Welcome to the SOBC Pod. This is an extension of the ministries of Stone Oak Bible Church in San Antonio, Texas. This morning, I am joined by a new podcast voice, but someone who's been a part of our church now for four years?

Five years this June.

Five years this June. Ross, our children's and youth director. Thanks, Ross, for hopping on.

Happy to be here.

Glad you're here. Man, I can't believe it's been five years that you've been a part of our church already. That's incredible. If you listen to the last podcast, we kind of walked through history of our church and we hit some of the different locations that we've been in. You started with us as the Shrine Auditorium.

That's

correct. Yeah.

Yeah. Right after COVID. And you stuck with us. That's the amazing part is you had the fun of the shrine and he's still staying around.

Hey, that place was a unique experience.

Yeah, that's a great way to describe it.

I'll never forget it in my ministry career.

Yeah. No matter where you go from this point forward, you will always remember that first location of the shrine and never knowing what we're walking into or what things look like.

Really fun as a children's director to have that as your starting point.

Yeah. I'm sure. So Ross, introduce us to you. Tell us about you, tell us about your family, kind of walk us through what brought Ross up to the point of Stone Oak. Then from there, we'll kind of ask more questions, but give us a history of Ross.

A history of Ross. Well, I suppose I should start here. We've been at Stone Oak now for five years, and I understand probably the first thing people learn about me is how hard my last name is to say. It's Rohrbau.

What's the origin of this?

It's German. Uh-huh. And it's

Mom's side, dad's side? Where's the

Dad's side.

I guess that makes sense because it's your last name. Yeah.

It's from my dad's side, and we like to say roar like a lion, bow like a tree.

Why a tree?

The slope of the trunk of a tree is called a bow. It's spelled b o u g h. But roar isn't spelled like the normal roar, so it's really a confusing saying we have. But yes, we are a family that has a literal saying of how to say our last name.

Where's the upbringing of the family? Are you guys native Texans?

Go back. No. We are well, my dad was a military brat. His his grandfather or my my grandfather was in the Air Force, and my dad's grandfather, so my great grandfather, was also in the military. So they ended up just outside of New Orleans.

But because of the military connection, my grandfather went to Texas A and M and then so did my dad. And so that's how we ended up in Texas areas, all of that. We ended up in San Antonio specifically because my grandfather, one of his last places he was stationed was here at Randolph Air Force Base. And so when my dad graduated college, they were still here and he decided to stick in the area.

Okay. That's nice we have in San Antonio. It's one of the interesting things is the, excuse me, the amount of German heritage around San Antonio. Moving to San Antonio, that's one thing I didn't expect. I knew that there'd be a large Hispanic population.

Yes.

But the amount of German heritage around San Antonio is completely unexpected.

Yeah. All those small towns, you know, were I grew up in Boerne specifically, so that's a very German town and area. And so all the small towns around here, a lot of them, especially from here to Austin, are all very German based.

Pflugerville. Pflugerville. Yeah, that's a fun one.

So, yeah, so it's just sort of funny. It wasn't on purpose. It wasn't like our family grew up in these German things, but we ended Nice, up in a German town

man. All right, continue. Tell us about you.

Yeah, so as I mentioned, I grew up here in Boerne, so just about thirty minutes

north Which of

Boerne school

did you go to?

Boerne High School, the original. The OG? The OG.

When did Champion come around?

Champion opened my freshman year of high school.

So

it's kind of weird, but they had to renovate Boerne High School for a year, they closed it. So I technically was still in middle school my freshman year of high school. I was just bused to Champion every once in a while. And then my sophomore year

So you did go to Champion?

For like two classes.

Okay. And

then I was mostly at the middle school at the time. Then my sophomore year, officially, they reopened the high school. Went to Boerne High, graduated from there in 2012, went to Texas A and M, which you know, I could give a long history, but my wife and I, Michelle, have counted it up. For me, especially, I have over 20 people in my combined family who've gone

to Did Texas you apply

Anywhere else? Anywhere else. No, I did not.

It pretty much Texas A and M or bust.

Yeah. I mean, loved it. For some people it's like, Oh, they want to get away from what their family did. For me, was the opposite. I loved it.

Grandparents went there, aunts, uncles, my parents met there.

Early childhood memories of going to Aggie games and that kind of thing?

Oh, yeah. My mom said when I was really young, we would drive to College Station, and as we're driving there, I would say, he's like, Oh, we're going to the Giga Maggie's. I'm going to where the Giga Maggie's play. Yeah. And so, a huge Aggie.

Went there, graduated. In 2016, I had an elementary education degree, was going to be an elementary school teacher.

Okay, let's just pause right there. Why did you think elementary education was where you wanted to go? Which as a male, that's a field where there aren't very many men that walk in there and say, you know what? I want to do elementary education.

Yeah. It's funny you say that because the amount of people who during that time in my life anyway, because I'm not in it right now, who it almost felt like I was a unicorn or some hero. Amount of people would come to me and be like, Thank you so much. We need men. Like, Oh my gosh.

Like, you're Like, it's so amazing that you're doing this. So, you know, it's it's funny because I I feel bad now because I didn't go into it.

Were, like, all of your classes, were you the lone man in most of your education classes towards the end?

Yes, I was. Initially, your first years of college, most of Yeah, any gen eds. It's just general classes, all your prereqs. But when I got into the actual degree, was me and only other girls. They would always make fun of me, so it'd be like, Hey, we're going to do this classroom competition, guys versus girls.

Nice. But it'd just be me as the I only had a professor one time, very first day of class, like, Okay, so we're going to do a Pinterest project this semester. I'm assuming everyone has one. Then she notices me, and she's like, Do you have one? I was like, No.

She was just caught off guard. She was like, I'd never experienced this before. And so that was a lot of my college experience.

On the college level, are most of the professors for early education, are they also female?

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I don't think I had a single male professor. Okay.

What made you think, You know what? I want to do early education. Did you have an influential teacher in Yeah, elementary school

I guess just to start, originally, when I was thinking about what I wanted to do, all I really knew is I didn't want to sit in an office. I just thought that sounded not just boring, but sort of pointless to me. I was never

Which is interesting. Both your parents, I think, have office jobs, don't they?

Well, my dad. My mom was a stay at home mom. And then she's worked now, but it's not true office jobs, the way we think of it. My dad was, yeah. My dad wasn't a true office job.

He worked for USAA for a And long it's not that I thought my dad's job was boring or I thought he was boring. I saw that life and I didn't want to do it.

Was there anything specific about the office that you felt that's not for me?

I think it was just the not being able I just think I knew my life. I wanted something more than to just be a breadwinner, if that makes sense. You know, I love my dad. I always like to tell people that my dad is like, if I'm half the man my dad was, then I'm a great father and a great father.

I've met both your parents. I love your dad too.

Yeah. They great individuals. Awesome. They're great parents. Awesome.

And truly has nothing to do with what my dad did or how he said it. But even my dad to this day will be like he kind of wishes he had done something more impactful. And now my dad's huge into volunteering. Now he's getting close to retirement and been doing it for years. I saw that and I saw the way he talked about it and it inspired me.

I looked at my own faith and I looked at what I want to do with my life and I realised very early on that I just wanted to help people. I didn't know what that meant. At the time, ministry was not something that was remotely on my mind. I always tell the youth and children's students that I minister to on a weekly basis, that the person they see now is not the person I was. I was extremely shy.

I couldn't talk to strangers, especially girls. Forget about that. I was so nervous and so shy. Getting up in front of people was just not the thing I wanted to

do. People

don't believe me because they're like, Oh, this is what you do for a living now. You were destined for this. I was like, Not at all. If you had told me when I was 18, any time growing up, I would have been shocked. I just knew I wanted to help people.

So when I got to college, was looking at being a psychologist or going to sociology or something. But when I was in high school specifically, I was a part of a mentoring program called PALS, which I think a lot of schools across the nation have, or some version of it where

I'm unfamiliar with it. Describe it to me. Is it?

Yeah, so PALS is essentially a program where high school students will go into elementary schools, they'll be partnered up with a student who either has some sort of issues that they're going through, whether it's at home, whether it's at school, whether whatever it may be.

Could be educational issues, could just be life issues. Anything.

Okay. You know, I I had friends that did it as well where, like, I had one who he was really struggled with ADHD and ADD and was just needed some guidance and help to put his extra energy to good use. But I also had friends who were working with kids who were going through a hard time at home, they just needed some positive influences in their life.

Is this like a classroom requirement? Is this just a No. Something else you wanted to do?

Yeah. So this is something I signed up for. This is not a required class at Well our

done. That's an odd choice for most high school young men. The aspect of, I want to invest in a younger child, especially one that is not easy oftentimes, different than the way you would typically anticipate.

Yeah. So it was going to be like a free period and I got to go once a week for an entire year where I would work with this student.

Same student the whole year?

Same student the whole year. I did it for two years, so I had a different student the second year. Working with kids is something I had always didn't really realise at the time, and then by the time I was getting to college, when I started thinking about it, I looked at what I'd done in the past. Doing the PALS program at the churches I attended, I always loved helping out in kids' ministry. I'd even babysat a few times, which once again wasn't a super normal thing for me.

And you have younger siblings as well. You have two younger brothers.

Yeah. My youngest brother specifically is almost nine years younger than me, so babysat him a few times. So when I got to college and I was looking at what I wanted to do, I just knew I wanted to help people. I don't quite remember how it happened, but I think I was talking to one of the counsellors at A and M that helps you make degree choices and everything. And they were looking at my past, I had talked about it, they were like, Hey, you really like kids, you've worked with kids.

This is before you actually got accepted or you already entered

school So at this I was in school, but I was more of like a general major at this point. Like I didn't have it. I hadn't picked one.

Honestly, my opinion, that's the best way to go. Like the fact that we put so much pressure on 17 to 18 year old kids to choose their life path in the span of also choosing moving and college and then, hey, have to choose your career right now and you have to stick with it for the rest of your life to give you a little bit more runway and time and to try things out.

Yeah. And I think, you know, before I kind of continue my story, I think on that point, it's what you choose to do when you're 18, it does have a big impact on your life. There's no way around that, but it doesn't mean you're locked in, and I feel like people feel like they're locked in.

I know so many people that have degrees that

Yes, they're not in They're that

not in that field. Their degree was simply, they needed a degree.

And they thought

that they would be doing this, yet

a

different field opened up, and they decided to pursue that instead and love it even more than the degree they went into.

Yeah, I mean, my wife's a great example of this. She knew she wanted to do landscape architecture when she got to college. And she did that, did the whole degree, thought she was going do it. And then she ended up in graphic design for a few years and now is in marketing for an engineering firm, does nothing what her degree did. But she turned out just fine.

Especially in the business world, you see that all the time. Just because you did something in college or just because you made an initial choice doesn't mean you're stuck there.

So this is like sophomore year, you're thinking elementary education? Yeah.

So you're into elementary education. Initially, once again, it's very similar. It's still sophomore year, so still a lot of prereq stuff. And then the final two years is you're doing pretty heavy, like you're in classrooms. I have a very different college experience than a lot of people where they're like, the further you get into college, the more they're studying, the late nights.

I had none of that.

Why is that?

So his education is a weird degree where it's not hard necessarily

You're going to upset every teacher right now, Ross?

No, no. It's not hard necessarily academically unless you're trying to go into true higher ed. Especially if you're doing elementary education, you're teaching basic math or language or

something. But

where I think the big challenge is in classroom dynamics. It's more

skill based than it is knowledge based. It's not you have to learn new content. It's more of here's skills on how to manage a classroom, here's how to do lesson plans, that type of stuff.

Yeah, it's sort of also like, you when doctors are, you can be the smartest doctor in the world, but if you have zero bedside manner, you're not going get a lot of people to listen to you. Very similar with teachers. There can be incredibly smart, smart people, but if you don't know how to relay that information or get children to understand it,

then you're not really helping. I think we've all had those teachers. Yeah. The teacher that you're like, you're smart, but you don't know what it's like to be in my seat.

Yes.

And not be smart and not know the content as well as you do.

Exactly. And so through this process, was also inspired, you asked this earlier, but I had a teacher when I was in eighth grade. His name is Coach Degner. He's retired now, but he still lives out in the Boerne area.

Coach of what?

He was the girls volleyball coach and basketball. I don't It's a middle school, so he was doing multiple things.

Yeah. Little bit of everything. Yeah. Your PE coach, I'm assuming?

No. No. No? Okay. No.

He he he did the girls sports. I was in I was in basketball. And Okay. So I didn't really interact with him in the sports field too much. But he taught US history and

Typical coach. If there's a classroom that the coach Totally. Is doing, it's

But the difference is he was a teacher first and a coach second. Okay. The girls loved him. He was a good coach, but what he truly cared about more than anything was history and teaching it to kids. I loved history, and so there was a thing called the Competition.

National I can't remember the exact name right now, but every year he would do it. It was a huge thing. He would get groups together, and you would essentially do these year long projects where you would come up with creative ways to do things from history. And so for for my year, I did we did, like, the Vietnam War in my We put together a whole play talking to the whole history of the Vietnam War.

Is this recorded someplace for us?

I'm sure it is. I definitely have photos. I'm sure we have a recording of it somewhere. My parents Oh,

this is great. Next time I see your mom, you know what question I'm asking.

I yeah. I don't even know where she she knows where it is. But, actually, I I I have a book of photos from my house right now that has it. But, you know, it it was amazing being able to have someone that cared so much about us and cared so much about the subject and his desire for us to learn, to grow, to be more than we were. My art group ended up placing third at state.

It was really cool. We didn't get to go to nationals, unfortunately. We lost to Daylight Savings Time, which to this day still makes me upset because

What does that mean? You lost to Daylight Savings Time?

The group that got second, they did a performance on Daylight Savings Time. We did one on POWs in Vietnam, and yet, say daylight savings time, which everyone is conflicted about still with Regardless though, he was great. We did a full on reenactments of the Revolutionary War in the park, the main park there in Boerne where people would come to rode a horse in. He made it alive, and cared about us. Because of that example, it led to this desire to do the same thing for me with kids, which is how led me into that.

I bring it back. I did the final two years then, being the only guy. Was fun sometimes. Was everyone's little brother. So for the senior year, for those of you that don't know, basically your second half of your senior year is just student teaching.

Okay. It's a full semester of that where you're in the classroom five days a week. You're in college, but you're working. It's a weird time.

Yeah. It's unpaid,

right? It's unpaid. Yeah. You're paying. You're paying for school and you're an unpaid intern.

Yeah, this feels like the school system set this up. Yeah. Like, hey, we need some more blood in here. We need some excitement. Let's find college students and make them pay Totally.

To come help us.

But just to push back a little bit, I will say, though, there's nothing like getting that experience in

the Did you do this at College Station?

Yeah. So Bryan College Station is kind of generally all one city. So I was in Bryan and at the school that was in a tough area. And thought this is what I wanted to do, right? I go into it.

What grade are you in?

I'm in third grade.

Okay. With the idea of early elementary education, did you have a specific kind of age or grade that you were looking towards? Were you looking younger? Were you looking older elementary?

Yeah, it didn't necessarily matter to me as long as it was elementary. Okay. I guess I was like I think my thought process at the time was the younger they are, the cuter they are, so the less likely I am gonna be frustrated when they don't listen to me.

Yeah, but then younger they are, the more changing of clothes and

Oh, well those aspects of Sure. But, you know, at least they're cute as opposed to, you know, who's older and they're pushing back on you. A little bit easier when when they're, still adorable. Yes. So I did that, and guess I should pause here before I finish my colleges.

Throughout this time in college, I grew up in a believing household. For those who don't know, I actually grew up Catholic until I was a freshman in high school. My parents decided when I was a freshman to change where we were going. They had realized that not only were the kids, me and my two younger brothers, not really getting anything out of this, but they realized they weren't getting anything out of going to this.

So you were a freshman in high school. How old was your youngest brother at that time then?

If I was 14, 15, he was five or six.

Yeah, so he's kindergarten, first grade, someplace around there.

Did

you go through confirmation and everything?

No, I left right before it. So I guess it was maybe right before my freshman year of high school, kind of even that summer. So, yeah, it was kind of funny. I left before getting confirmed in the Catholic church. We ended up moving to a Methodist church, and I got there the year after they all got confirmed in the Methodist church.

So I never got confirmed anywhere. But I still remember that being such an important thing because I realized

That switch of churches?

That switch of churches. Because listening to my parents explain it to me since I was the oldest, they were talking about how they realized their faith wasn't growing. Not only that, but they understood that if their faith was not growing or maybe not even growing, but just alive and vital, then it was gonna trickle down to the rest of their lives, their interactions with their friends and their jobs, and then with myself and my brothers being able to lead us in a believing way. And so I remember my mom explaining that to me and then telling me, know, hey, when you go to college someday or you're out on your own, like, I don't really necessarily care where you go to church. Like, you could go back to being Catholic or whatever else.

She's like, I just want you to find a church where you can get connected, where you can experience God and feel like you're a part of something bigger than yourself. And that always stuck with me

because Well done, mom.

Yeah, because I was, you know, I was 14, 15 at the time, and I had never really heard it explained that way. At the time, I didn't know what the Bible church movement was, non denomin It was just being a part of what we were a part of, being part of the denominational structure. And It really shaped what I ended up doing once I got to college. So when I got to college, I had a friend from high school who went to this church in a college station called Grace Bible Church, and they invited me. Because I didn't I didn't know where to start.

So they've

think that's that's already gotten there. Yeah. Hit on that for a bit. It's I think one of the difficult things is not just for college students, but adults as well. Whenever you move to a new area, trying to find a new church and do that whole process, you move to a new city.

Yeah. College Station is its own beast of a city. Oh, yeah. It is a college town.

Yes. So many places, so many churches you could be a part

of. And so for you, it was kind of a relational connection that was really what drew you to Grace Bible.

Yeah. I am finding new churches is hard. Absolutely. The advice that was given to me at this church, at Grace, went to a lot of people that were leaving when they graduated. Advice that I give to tons of people now is don't look for your previous church.

What do you mean by that?

What happens when they get to, especially when kids go to college or maybe leaving the church you grew up at, you have this kind of idealized diversion of The nostalgia. Nostalgia of what your church is. You maybe recognize there's faults, but you don't really care. Yeah.

It's like, this couch is ugly, but it's

my And so what ends up happening is that people are looking for this. They look for this specific church somewhere else. Whether it's they're going off to college or a job makes them move to another city, and so they're like, well, I need to find, I just need to find this church again, and I'll be good.

Yeah. And and usually whenever they say that, there's usually one specific identifying factor of their church they're looking for. I need to find the church that does preaching exactly like my previous church, and I need their worship to be exactly Mhmm. Like our previous church. And I need the the feeling that I get walking in Yes.

To be the same.

Yeah. And and I think what catches people off guard, and I I think what's hard is it's a kind of a there's multiple things that go into it. I think the main things are, one, it's just not those people aren't there. The people from your past church aren't there. And no matter what you're looking for, you could find something similar, but you're never gonna find something exactly like it because your people aren't there.

Yeah. That's that's the ecclesiology of who is the church. Right. The church is the the gathered people of God. Anytime you switch Yeah.

That aspect, it's automatically gonna be different because the church itself is different.

Yeah. And so it I saw that a lot when kids came to college, or even when they left. They were like, this is the advice. Like, don't look for this. And then I think the second part of it too is that and I think this is a hard thing about especially being the good and bad part of being in a more modern world is you're more exposed to the different denominations and viewpoints out there.

And what people struggle with is living in that gray of stuff that isn't necessary for salvation. So What I mean by that is essentially that idea of a church you're visiting, do they preach the gospel truthfully? Do they exegete the word truthfully? Are they living out the truth of the Bible and what Jesus showed in his life in a way that is true to the Bible and true to God? If that's what they're doing, if that's what that church is doing, then the Christianity at large, big C church would say, Yeah, that is a church that is doing everything right.

It's the gray area stuff

where Preferences.

Preferences where people get caught up on. And some of that is totally fair.

Preferences matter.

Yeah. There are some great denominations out there that aren't ours that do awesome things. But personally, I would love some actual instruments in my worship. But if that's not your thing, that's a preference. That's totally fine.

I just think it's that idea of because the church is a group of people, of sinners, that no church is going to be perfect. And then also sticking to what is keeping the important things the important things. That bull's eye target that Justin talked about a few years ago, if you've been at our church for a while, basically that that center of that target, as long as that center of that target is true doctrine of the faith and not the gray area stuff, then that is a church that could be your church home. So when I got to college, my mom made a joke where she was just like, Yeah, go to any church, just not like Jehovah's Witness or something. She's like, Make sure it's a true Christ loving church.

And I didn't know where to start, and I was coming out of a background of Catholic and Methodist, and I had no idea what that meant. And I understand that there's a lot of people that come out of that. I have seminary training now, so I have a greater understanding of what that means. But for the average person, that can be a lot harder to understand. Absolutely.

At the time, I was just you know, a naive 18, 19 year old kid who didn't really know what the difference is. And what it came down to for me was that relationship of I was invited. And I was invited to church, I was invited to experience this. There was no pressure there. It was just like, hey, come come see what this church is about.

Come experience what they're doing. And I remember distinctly that first Sunday that I went. I loved the sermon because sidebar, they had a specific college service, so was speaking to college students. And I remember being like, this is super relevant. I was coming out of denominational stuff where it was, one, it was just for everyone, so it's harder to be drilled down.

Also, there's a lot more This is my first Bible church experience. So it was like, hey, we do communion maybe once a month and stuff like that. And so I loved the sermon. And then at the end, I remember they challenged everyone like, hey, we have these scenes called summer projects where we go for six weeks, six weeks mission trips overseas.

And I remember I remember that, like, in my first time. That's a long, short term

mission trip is what that ends

up being.

Long, short term. And I remember hearing about it and being so like, this is so cool, so expiring. And so then for me, that's where I ended up deciding. I was like, hey, I'm I'm I honestly it really ended up being the only church I visited in Colletation. I have never been to another church in College Station.

That is where I went my first Sunday because my friend invited me, and I never went anywhere else. Now, that's not everyone's experience, and I understand that it's hard and not everyone has that relationship to be invited into a church. Think my advice for people would be in this similar situation is you got to put yourself out there, which is hard to do, especially with the family. Giving a place a chance, as long as it has the core doctrine, what you're going to have to do. It's hard to dip your toes in and truly know what a church can do for you.

Yeah. Shows even the the simplicity of invitation, though. Oh, yeah. As as today's Thursday, as we're looking to Easter this coming Sunday. Yeah.

I I mean, the aspect of you just had a friend say, hey, come join me. Yeah. And you show up. And it was such an impactful time for you.

Yes.

In the life of your college ministry.

Yeah. I mean, there's so many stories like that. You know, just a short one. My wife's family, they're believers, but they had some baggage from past churches and they hadn't been to church in a long time. And I remember right before we moved down here to San Antonio, where I started working here at Stone Oak, we invited them to Easter with us.

They hadn't gone to an Easter service in fifteen years. And from that point on, we had so many conversations about faith, it opened up this whole avenue of conversation that even Michelle was like, Wow, we've never talked this much about faith. And we didn't do anything big. I didn't sit him down and go, Okay, why don't you guys go to church? Okay, you're believers, why aren't you doing this?

We just invited them, and it opened up these avenues of conversation and growth in both of our lives that wouldn't have happened if we'd just been like, hey, just come along with us.

Yeah, absolutely. Walk through that transition. You're no longer in early education. You are working full time in ministry right What in the world happened there, Ross, to take you from early education and completely throw everything on its head and you end up going to seminary and ending up working full time in ministry?

Yeah. So basically throughout my college, go to this church and I love the church. I love being a part of it. Was still Still do, right? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Just making sure. I still have We still have friends on staff there.

If you're looking for a great church and college

Oh, would highly recommend it. Yeah. If you're worried that you're not a college student, there are When I got there, there was only two campuses. There's four now. But there are some that are in the, you know, more of the suburbs of college station that have less college students.

Also, they need stability. Because

every four years, they're pretty much getting a rotation of students coming in and out of there.

Yes. Transient It's city.

It's a launching hub.

Launching hub. And so which is why the church kind of was the way it was and why they had such a push for missions and getting involved. And so I love the church. I was still very shy and I can still remember what really started my journey to being into ministry was once again, it was just an invitation and an easy one. It wasn't a desperation one.

It wasn't a hey, we really need you. It was just like, hey, I think you'd be good at this. I was a part of a Bible study, and one of the leaders was graduating and enrolled here, so they needed someone to cover for the spring semester. And I remember the two leaders came to me and they were like, Hey, we think you should be a leader. I was like, Why?

I'm not the most gregarious. I didn't feel like the most accessible person or the smartest or anything like that. What it came down to was like, was I was dependable, and I I was was committed to attending that group weekly. I loved being there. I loved being a part of the group.

And they were like, you you don't see it, but your commitment to growing in your faith and being a part of this group is exactly what a leader is. It's not being flashy, it's not being the guy that has no problem sitting in front of a thousand people and talking off the cuff and being super funny or whatnot. It's like what God desires above all is just someone who is faithful, and I had never viewed it that way. When I got to college, was the first time my faith really became my own. I read the Bible for the first time on my own.

I started doing the daily devotional on my own for the first time. That's And all it was. I was invited into this leadership position at my church, and that changed the trajectory of my life. So for the rest of college then, got into leadership at the church. By my senior year, I was leading a small group that was basically planning this thing called work projects where there were 30 families in the church that would have work, and I would gather 200 college students and send them out and do work to raise money for missions.

And then also we were in charge of essentially set up and tear down and everything else on the Sunday morning experience. I had a big job as a student leader. And to put this in perspective, this was just one campus. So this is not even across the campuses. We had two college services, only college students, and we would have 1,500 college students on a Sunday.

So I was in charge of all that. I remember going through this, I loved it. I still had no desire really or even idea that I would be going into ministry at this point.

Still thinking early.

Yeah. I was I was still thinking it. And but when I hit my senior year, so I'm about to about to enter into the stage of being a student teacher. That semester right before, I was starting to get a little disillusioned or burnout. I I was having a lot of questions about, like, if this is something I really wanted to do.

Was it because of student teaching that you're like, I don't know I about

didn't I that sealed it. But but before then, was already having some doubts because the way students at least in college, how how it works is like you're the fall, like the spring of your junior year, you're doing one day a week in a class. And then the spring of your senior year, you're doing like two days a week. And then when you get student teaching, it's five days a week. So I was already doing some teaching.

And I'm gonna be honest, I just I did not love the schedule. I did not want to get up at 04:30 every morning if I wanted to exercise and spend time with God. You know, people like to say who aren't in education, Oh, well, you're in work, especially if you're in elementary, like, Oh, you're in work at like 03:30. But that's not really true. Yeah.

That's not true at all. You're grading papers until five. You're bringing your work home

You're setting up Pinterest boards.

Setting up Pinterest boards. You're doing lesson plans. You're buying all the crafts with your own money. Oh, yeah. It's it's a big job.

It's a it's a huge job. And so already I was kind of feeling whatever about it. Yeah. And so and then when I started student teaching, my my my poor like So essentially, when you're student teaching, you're you're placed in a classroom with a real teacher. And so you're like So you're teaching a lot of it.

Like, you kind start with, maybe, like, one lesson a day and then you're And then, like, for the last month or month and a half of that semester, you're you're basically teaching full time. And they're just like and the main teachers assisting you, really. But I remember I was in this hard, hard area where I was like, I want to be helpful to kids that are really struggling. Yeah. There's a lot of stories there that I won't share here of some really heartbreaking stuff that kids did.

That was just kind of mind blowing for their age. Like their third graders, like how messed up could life already be at that point? And the answer is very. But my teacher cried every week and every day. And I saw that and I saw the stress of trying to make sure all the kids passed and did well on their tests.

And I was just like, I don't want to be this. I don't want to do this. And then I also realised as I was doing it, honestly, because I didn't do it, it grew my respect for teachers because I think we've all had a teacher who clearly probably shouldn't have been a teacher anymore. They're very bitter. They don't seem to like the students.

They don't seem to like what they're doing. And they're just there. You're like, wow, you're honestly not helping by being And I could see myself in thirty years being that person of like, I don't like teaching. I don't like being here. All of a sudden, I don't like the kids anymore.

And I thought I owed it to not only myself, but also to the kids that I might have taught that I didn't want them to have an experience of someone like that as their teacher.

Yeah.

So I decided it wasn't for me. But in the midst of all this, though, I'm like, Okay, what am I going to do? So I'm still like, Well, I'm going to be a teacher, but that's what I'm trained for. There's two things that happened in my life that really changed, I think, the trajectory of my ministry experience outside of just being invited. I Well, there's a few things.

This is a long story. So I talked about these mission trips. Like, that was the very first Sunday I think they announced it. They did it every year.

So your very first Sunday, they announced the mission trip?

Oh, yeah. Very first Sunday, they announced this mission trip. This is, like, in the fall, like, very start of the fall of my freshman year.

And your initial thought is you wanna do that?

Sounds awesome.

Okay.

Yeah. And I'm like, this is sounds so cool. They're like, we're gonna go share the gospel in places, some places that are open to it and some places where they're definitely not open to the gospel being shared. And so the trips weren't generally until the summer. Now, they did have these smaller trips that were ten day trips called vision trips, where over Christmas break you could do a trip.

So the Christmas break of my senior year, a couple of things had happened. I didn't do a summer trip because once again, one of my best friends was in this group that I had started leading. When I had been asked to lead, I met this guy who went to Champion, not Bernie High. So we didn't know each other, but we were both from Bernie. We became best friends over our mutual love of Taco Cabana.

Sidebar, for those of you guys that go to Taco Cabana now, it is not the same as it used to be.

I agree.

That's why they're all closing. They're bad. They got sold at some point and it went out.

I remember my first introduction to Taco Cabana. Was like, This is the best thing in the world.

Oh, man.

And then I went back a few years later and I was like, what happened?

Yeah. It went downhill a lot. But this friend of mine, I was his biostudy leader, and he was like, hey, what are doing over the summer? And I was like, I don't know. Just doing school stuff, I guess, or working.

And he invited me to this Christian sports camp. He's like, come be a leader. And so I did it for, like, half of summer because I still had class in the first half. And I remember at the very end, the director of the camp being like, hey, I think you should be a director next year.

This is like Stateside. This is in College Station?

This is sorry. This is Camp Penile in Marble Falls, Texas.

Okay.

It's not like the big boys. This isn't like a Camp Ozark or, what am I thinking of, you know, the big ones. Pinecrest. Pinecove. Yeah.

Pinecove. Yeah. It's not Pinecove, but it's still fairly decently sized camp. So my summers were packed with that. I ended up becoming the day camp director, which is all the little kids can, all the younger kids.

So I'm still doing a lot of what I'm working with kids, working with So I had to plan an entire summer. I did curriculum. I made it Peter Pan themed. I dress up as Peter Pan every week for

Are there videos of this, Ross?

There's photos. Oh, yes.

We need to update you through directly photos with your Peter Pan photos, please.

That's true. And so I was eating that. So I didn't so those big, long six week trips over the summer, I wasn't able to go to because I was doing this. And once again, as I like to tell people, was on this rocket ship with God where I got over this fear, or I had this idea of, if something was hard, it's because God wanted me to do it. Now, to be clear, you have to have some discernment in that.

But for me, it was when any leadership or something like going on a trip or serving in some way was presented to me. Whereas in growing up in the past, I would have been like, Well, who's going? Are any of my friends going? Not just because I want to do it with people, but also I'm scared to do it alone. I was like, I'm doing this now.

If I'm afraid to do it, because God wants me to do it and wants me to you know, embrace him and embrace this challenge of where he's taking me. And so yeah. So I ended up leading at this camp in this role that I never would have thought I would have done. I was not a camp kid growing up. So it's just a a new unique experience to me that I I ended up in it.

Even to this day, wouldn't say, yeah. A huge camp person even though I did this job. So I was like, okay. But I still wanna go on one of these trips at my church. Yeah.

But I can't do it a summer. So there was this trip to, I'll just call it East Asia. We're not allowed to actually say the name.

Closed country?

Closed country. Okay. So it was a ten day trip, and I got to go to a closed country where sharing the gospel was legal, where the only Christian well, there was an underground churches there, obviously, but there was a state sanctioned Christian churches which had video cameras in it so that they weren't, you know, preaching anything from the Bible that would go against this country's, government.

Yep.

And so I remember going there, I was at this time confused on what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Yeah. And I just remember praying before I went, like, just let me not be stressed about this for a while. Like, I just wanna be here. Just wanna enjoy, you know, spending time with other believers and sharing the gospel with college students halfway around the world.

And so I just had this distinct memory of and this is really when I decided to do ministry is I had distinct memory. I'm I wake up. I don't know, a couple of days into the trip, and I realize I'm on the other side of the world. So not only is that just so weird

Yeah, absolutely.

Because I hadn't been out of the country a lot. I had been to Mexico, but that was really it. Like, I had never really I don't think I'd ever left North America. And so doing this trip was just it expanded my horizons. I I realized So I wake up, I have this experience and I'm walking around and I'm realising just how big the world is.

Like, it's it's one thing to to know it, but it's another thing to experience it.

And I

think that. What this trip So I can remember I'm walking around and I'm like, there's so many people in this world that need Jesus. There's so many people in this world that I don't understand what they're coming from. And it changed my view on other people. It opened up this world of compassion to the people I didn't know to people who aren't believers.

It's funny. Sometimes I feel like I'm harsher on fellow believers than I am on non believers because they just don't know the truth. I'm having all these thoughts, these experiences, these feelings about, wow, this is like my heart soften in a way that I hadn't experienced with God before. And my only prayer to God going into this trip was, hey, I just want to not think about my future for a little bit. Like, I just want to focus on you, which is good.

And it's funny how that happens. So I'm literally walking over this bridge. I'm having all these thoughts. And I remember thinking to myself, why don't I do this for the rest of my life? And now for some people, that would mean, oh, you're going be a missionary.

Yeah.

Not for me, though. I never really felt the call to be a missionary. But I remembered, like, that is the exact words in my brain. Like, as I'm walking around, I'm you know, you're praying because you're on a mission trip. So you're just sort of always thinking and praying, especially when you're on on mission.

And it's just like a lightning bolt. Just like, why shouldn't I do this for the rest of my life? And so had this the leader of my trip, I talked to him a little about it because he was an intern. They were called fellows at the church I was at. And I asked them about it, and I got back, and I went to the Fellows pastor director, and I said, Hey, I think I want to do this.

What was this? This was essentially trying out ministry. So at the church, it's Saint Gould of Fellows program, which essentially is a two year internship program where you if you wanna go into ministry, it's a great head start because you're getting two years of hands on ministry experience while getting seminary training. If you don't know if you want to go into ministry, it's a great thing because it's only two years and you are working. And so you're you're well, you had to support raise.

That was that was a that was the first thing that ever happened to me, right? To support raise my own salary for two years. And that that was extremely difficult, extremely humbling. That's a story for another time of just how God provided through that. So for me, I was like, I'm going to do this.

It wasn't a conscious thought, but I was just like, I'm going to do this for the rest of my life. Yeah. I didn't know what that meant. I didn't know if I was going to go a seminary or whatever. But I came home, I told him, Hey, I'm this.

Going to And so, I kind of joke. It all came back around, but I joked to my parents that they paid for a degree that I'm not using. But now I am because I'm back in children's

ministry. Absolutely.

So, yeah, I graduated from A and M and I go to work at this church as a fellow. I'm a college fellow, so I'm doing a lot of the same stuff. I'm overseeing a bunch of things. I end up being over small groups for all college small groups for a while. And it was through this time when I think that what really solidified what I wanted to do with my life in terms of my ministry career is I got the opportunity now to lead one of these mission trips that all the way back, literally my first experience in this church, had talked about.

This one I can say. I led a team to Greece for six weeks. We went to Patras. We did not go to Athens. This is what everyone assumes, like you go to Athens, but we went to this place called Patras.

And so I and this other fellow, this other girl named Whitney, we led a six week mission trip with 10 college students. We're in charge of the flights. I'm 22, 23.

That's terrifying.

Yeah. I'm in charge of the finances, in charge of the flights, I'm in charge of hotel and food and all this stuff. But what I got to do is I got to lead this team and I got to minister to these students who were just starting out. So a lot of them were just after the end of their freshman year, sophomore, junior, a couple of seniors. And I got to minister to them at this impactful time of their life where they didn't know what they were going to do.

They were coming on this trip. The thing is, most of them didn't end up in ministry. A few of them did, which is it was really cool. Those some some of them you guys already know. If you listen to this podcast one or two back or if you've been around our church for a while, Jacob and Sofia are people that I knew from college.

Yeah. Jacob specifically was on my team when I went to Greece. And this is one of those funny God things where I didn't know I don't remember this conversation, but I remember Jacob telling me that he was in a very similar situation to me where he didn't know what he was going to do. He had this kind of feeling about going towards missions or, I don't know, he's engaged to Sofia. She's working.

He doesn't like He's like, I don't know. Is this the direction our family should go? So he's having all these questions. He's like, You're getting married. You're about to graduate.

There's a lot happening one time. And you're maybe changing. She was an engineering major. She was like, Now maybe can I just go forget all of this? To this day, don't know what I said.

You'd have to ask him. But he essentially said this conversation I had with him solidified this desire and gave him this. It cleared it up for him and going and pursuing this mission. Yeah. Being a missionary for us is like, and I can't claim any credit for that because I was there.

But once again, I don't even remember it. So that was all God. But it was just such a cool thing to learn about. I didn't I didn't even know this until, like, five years later. And so it so just being a part of that, being a part of these kids' lives was something that I realized.

I was like, oh, I want to be I just don't like I I want to be this is what I want to do. I want a disciple. I want to be the person that people can talk to to help them work through things in their lives. And so that was when I was like, Okay, this is for sure what I'm doing. I'm going to go to seminary.

So I went to so I got home from this trip. I went to I finished the fellows program. And then I got a full time position at this church working in college and youth housing administrators slash I was still over college small groups.

Yeah.

And I went to Dallas Theological Seminary. So for those listening, that is the same as Justin and Craig. They also we all went to the same seminary. Just maybe we overlapped at some point, but not really. Never ran into each other.

No. And so I did that. I graduated in the '21. And so during this time, I met my wife, Michelle. She was also a fellow at Grace.

We knew each other in college. But like I said earlier, you get to understand, like across all campuses, across Maine and college services, there was like 5,000 college students. I knew who she was, but we had mutual friends essentially. And then we worked for the same place. We met.

She also ended up on full time staff as the graphic designer. And got so we started working together, and we ended up getting married in COVID in 2020. And so we worked at the church for a while until the plan was to work until I finished seminary. And then I was gonna look for a more pastoral job because the one I was in was very administrative heavy. Mhmm.

And so I was looking around, and once again, this is this is just a God thing. Two things really, I think, sealed how I ended up here at Stone Oak, which is, first, I'm from Boerne, and so I was not looking in the San Antonio area, New Braunfels or Boerne or anything like that. I I didn't want to come back home. Applying everywhere. I was like, If I don't get out of the city, if I don't get out of Texas, then I'm never going get out.

So I was applying places in Seattle and Portland. I love the Pacific Northwest, but I was I was trying to get out and I was I was tired of 100 degree weather. Then every once in a while, it would flood so dramatically.

Yeah.

Everything would be destroyed. So I was avoiding it. This was just Africa. And it was still kind of COVID. It hadn't even been a year since COVID had hit.

So unfortunately, during that time, as a lot of you guys know, churches took a big hit financially specifically and also just people coming. And so there was not a ton of churches hiring at this time. And so I remember I was looking for jobs, and this one from this church in San Antonio I just said had all of Texas on, but there would have been a few that had popped up in San Antonio, but I hadn't This applied to one popped up and said, Hey, we have two part time jobs, children's and youth ministry, but if a candidate wants to do both, we can make it a full time position. And so I applied because I was like, oh, yeah, I've got this, education background specifically for children's ministry. Even when I got on staff, when my children's ministry had a crunch, you know, specifically like holiday weekends and stuff, I would help out in serving kids' ministry.

And so I remember I this is a little plug for Justin and Craig. They got back to me. We set up this Zoom call. Justin was at a Starbucks, I think. I don't remember where Craig was, but Justin was at a Starbucks.

I remember he was sitting outside. I remember I had this interview, and it was the best interview I'd had. And not necessarily because, like, I was killing it, but I just remember feeling it was the most comfortable interview I'd had. Mhmm. I felt the pastors can be intense.

And this was the least judged, I think, I felt in an interview for being young. And I just remember being I remember doing the interview and I got off of it and I Michelle and I worked in the same place. I just walked over to her office and I was like, I think we're going to go to San Antonio. And it was the only job I applied to in this area. Didn't like it.

School you applied for, only church that you went to, only job you applied for. Yeah. I've noticed a trend here, Ross.

Yes. It's, God has directed my path. It sometimes takes longer than I want Yeah. But he's generally directed it. And so then what really sealed my my coming here was so I show up that first Sunday, and, you know, we're we're at the shrine.

Yes.

And that's a little intimidating because it's dark.

In many ways.

You're walking into

Lovely lighting.

Yeah, but you're walking into a cave, it feels And I remember after service, a couple of things happened. One, they were like, You need to meet all of our Aggie elders. At the time, most of our elder board were all Aggies. And so they were like, You have to do it. You have to meet them.

And then, Craig or Justin told me later, they were like, Yeah, we interviewed a few people, but once they found out that you went to A and M and you were to DTS, they were like, You have to get them in here. And so that was nice to hear. But lo and behold, I am leaving and I see this guy that looks exactly like my friend who's now a missionary, Jacob Jacob and Sofia. And I was like, Oh my gosh, but he's taller. And so really threw me off.

I was like, They look so similar. And I realised, Oh, he is brothers. And so that's Justin, one of our elders right now. I saw him, and I to him, and I was like, Are you related? And he was like, Oh, yeah.

And so you're Ross. Like, Yeah. Jacob's told me about you and all this stuff.

Their family genes, by the way, are very strong. Very strong. A number of brothers, and they all have the same characteristics.

You know they're related. And that really sealed it because I was like, I know Jacob, and I know of his family. I'm like, If Justin's here, he's a really solid guy. I think this would be a good church for me. And so we moved here.

Started in June '21. So yeah, so this June it'll be five years, which is crazy. And it's just interesting how I got to this point of doing a job, specifically in ministry, that I never thought I would do. It's funny because God is still challenging me. Before I got here, I had been in ministry for, like, vocational ministry, like, being paid for four years Yeah.

Or five years. And though I had been offered to give sermons multiple times, I always said no because I was still nervous. Even though I was on this rocket ship with God and I was doing everything hard, didn't mean I was 100% always on board with God in this. And then I got here, and God has still challenged me. So now I've preached for the first time a couple of years ago here, and now I've done it several times since then.

I think it's just such a testament to our lives and what God will do in it that even though I'm trained, I have a seminary degree, I've been in ministry for ten years now. I'm 32. I started full time vocational ministry at 22, so I've been in ministry for ten years. This is my ten year market, which is crazy to think about. There are still things, though I'm, quote unquote, like a professional Christian, where God is still challenging me.

Absolutely.

And it's what I want to pass on to the next generation in my job, whether I'm in children's youth ministry forever or I transition to other types of ministry. It's this challenge of God is the most important thing in my life, no matter what I do. I could be working at USAA like my dad, and there is still opportunity for me to be living my life for Christ. Now in youth and children's ministry, What this entire journey has really shown me is that you guys have probably heard me say this before or in emails or something, but the goal of my ministries are to connect kids children's ministry is to connect kids to Christ and to the local church. And then for youth, it's very similar to connect students to Christ and to the local church.

And it sounds simple, but it's what helped me so much. Think us as the church, we do a really good job of teaching the Bible, of showing them what Christ was about, but then it's connecting to the local church part that I think through my journey that helped me grow, that God used to grow my faith so much, I wouldn't be where I am today without the local church, without people in the local church inviting me to the church, without inviting me into leadership, inviting me on trips, mission trips. And I want that experience for our kids. What that looks like for us is we're going to a challenge conference this summer for our youth ministry. And not only is it a good time for the kids to experience God and faith and worship in different ways themselves, but it also connects them to other people their age from across The United States.

Absolutely. Showing them that they're not alone, that when they go to college, they're gonna meet other people when they or go into the workforce. Are other people like them. There are local churches throughout the entire world, throughout The United States, that care about the mission of Christ, and showing them that these opportunities are out there. Why for kids ministry, it's taken a while, but we're entering this season of wanting to do a VBS because a VBS is a thing not only for our own people and our own kids, but it's also an incredible evangelism tool of you invite people who don't go to church or aren't religious at all to come and experience this time of fun and what it means to be a part of the church.

That's why on Sunday mornings, I get asked often why we don't have a youth on Sunday mornings.

Youth service.

Youth service, like some churches do. Or why we have a fifth Sunday for children's ministry. I don't know when this is coming out, but the week before Easter, we had a family service where we only offer pre K and the older kids sit in service. It's because we do both of those things, having youth sit in service and having this fifth Sunday because children and youth students are not the church of tomorrow. They're the church of the right now.

I think that's easy for us to get lost in. It's easy for, even for me sometimes, to remember, God cares about their salvation right now, not in the future, not what they're going to do, but where they are at right now. And so because of that, we want them to know that the church is for them too. Justin, as preaching up front, has been a really great advocate for this and how on Fist Sundays he'll call it out and he'll make the sermons a little bit shorter.

He tries at least.

Yeah, to it shorter. Tries to add in some stuff that really connects with kids. And it's why we have our youth students there so they feel a part of our larger body because they are. That's the thing. It's not the appearance of being a part of our larger body, but they are a part of the church of Stone Oak Bible Church.

So that's why we do a lot we do. It's because it's what I experienced, this idea of like, Hey, we're doing stuff together. If we do mission trips some days, that's why we want to do family mission trips. That's why we want parents and kids to serve together. That's why being in a small group is so important.

It's not just because you get held accountable and people know all about your lives. And I'm not saying this because everyone who does this is going end up in ministry, it was a small group that not only led me into ministry but grew my faith in a way that if I had been on my own, I wouldn't have done because I needed people. I'm a very independent person. I don't need a ton of friends. I'm not out all the time.

I like being at home. But I still needed people to So help me on my I just think through how God has led me to this place, it's what I want other people to experience, is that side of God that helps people to not only know who he is, but how we can be a part of what he is doing in not only our local church, but the big C church across The United States.

Yeah. Absolutely. Well, Ross, thank you so much for being with us. Thank you for just sharing your story

Of course.

Of of how God has uniquely designed and equipped you for what you currently get to do. I know that there were many times where it was questionable of what in the world is he doing and why am I doing these things. But, thanks for being a part of Stone Oak Bible. Yeah. Thanks for investing in kids and in youth.

Church, thanks for listening. We will see you next time we gather. Have a great day.