r e e d d d h a h r t s - k t - t e , o d s , - - g e h e k n t g How it all started However, Bob Barnes paints a very different picture of his youth, saying Rosemary’s family “initially had a hard time with me because I was a brand-new Christian and a mess.” Although Bob’s mother was a believer, she died when he was a young boy, so he says he was raised in a wealthy home. “Money was everything to my dad,” said Bob, adding, “He was furious with me going into the ministry.” Bob’s life took a different turn when he met a beautiful girl named Rosemary at Maryville College outside of Knoxville, TN. “I had never been in the door of a church, and Rosemary wouldn’t go out with me. She just kept saying there’s no future for us.” When his fraternity brothers told him Rosemary went to their church, Bob decided to go too, but Rosemary wasn’t convinced. It wasn’t until Madalyn Murray O'Hair, founder of the atheist movement, spoke at their school that Bob recognized the condition of his heart. “I went to Rosemary, and she led me to Christ, but I had so much baggage to get rid of,” said Bob. Beginning work in the public sector, Bob Barnes joined Sheridan House as executive director in 1974. The ministry was founded in Hollywood as a small boy’s home just six years earlier by Pastor Bill Billingsley, lead pastor of Sheridan Hills Baptist Church, and had wrestled with turnover in leadership almost annually until that point, receiving more than half of its funding from government sources. When Bob came on board, he left Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and began attending Sheridan Hills Baptist Church. They also made the decision to drop all government funding, saying “Either God gets all the glory, or we don’t do it!” Initially Bob admits, “It was a nightmare financially, and honestly God took years to change me.” Since then, Sheridan House has grown tremendously by God’s grace and moved to a 58-acre campus they call “The Miracle on Flamingo Road.” The ministry supports families through Residential Boys’ Homes serving 24 middle and high school boys, a Single Mom Ministry to more than 250 families, including transitional housing for 20 moms, a busy Christian Counseling Center, providing more than 4,200 sessions a year and Family Resources such as the Parenting on Purpose Podcast with more than 10,000 listeners annually. Ministry milestones There were a few ministry milestones along the way that grabbed Bob’s attention. In 1979, Rosemary was pregnant with their daughter Torrey, and Bob had been working 7 days a week, 12 hours a day at Sheridan House. After a medical emergency related to the pregnancy resulted in doctors fighting to save the lives of both Rosemary and their baby, Bob paced outside, praying and waiting for news. After learning they would pull through, a young nurse’s remark got Bob’s attention. “What is God trying to tell you?” she asked. Bob made his marriage and family the priority from that day forward. In 1984, Bob was invited to speak for the first time from a pulpit at Flamingo Road Baptist Church (now Potential Church). He was so nervous that he threw up in the parking lot that first Sunday. However, as homes were springing up in the area, the church grew from 200 to 1,200 congregants during his time as interim pastor. “It was all God,” Bob says. “I’ve listened to those sermons and they’re horrible!” After one of Bob’s speaking engagements, he was approached by an editor at Tyndale House Publishers to write a book about the subject. Single Parenting: A Wilderness Journey was published in 1984 and earned $500 in the first few months as the checks were being written to Bob Barnes. However, after being encouraged by the publisher to direct the book proceeds to Sheridan House, the book was discovered and promoted by family advocates such as Gary Smalley and James Dobson, from Focus on the Family, earning $100,000 for Sheridan House the next year. To date, the Barnes have authored 11 books on marriage and family, raising almost than $1.3 million for Sheridan House. “God was pulling me away from money,” recounts Bob. The counseling center grew as Bob was finishing his doctorate at Florida Atlantic University. As part of his studies, Bob had to conduct counseling sessions for critique by a professor. He obtained permission to record counseling sessions at Sheridan House for review instead. As more and more people called for counseling, this grew into a Counseling Center with more than 11 licensed clinical therapists in 1988. Then Rosemary recounts how the Single Moms Ministry began shortly after they started to receive groceries donated by Publix for the Boys’ Homes. When one mother asked if they had any groceries, Bob offered to carry them to her car only to discover she didn’t have one. “Do you ever get cars donated?” she asked. Bob said, “No,” and flippantly suggested she pray for one. The first car was donated to Sheridan House that afternoon, and Rosemary said to Bob, “You know you have a Single Moms Ministry now, right?!” A trip to Miami to record a 30-second radio commercial for the Sheridan House Golf Tournament ultimately resulted in the development of “Family Time,” a one-hour radio talk show on WMCU, a popular Christian station at the time. Though he initially fumbled over recording the commercial, the morning host discovered Bob had a radio voice and invited him to do a weekly show. “The year Rosemary agreed to come on the show with me to talk about marriage, we were one of the top radio shows in South Florida,” he said. Bob and his daughter Torrey launched a weekly “Parenting on Purpose” radio broadcast on REACH FM in 2010, reaching up to 40,000 listeners per week and directing listeners to the ParentingOnPurpose.org website, visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors per year. The program continues as a weekly podcast today. All in the family Torrey and her husband, Adam Roberts both worked at Sheridan House serving as house parents in the residential homes for several years before they had two boys of their own. They met at Asbury College in Kentucky where Torrey graduated with degrees in psychology and English. Torrey interned at Sheridan House’s residential homes right out of college and “fell in love with working with teenagers.” Although their family moved to Myrtle Beach, SC, in 2021, Torrey continues to record the podcasts with her father via Zoom. Adam, who has a photography and video company, edits recordings of Rosemary’s Women’s Bible Studies to post online so women around the country can follow along. They are also active members of Ocean View Church, led by Pastor Terry Scalzitti, formerly an associate pastor at First Baptist Fort Lauderdale, where Torrey serves on staff as engagement director. Growing up in a ministry spotlight, Torrey said she “never really felt the weight of it.” Although Bob often used his children as illustrations in parenting lessons, calling Torrey his “barbarian” or strong-willed child, Torrey said, “I actually find it funny because I was definitely the strong-willed child, Robey was the pleaser, and now I have two strong-willed boys of my own and no pleaser!” Reflecting on her parent’s legacy, Torrey recalls how Bob’s impact also extended into many of the public middle schools and PTAs in the 1980s and 90s as he was called to speak on parenting at the schools the residential program served, including Attucks Middle School, Pines Middle School, Pioneer Middle School, Walter C Young Middle School, Indian Ridge Middle School and more. “They are the real deal,” said Torrey of her parents. “Their love for each other and for Jesus is a thing to behold, and I don’t think you realize that until you’re an adult.” Two family traditions Torrey has carried forward with her own children has been reading a little family devotion at the breakfast table with the boys each morning and intentionally spending oneon-one time with each child. When asked what he felt contributed to their family’s legacy, Bob said, “It’s relationship.” He recalled the many conversations they had while making the 45-minute drive to Westminster each day and evenings sitting at the foot of their bed to ask questions and just listen. However, Rosemary emphasized, “We weren’t planning a legacy. We just wanted them to grow in their walk with the Lord day by day and poured into that. Now I see that in my grandchildren’s lives. They love Jesus, all five of them, and I just get emotional thinking it. Day by day we want to see their hearts getting closer to Jesus and then let God do what he’s going to do.” Reaping the rewards In 2016 Rick Weber succeeded Bob Barnes as president of Sheridan House; however, Bob continues to conduct men’s Bible studies and serve within the spiritual community on a limited basis. Bob and Rosemary now attend City Rev Church, where Bob says Robey is “not my pastor because he’s my son. He’s my pastor because he gets it. He’s so deep that I sit at church on Sundays and people are laughing at me because I’m taking all these notes, and I’m getting emotional, and I’m just like – that’s my son!” The first group of boys Bob worked with are all turning over 60 now, and Bob finds it rewarding to see those who benefitted from the ministry give back or serve the community. Some of the boys from the residential program became police officers. And several single moms have turned their lives around and come back to help out. Maria Lopez, whose son entered the residential program in 2014, benefited from the many resources for single moms. Today she is on staff at Sheridan House as an intern at the Counseling Center pouring the love she received back into the lives of youth and parents while her 21-year-old son attends college. One single mom they helped 30 years ago recently toured the campus and was so moved by Sheridan’s plans to build more transitional housing for single moms, that she and her husband pledged to fund two duplexes. Jimmy Purchase, a pastor who oversees small groups at Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale, went through the residential boys’ program in 2001 when he was in middle school and now describes Bob as “a mentor, a coach and a friend.” Since being called to ministry, Pastor Jimmy said Sheridan House has been a part of his story. When Jimmy helped Pastor Jon Elswick plant Crossway Church, Bob gave them office space at Sheridan House. He’s also called on Bob for advice during moments of transition. “I’ve been the recipient of his generosity, of his ministry as a teenager then also as a pastor. Being on both sides of that has been instrumental for me.” Rosemary said it has also been encouraging to see the Christian community roll up their sleeves and give so much of themselves to the ministry at Sheridan House. Dr. O.S. Hawkins, chancellor of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and former lead pastor of First Baptist Fort Lauderdale in the 1980s, said, “God has blessed Bob because like King David he led with the integrity of his heart and the skillfullness of his hand (Psalm 78:72). I think those two things really characterize Bob: integrity and excellence. He’s been about both, and that’s why he’s finished so strong.” n Dr. Bob and Rosemary Barnes celebrate 50 years of ministry 50 Years of Grace and Growth:
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