Meet Rob Dickerson! RD For Eastern Great Lakes.

We are thrilled to announce the addition of two new Regional Directors to the ministry: Rob Dickerson and Steve Rivers. These men fill two vital roles in the ministry and are both enormous answers to prayer.

This month we’ll be introducing you to Rob, and in next month’s issue of Brigade Connection we’ll introduce you a bit more to Steve.
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Rob is the answer to a long time prayer for a new Regional Director in the Eastern Great Lakes Region. Until now Scott Haima has been filling the dual role of CSB President and Regional Director.

We are already seeing the huge benefit to Scott being freed up to lead the ministry from a strategic perspective without the additional responsibilities of a region to maintain.

Rob brings years of ministry experience, a great family, and a love for discipleship in the outdoors. We hope you will enjoy this short interview with him.

Rob  Dickerson Vitals:

• Age 49
• Shaped like a sports car
• Lead Pastor of Life Quest Church, Rochester NY
• Married 25 years
• 4 Children ages 13 to 19
• Hobbies: Parenting teen angst and hammock camping

Brigade Connection: How did you develop a love for the inter-generational discipleship?

Rob: I grew up in Royal Rangers, a ministry similar to CSB but affiliated with the Assemblies of God denomination. Our roots in Royal Rangers is deep, so there are three generations of Dickerson in what we might call faith based scouting. More importantly, though, you could say my family is the poster child for inter-generational discipleship.

Brigade Connection: How did you first encounter Brigade?

Rob: I encountered CSB 8 years ago because I was invited to Camp Hickory Hill. So I fell in love with camp before I fell in love with Brigade. As I got to know the ministry through camp I loved everything I saw there and said “sign us up!” to it all. My kids have all been involved as campers and as counselors and I helped to revamp the adventure camping program. It’s a really cool program so ask me about it sometime!

Brigade Connection: What drew you to be so engaged in the camping ministry?

Rob: What I truly loved about what I experienced was the relationships we built with the camp staff and what it did for me as a dad with my boys. I got help and do what I loved in the woods, but I got to be there helping young men in their walk with Christ, and my son was one of those boys. It was a win win win!

I kept saying to myself, “Are you kidding me?! I get to be in the woods, l get to help guys develop a love for Christ and the outdoors, and I get to do it with my son?! Oh, and I get to do it with Sam Richbart who is absolutely amazing.

Brigade Connection: The story of how you came to be on Brigade staff is really fun. Tell us about it.

Rob: I am a pastor. But our church has gone through a pretty significant transition in the past few years so I started looking for full time work. I found a job as a tech writer and pretty much had it in the bag. Though I knew I needed to meet the needs of my family, and the needs of my church, I didn’t want to just sell widgets. So I asked Sam Richart, Scott Haima and Brian Stebick to pray for me that God would make it clear where I was supposed to be.

I nailed that interview for tech writer, but they never responded to my emails or anything. And even my friend, who was a VP, didn’t understand why. But through that process Brian suggested that I consider being a Regional Director for CSB. I wasn’t convinced. Sam reached out to me separately. My response was, “Yeah yeah I know, but I have to raise support and I’m not sure that would work.” About two weeks later I put out my feelers and started talking to Scott about expectations. He sent me the calendar and as I looked at it I realized … I already do these things: Father/Daugher camp, Father/Son Camp, Iron Sharpen’s Iron conferences etc

What’s hysterical is that 30 minutes after I prayed and sent the email to Scott confirming my decision to move toward Brigade, the tech writer people called and congratulated me on getting the position. I told them, “ you’re 30 minutes too late.

Brigade Connection: How would you describe CSB in 2 or three sentences?

Rob: For me, Brigade is a natural expression of serving Christ as men. It is the way that we can pass on our faith to the next generation in helping them become the men God wants them to be. Not necessarily how we want it to look but how God is calling them to grow.

Brigade Connection: What is your vision for CSB in your region?

Rob: My Number one goal is to help strengthen the vision of the existing units, and running a close second is to reach out to see new units developed.