Robert Huff, Pastor
Robert Huff was recently named pastor of Westville Baptist Church, Mathews, after the church had gone for several years without a full-time pastor. Huff said he is a “man of the Book” and enjoys that the congregation at Westville is a group of individuals open to the teaching of the Word.
Huff said his journey to pastor at Westville has been a “long and winding” one. His past experiences have been those of being a mechanic, custom builder, author, music teacher, U.S. Air Force veteran and a host of other professions. “Someone once asked me if there was anything I hadn’t done and I told them ‘brain surgery.’ I’m trying to find a good correspondent’s course,” he joked.
Huff began preaching several years ago at a campground in Deltaville. After deciding it was time to move on from there, he spoke to the local representative of the Baptist General Association of Virginia and got connected with Westville. “The minute I heard the name, I felt there was something special there,” he said. “It seems like the right place to be.”
Huff said he first sensed the call to ministry in the early 1980s. At that time, he was choir director at a Presbyterian church and thought he would go the “usual” route of going back to school and obtaining a degree. “The Lord suggested actually reading His Book,” Huff said. “I read it and believed it fully.”
“The Lord called me to be a Minister of God and to serve Him by serving others,” he added.
From the pulpit, Huff said he tries to preach and teach the way he imagines Jesus did. “He didn’t jump up and down and rant and rave and get the blood vessels going,” he said. “He is a teacher and teaches with love … I try to imagine hearing words from a kind, caring voice and not a condescending voice.”
Huff said the Kingdom is “God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule enjoying God’s blessing.” He added, “We have to be under His rule to receive His blessing.”
Huff and his wife Terry reside in Newport News, but spend a portion of the year at a campground in Deltaville. He has three grown children and Terry has two. He enjoys spending time on his sailboat and keeps his tools handy.
~Courtesy Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal
Huff said his journey to pastor at Westville has been a “long and winding” one. His past experiences have been those of being a mechanic, custom builder, author, music teacher, U.S. Air Force veteran and a host of other professions. “Someone once asked me if there was anything I hadn’t done and I told them ‘brain surgery.’ I’m trying to find a good correspondent’s course,” he joked.
Huff began preaching several years ago at a campground in Deltaville. After deciding it was time to move on from there, he spoke to the local representative of the Baptist General Association of Virginia and got connected with Westville. “The minute I heard the name, I felt there was something special there,” he said. “It seems like the right place to be.”
Huff said he first sensed the call to ministry in the early 1980s. At that time, he was choir director at a Presbyterian church and thought he would go the “usual” route of going back to school and obtaining a degree. “The Lord suggested actually reading His Book,” Huff said. “I read it and believed it fully.”
“The Lord called me to be a Minister of God and to serve Him by serving others,” he added.
From the pulpit, Huff said he tries to preach and teach the way he imagines Jesus did. “He didn’t jump up and down and rant and rave and get the blood vessels going,” he said. “He is a teacher and teaches with love … I try to imagine hearing words from a kind, caring voice and not a condescending voice.”
Huff said the Kingdom is “God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule enjoying God’s blessing.” He added, “We have to be under His rule to receive His blessing.”
Huff and his wife Terry reside in Newport News, but spend a portion of the year at a campground in Deltaville. He has three grown children and Terry has two. He enjoys spending time on his sailboat and keeps his tools handy.
~Courtesy Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal