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Growing up, Robbie's family attended church from time
to time, but no one in his family had ever been in ministry. He accepted
Jesus Christ as his personal Savior & Lord when he was 12 years old as
the result of a children’s program at a church close to his home.
However, he was not interested in ministry until he met his future wife
in high school. The Lord worked through the influence of her father, a
pastor, to give Robbie a desire to share the Hope that’s found in Christ
and in His Word, the Bible.
From the time that the Lankfords began training for ministry, they had a
sense that God wanted them to do something special with their lives.
While serving as a Youth Pastor in North Carolina, God began to make
that vision a reality. The Lord began to give Robbie a burden for the
world through the influence of his seminary and the church he was
serving in at the time. He & his wife considered going to a foreign
country to share Christ and to serve Him. Not sensing that direction
from God, the Lord began to give them a heart for the Northeastern part
of the U.S. They continued to seek the Lord, and He gave them His clear
direction to the state of New York.
The Lord put upon their hearts a desire to start a church in New York
that would help people find God’s answers for their lives through the
Bible and would help people find a personal relationship with God. For
about a year, the couple continued to pray and sought the Lord’s
direction. He began to point them to upstate New York and then,
specifically, to the Queensbury/ Glens Falls, NY, area. They became
convinced that God was calling them to start a church that would bring
“New Hope” to the people in this area. The couple and their family moved
to NY in early February 2000. When they first arrived, they knew no one,
but after being in Queensbury for about 6-8 weeks, the Lord led several
couples/ individuals to them who were interested in starting a Bible
Study. Their first Bible Study began in a dentist’s office on April 16,
2000 with about 15-20 people.
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