Servant-Director
Sixty-four years a pastor. Sixty-six studying the Land.
In 1959 a new graduate and his new bride left Kentucky for a teaching ministry in Israel. Their first son was born in Nazareth. Israel has been the study focus of his life ever since.
The beginning
Israel changed their lives.
Bob attended Lone Oak High School near Paducah, Kentucky, and graduated from Georgetown College in 1959. Immediately he and his new bride, Barbara, departed for a teaching ministry in Israel.
They fell in love with the Land and the People. They travelled the length and breadth of the new nation — climbed her mountains, swam her rivers and lakes, hiked the Biblical highways, and dug her archaeological sites, while Bob photographed everything he could afford to shoot.
Their first son Randy, a sabra, was born in Nazareth. Mike came while Bob was at New Orleans Baptist Seminary; the twin girls, Terri and Sherri, were born native Texans in Wichita Falls. The clan has since added four sons and daughters-in-love and eleven grandchildren — one, Naomi, adopted from Ghana.
The road since
Pastor, then full-time to the Land.
- 59
Israel, 1959–60
A teaching ministry in the young state. Bob and Barb lived and served in the Land, and Randy was born in Nazareth.
- 60s
Seminary and the pastorate
A Master’s from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary while pastoring in Slidell, Louisiana. Then Texas visas, and churches in Wichita Falls and Waco.
- 74
Thirty years at Prairie Creek
Pastor of Prairie Creek Baptist in Plano for three decades, building a mission programme the church carried for twenty-eight years.
- 02
Bob C. Ross Ministries
Bob and Barbara founded the ministry to support their ongoing world mission work — Alaska, the Yucatán, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Cuba and later India.
- 04
Full-time mission
In August 2004 he resigned the Prairie Creek pulpit after 64 years of pastoring, to advance the mission work full time.
- 18
Barbara goes home
In July 2018, after sixty years of marriage, Barbara left Bob and the ministry and went home to be with her Lord.
- 20
A new chapter
After a year of mourning, God sent Carmen Poloni his way. Bob and Carmen married in early 2020 and now share Israel together, deeply involved in mission support and activities.
The work today
The more one loves God’s Land, the more they will love God’s Book.
Out of a personal collection of more than 70,000 slides, photographs and digital images of Israel — taken over sixty years — Dr. Ross builds the Biblical and geographical presentations that turn a black and white Bible into living color.
- Bob and Barb lived and served in the Land in 1959–60.
- Their oldest son, Randy, was born in Nazareth — a sabra.
- Israel has been his study focus for over sixty years.
- He has led 48 study tours to the Land.
- He developed and taught the Discover Israel Seminar across the Southwest and in several foreign countries.
- He teaches seminars in churches, colleges and seminaries in the US and internationally.
- The Jewishness of Jesus study course is in production for public availability.
In Dr. Ross’s own words
Quotations drawn from Dr. Ross’s published pages at bobcrossministries.com.
Next step
Bob and Carmen invite you to join the adventure.
Involving Christians in hands-on mission opportunities has been his heart’s desire for sixty years.
Or call Dr. Ross directly — 214-801-3681