker 3:We have been saved to serve. It is the most important thing in ministry. We must serve, and so one of my favorite scriptures is in Matthews, where it talks about when I was hungry, you fed me. When I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was naked, you clothed me. When I was in the hospital, you came to see me. When I was in prison, you'd visit me. What it's saying Kendall is we must be about prison ministry, clothing ministry, feeding ministry, hospital ministry. We must be. That's the great commission right there to go out into the world and save the lost commission right there, to go out into the world and save the lost.
Speaker 2:Amen. Um, so I don't know that I'll get this right, but the so you find yourself at the 93rd street, community missionary baptist.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, the You're just kind of soaking it all in and giving all that you've got, and I've seen that a lot. It was the way I was when I had my conversion at 42 years old. I have seen a lot of people you get so you get so overwhelmed with that peace and with that love of Christ that that all you want to do is serve him and so you go, go, go, go go. Did you ever reach a point where there was burnout, where you had to kind of reorient yourself, or has it been wide open ever since?
Speaker 3:Well, you know, we all, we all slow down with age, Kendall wide open ever since we all slow down with age Kendall. When you have a family you have to prioritize because your family is your first ministry. I can't really say I slowed down. I just prioritize how I do ministry. Now I do more outreach ministry. I'm still involved in working at homeless shelters, going to prison ministry, going to church, going to hospitals, and so I do a lot of outreach ministry and so that never gets tiresome to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I prefer to refer to it as maturity and not age. But as you mature, you realize that you need to be more efficient with it and you do have to balance a lot of priorities. You mentioned your family and your home. Talk to me a little bit Obviously. You're married, because we discussed that in the intro. But talk to me a little bit Obviously you're married because we discussed that in the intro. But talk to me about your wife and your children.
Speaker 3:I have a beautiful wife of 16 years, dr Carlene Vincent Roberts. She's a dean at FIU and I have two lovely daughters, faith and Grace. Faith is 12 and Grace is nine, and I knew, I knew, as a Christian, that, um, I had to get married. You know, this is my second marriage and, um, I knew that, for me to be the man that God called me to be, that I had to make that covenant with you know, with someone, and I'm so glad that God brought Carlene into my life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's you know, that's a calling right. We're called to be priests, whether that is, you know, preaching in a church, or whether that's being the spiritual head of the household. And being the spiritual head of the household is the one that often gets forgotten. But you can't do that without, you know, having a good partner and then having Christ at the center of that relationship. Then you're empowered to do all else that you do right, the outreach ministry and your children and teaching them, and all of that.
Speaker 2:So I have definitely seen the fruits of that, definitely seen the fruits of that when it comes to balancing that time. So this is always a struggle and I hear from a lot of probably more men than women, I think have a struggle with it, Because men tend to be 100% or 0% and it's a little hard to balance that. But how do you, what do you do personally, to help balance your commitment to your family, your commitment to your wife and your children, as well as your commitment to ministry?
Speaker 3:Well, first it starts with communication. Me and my wife have to have a very strong line of communication, and we have to talk about, you know, what is it that I can do and what I can't do. And so we, you know, we talk.
Speaker 3:I always run everything by my wife first before I do it, and I think that's the secret, you know, just to let your wife know that, hey, I'm, you know I'm going to be doing this, and you know what's going on with the family, you know, does the kids have appointments? But always making the family first. We have to know how to say no, and so I've learned how to, you know, not put too much on my plate, but what's on my plate, my wife knows about it. I think that's very important, not to just, you know, say on the fly, oh, I have to go preach over here, or I need to go, you know, over here. We all always must remember that our family is our first ministry, and so I believe that we have to have a very open line of communication with our spouse on everything that we do.
Speaker 2:Well interesting that you say that Family is the first ministry, because your business is called Saving Families. So why don't you tell me a little bit about that?
Speaker 3:So Saving Families was birthed out of what I didn't get, kendall, as I say, when I was young which we didn't go into, but my first recollection of life, my mother was married to an abusive person. So I grew up in a domestic violence home and so my mother was married three times and so I never really had a stable family environment. So saving families is just what it is. We believe that each child needs a mother and a father in the household. That's very key to growing up in our world and our society up to date. The next thing that we deal with is addiction.
Speaker 3:Because I didn't have a father in my household, I turned to addiction, alcoholism, and I began to drink too much. The next one is reentry. Due to me not having that family component and getting involved in alcohol and crime, I end up incarcerated. And so saving families is just about that. It must start in the home and we can have a better environment as far as in the schools and in the community. So, if I had to, you know to wrap it up, saving families. We deal with family counseling, addiction, reentry and the last component is victim advocacy. Right now I work with a company called Thriving Mind where I work with victims of crime, and so that's very near and dear to me right now.
Speaker 2:What admirable work that is, pastor Eric, and a noble calling right, because I 100% agree with you. I think that we lose society if we lose families and we lose the home, and that's the frontline ministry right there is making sure that families are supported. There's love at the center and there's God at the center of that. So kudos to you and the work that you're doing. How can people find Saving Families? How can they find you?
Speaker 3:Our website was just started. It's savingfamiliesinccom. You can find us there and get more information about what we're doing. Like I said, we just launched the website and if anyone wants to volunteer, we always have room for volunteers.
Speaker 2:That's fantastic. So I will put that link and, eric, if you want me to share your contact information as well, we'll put that in the episode page, podcast episode page. We'll provide that information to make sure people know where they can find you, how they can support you and then how they can volunteer as well. Unfortunately, as I warned you, this time goes very quickly and so we're going to have to wrap this up. Eric, I think that the work that you're doing is amazing and your story has been amazing, and thank you so much for sharing it with us and with the audience. I could not agree more with you that the home is that place that needs a tremendous amount of focus. Tremendous amount of focus, and a lot of what we see, and most of what we see going on in the world happens because there's a breakdown of the family unit and breakdown of the home.
Speaker 2:So I applaud you again for the work that you do and I will do all that I can to help make sure that people know how to find you and know how to support you. Some really great pieces that you shared with us about just having Christ at the center of your life and knowing that all of those things we're burdened with we can give up. But also, as we get older and we enter into relationships, to make sure that we find the right person, we put christ at the center, communicate and all of those those healthy attributes of a relationship, because that's what's going to make our lives more meaningful and allow us to serve god in a more meaningful way, as well as supporting each other. So thank you for sharing all of that. Um, I'd like to uh acknowledge partner the WOW Center Again. Check out WOW Royale coming up and a big shout out to our producer, rachel, who managed to pull off this fully virtual studio that we have this week. Very different and probably you saw me fumbling a little bit here more than usual. Anyway, this is very different look and feel for us, but she made it happen and I am very grateful to you. As always, rachelle, if you are called, if you feel called, you feel a little rumbling in your insides that you want to help us.
Speaker 2:We do need sponsorships. We do want people to be able to use our platform to promote the good things that they do. So please check us out at everydayapostlecom. That is everydayapostlecom, and listeners. I ask you to continue your journey, be in prayer, continue to focus on what God has for you in your life and don't be bashful, don't hide your light under a bushel basket. It's okay to be Christian, it's okay to believe in God, and we all need the support and we need that community. So feel free to do that. With that, we're going to draw episode six of the Everyday Apostle to a close. Thank you very much, and God bless you.
Speaker 1:Tune in to the Everyday Apostle. Don't forget to like and subscribe on YouTube, on your favorite podcast outlet, and at our website at everydayapostlecom. Until next time, stay blessed.
