ROBERT FURROW
Senior Pastor

Robert was born in the mid-western town of Clinton, Iowa in 1960. When he was five, his family moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they regularly attended a United Methodist Church. Robert’s father passed away from ALS (Lou Gherig’s disease) in 1974, and it was shortly after that difficult time that a major change occurred in Robert’s life. A youth pastor at the church he attended asked Robert if he was going to heaven. A question to which he confidently responded, “Yes.” The gentleman then asked, “Why?” Robert responded by saying that he believed in God, therefore, he must be going to heaven. “Well, Satan believes in God. Is he going to heaven?” was the youth leader's reply. This statement was the catalyst that changed Robert’s relationship with the Lord, for he realized from this truth that it took more than just believing God existed to get heaven. It was then that Robert made a decision to follow Christ by fully trusting Him as his Lord and Savior.

As Robert’s faith grew, so did his desire for the Word of God. He discovered a Bible tape library and, wanting to study through the entire Bible, began to do so by listening to the expository teaching tapes of Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. The impact Pastor Chuck had on Robert's life was tremendous as his knowledge of the Bible increased under Chuck's simple, but profound teaching style.

In 1980, Robert met Lisa, who would become his bride in May, 1982. The two were praying and seeking a solid Bible teaching church when one day they noticed an A-frame sign that said Calvary Chapel pointing to a movie theater. They attended the next Sunday and immediately felt at home. Robert began teaching the youth as their first child, Jessica, arrived in 1984. In the fall of 1985, Pastor Skip Heitzig asked Robert to pray about moving to Tucson to begin a Bible Study because he was getting many requests for a Calvary in response to his teaching program being broadcast there on the local Christian station.

After two weeks of prayer, Robert and Lisa felt confident the Lord was leading them to Tucson. Robert began to fly back and forth from Albuquerque to Tucson to do a Bible study in October of 1985. Seeing the Lord’s blessing on the fellowship, they made a decision to make a permanent move to Tucson, and did so in January of 1986. Since then, the Lord has blessed Robert and Lisa with two more children, David and Christopher, and the church has continued to grow in number as well as in spirit.

Calvary Tucson currently has two campuses with a midweek service at both campuses as well as a Saturday evening and four Sunday morning services between both campuses. Robert counts it a tremendous blessing and humbling privilege to serve the Lord in this capacity alongside a wonderful, godly staff, and an awesome congregation.