By Jonathon Dawson
It was early 2016. I had just purchased my first motorcycle, a Harley-Davidson. At a gathering of Atlanta-area ministers, I sat down at a table for lunch beside two men who would become my friends and co-laborers in ministry. One was a young man named Danny Harrell, who leads the Madison Campus of Lakepoint Community Church, the other was Rob Raynor, Lakepoint’s founding and senior pastor.
Rob was wearing a Harley-Davidson ring, so we struck up a conversation about motorcycles. I had heard of Rob through mutual ministry friends, but I had never met him. I immediately liked him, but then, Rob is easy to like. We started a friendship that day that has become so much more. Rob is now a mentor. And even though he wouldn’t say it, Rob is a bit of an iconic figure in Christian ministry in Georgia.
Rob Raynor is retiring this summer after nearly 50 years in ministry. His start in ministry was unlikely, and his time in ministry has been innovative.
AN UNLIKELY PATH
As a teenager, Rob wasn’t a kid you would have looked at and said, “That young man will lead people to Jesus.” He was into music and in a band. As he tells it, he was “on the streets of Atlanta” . . . in the music scene with all that entailed. His mother prayed that he would come to Jesus, but Rob wanted to go his own way. He didn’t envision a life of faith for himself, much less a life of ministry.
Jim Irby was the youth pastor at Mt. Carmel Christian Church during that time.
“Rob worked at a gas station,” Irby recalled. “I would talk to him every time I went [there] and invite him to come to Mt. Carmel.” Eventually Rob relented; he went to Mt. Carmel and got involved in the work of the youth group and started inviting others to join him.
If you’ve seen the movie Jesus Revolution, you can picture some in the younger generation who came to Jesus in the 1960s and ’70s. Rob lived and embodied that. People say Rob’s hair was a little long and he looked a little bit like a hippie coming to church, but it changed his life. He probably couldn’t have imagined the plans God had for him—that God would use him to impact the lives of thousands of people in Georgia and beyond.
CHRISTIAN COLLEGE, MARRIAGE, AND YOUTH MINISTRY
Rob ended up attending Atlanta Christian College (which is a great story in itself) and while there he met JoAnn, a young lady who would become his wife.
“I was shocked to find out that a sharp, godly girl like JoAnn was marrying Rob,” said Irby. He couldn’t imagine the life God had in store for Rob and JoAnn Raynor.
While Rob was at Atlanta Christian College (now called Point University), he started serving in youth ministry. That was in 1975.
After graduating from college in 1979, Rob served in youth ministry in Virginia and Georgia until 1986, combining his love of Jesus and his love of young people, and just pouring into the lives of teenagers. His style was laid-back, relational, and successful.
FIRST SENIOR MINISTRY
His first senior ministry, in 1986, was with Covington (Ga.) Christian Church (now called Salt and Light Christian Church). On his first Sunday there, a young couple was visiting—Kerry and Vicki Livgren. Kerry Livgren was a founding member of the rock band Kansas. (He wrote the hit songs “Dust in the Wind” and “Carry On Wayward Son.”)
Livgren said a first (and lasting) impression of Rob is this, “He’s real. There is nothing fake about him.”
Rob wanted Covington Christian Church to move to a more contemporary worship service that included keyboard, guitar, drums, etc., because he thought it would attract more people, but “they didn’t want to transition from piano and organ.” Rob said, “I told them we have Kerry Livgren here! He can help us!” But they weren’t willing to make the change at that time.
After three years of trying to convince CCC to switch to contemporary praise and worship (without success), Rob asked the elders for their blessing to start a new church. He said he didn’t want to do it without their blessing. The elders agreed.
MODERN WORSHIP TRAILBLAZER
So, in 1989, Rob and JoAnn Raynor, Kerry and Vicki Livgren, and a few other families started Grace Fellowship, which became Eastridge Community Church when it later relocated to Covington’s east side.
At Grace Fellowship, Rob looked for other churches doing a more modern worship style and couldn’t find any. They had to get songs from Calvary Chapel in California (Chuck Smith’s church, as depicted in the movie Jesus Revolution) or they would take rock songs and change the lyrics to convey a Christian message.
In doing this, Grace Fellowship was on the cutting edge of a more modern approach to worship music in the church. At Grace Fellowship/Eastridge Community, Rob said he tried to minister to adults the way he ministered to the youth—with good teaching and good music. His trailblazing worked, too. Eastridge became a megachurch.
Later, in 2008, Rob started Lakepoint in Eatonton, Ga. (at Lake Oconee). Starting Lakepoint from scratch wasn’t easy, but Rob leaned on his ability to build relationships and draw people into worship. Lakepoint went from averaging about 20 people in weekly worship in 2008 to nearly 1,000 combined at two campuses today.
“[Rob has] been faithful in season and out of season,” said Cam Huxford, senior pastor with Compassion Christian Church, Savannah, Ga., for more than 30 years, and a friend of Rob’s since their college days together. “He built two megachurches from scratch, which is amazing, and he has a string of young men that he’s raised up who are leading well in ministry—that is a gift!”
‘MINISTRY OF THE MOMENT’
I have learned so much from Rob over the last several years, whether it was in a casual discussion, or on a motorcycle ride, or through our work together on the staff at Lakepoint.
A key ministry lesson he has taught me is his ability to be “in the moment”—what I call “The Ministry of the Moment.” When he talks to someone, they will feel like they are the only thing that matters to him. His complete focus is always on the person he is with (and not on where he needs to be or what he needs to do next).
“[Rob] has a gift of establishing rapport with people quickly,” Huxford agreed. “He has a likability factor that is vital to ministry. It comes from a root of his love for Jesus.”
Another key thing about Rob—not really a lesson, but an actionable observation—is how he models great love for his family—his wife, JoAnn, their five kids (and the kids’ spouses), and their 14 grandchildren—all while leading an amazing life in ministry. He and JoAnn have partnered to raise up a great family.
Livgren summed it up by describing Rob as “the archetype of the family man!”
And now, this month, Rob and JoAnn are retiring from full-time ministry after touching the lives of thousands of people with the truth of Jesus. The retirement party was June 10, and Rob officially retires at the end of this month.
The kingdom of God is bigger because of Rob and JoAnn’s faithful work!
Jonathon Dawson serves as lead pastor with Lakepoint Community Church, Eatonton, Ga.
It’s been my pleasure to know and love Rob and JoAnn and their family for pretty much all of those ministry years, as Rob came to my home church in Virginia right out of college. I left shortly after for Bible College myself (Cincinnati), where I providentially met and married a girl who, as an eighth grader, had been in one of those youth groups at Mt. Carmel that Rob served as a volunteer. We have stayed in touch through the decades since, and always pick back up right where we left off, no matter how long it’s been since we were last together.
What Cam identified as Rob’s “gift” was what I think is his outstanding trait in ministry and in life. Rob gets more out of people for God than anyone else I’ve ever seen. When he came to my home church, he got people involved in serving who I never would have guessed would agree to do it, much less to do it at the levels of commitment I saw from them. And, in the process, they grew spiritually to heights I never would have predicted they could reach. I believe that Rob is to a ministry team as Magic Johnson or Nikola Jokic are to a basketball team– he makes everyone around him better. And I also think that he couldn’t have done all of this without that great Virginia girl, JoAnn, by his side. Anybody who didn’t love Rob (and there surely weren’t many) would love JoAnn and help Rob because of her! We love you, Rob and JoAnn!
Rob was my youth minister in Virginia. Being a shy kid, it was not easy for me to be comfortable around adults.
It was young men like Rob Raynor and Jerry O’Dell and their caring manner that helped young men like myself want to do the same. I have now retired from the ministry after about 36 years, and I can say Rob has been and is still a man who has been a difference maker in my life.
Rob was my Sunday school teacher during his last youth pastor job, before moving to adult ministry. I was in my mid 20’s newly married. Rob moved me to be on fire for Jesus. Forty years later, my fire is still burning hot and we look back to remember Rob all the time. Rob taught and modeled something to be emulated and we are grateful for him and Jo Ann. Congratulations and Thank you!