Writer/Senior Pastor
Hickory Hills Community Church
http://www.robertstofel.com/
By: Kelvin Oliver
T4JYM: How long have you been a Christian?
RS: I’ve been a Christian for twenty-two years.
T4JYM: When and how did you accept Christ into your heart?
RS: I’d been to church three times in my life before the age of eighteen. I never knew Christ wanted to have a personal relationship with me. I was heavy into drugs and lost. Then I started dating a girl, who was a Christian. She invited me to church, and I said yes just to make her happy. I didn’t want her dumping me. I was in love with this girl, so I went. And it was at her church that I heard the love of Christ for the first time, and during an altar call I went down front and accepted Christ into my life. And I stood there and cried.
Here I was, this tough guy, crying in church, crying in front of my new girlfriend and her family. And I couldn’t stop crying. It was as if something was cleansing me on the inside, as tears dripped into the carpet at the front of that church. So from that moment until now, I have been drug-free. And I married the girl I was dating at the time. We’ve been married for twenty-one years.
T4JYM: If you could meet any one person, past, present or future, who would you meet? Why would you choose that person? What would you ask them?
RS: I’d like to meet Bono, of U2. I love his voice and music. We even have a Boxer canine named “Bono.” And beyond his music, I like the way he is trying to help Africa deal with their AIDS epidemic. I’d ask him why he cares so much about Africa and the meaning behind some of U2’s music.
T4JYM: If you could ask Jesus any one question, what would you ask and why?
RS: I’d ask Him why he cares so much about losers like me.
T4JYM: Do you ever feel fear when you approach someone with the Gospel?
RS: Sure, I think everyone is afraid of rejection, because our faith is so closely intertwined with our personhood. So much so, that when others reject the Gospel message we present to them, we feel as though they are rejecting us personally, and this is good and bad. It’s good because it means we’ve connected with the Gospel at a heart level and at a psychological level. It’s bad because we have a human fear of rejection that immobilizes us. So we teeter back-and-forth between courage and being a coward.
T4JYM: Are you involved in your own home church? What role do you have there?
RS: I’m the senior pastor at Hickory Hills Community Church in Decatur, Alabama.
T4JYM: Are you involved in any other ministries?
RS: I counseled crack addicts in the inner-city of Nashville, Tennessee for three years. This was very rewarding and challenging. And I still work with this organization at various times.
T4JYM: What is the most inspirational piece of scripture that you have found that applies to your life?
RS: The first verse I ever read in the Bible is in 1 John 2:1-2. After asking someone where to start reading the Bible, I was directed to the Book of John. So that night I opened this children’s Bible that was given to me as a child. (I kept it around, because I at least thought it would be a curse to throw it away.) And when I looked for the Book of John, I discovered that there was more than one book associated with the name John. I found 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, then just plain John. So I was thoroughly confused, so I-at random-chose this verse, and it was exactly what a eighteen-year-old drug addict that felt like he’d blown his life needed to hear.
“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense-Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 2:1-2
T4JYM: What is the most fascinating piece of Scripture you have studied?
RS: I think the most fascinating one for me is Judges 5:20 – “From the heavens the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera.”
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