Bob and Colleen Skinner

Welcome, Bob Skinner as our new District Superintendent.
Bob grew up in the small Ranch Community of John Day, Oregon, and still has ties to that area. He played football through college, attending Boise State University where he graduated in 1982. While at Boise State, he worked with the Youth Ministry at Valley Shepherd Church of the Nazarene in Meridian, Idaho. It was there that he met a young lady who was attending Northwest Nazarene University. They were married and attended Nazarene Theological Seminary, graduating in 1990. After they graduated NTS, they have served the past almost 30 years as Nazarene Missionaries. They are both ordained in the Church of the Nazarene.
They have three kids who have all attended Nazarene Universities and serve the church in various ways. One of which served on an NNU Travel Team and spent time at both REJOICE and Supercamp about seven years ago. Rocky Mountain District, I’d like to introduce you to Bob & Colleen Skinner currently serving as Missionaries in Poland.
The Skinners 1st assignment was serving the Church in the Philippines. The Philippines had been home for Colleen who grew up there with Nazarene missionary parents, Dr. Ron and Neva Beech, and became her home again as she returned with Bob. Their work in the Philippines had been dedicated primarily to local church development. They served there for nearly 5 years. The Skinners then moved to Kiev, Ukraine in 1995.
They arrived in the Ukraine where there was just 1 established Nazarene Church. After 17 years in this former Communist country, there were over 20 Nazarene Churches, 8 drug & alcohol rehab centers, trained local leaders, 4 children’s homes for abandoned kids & street kids, HIV/AIDS ministries, and multiple ministries to the entire gamut of society, including our own Ukraine Nazarene Medical Team.
In 2012, the Skinners transferred to Budapest, Hungary where Bob assisted in Hungary, but his primary assignment was to church development in Poland. The Skinners transferred to Poland in September 2015. Poland has 2 churches and 2 coffee houses associated with those churches in Poznan and Krakow. The vision is to find out where and how God is working in Poland and to join with Him! Bob’s vision for Poland was: “There are many unbelievers in this heavily Roman Catholic country, we desire to join with the Lord in reaching those who do not know Him and have a relationship with Him and bring them into the Kingdom and the Church of the Nazarene.” This speaks highly of their desire to reach new people for Christ, even in areas that appear to be unwelcoming to Christianity.
Godly Leader:
Bob is a Godly man that is an example of true devotion to the will of God and is dependent on His leading. When discussing how he would handle tough decisions or situations, he spoke of always seeking dialogue, advice, listening to the people, and then taking God’s direction. They have effectively taught, encouraged others to teach, and demonstrated what it means to live the Holiness Lifestyle that is a huge part of our doctrine in the Church of the Nazarene.
As a Missionary, Bob & Colleen testify to the importance of prayer in their lives and seeking God’s direction constantly as they reach the people of the Philippines, Ukraine, & Poland. When receiving the assurance of the Lord in answers to prayer, they enthusiastically work on accomplishing the direction that God has guided them towards. It is evident that the Skinners work at having everything they do with the Holy Spirit being in the middle of it. They have been great examples to many other missionaries, and it especially is revealed in their children, serving the Lord as well! One of which, we believe, will be joining Josh Allen in Missoula to help serve in the church. If we vote in Bob as our District Superintendent, he comes with a wife in Colleen, who is very supportive of the work being done. She would be by his side working as well. It is very evident that they come as a team to serve the Lord everywhere that they have been and will be in the future.
Visionary, Missional, Equipper:
In many of his missionary assignments, he has shown vision and been involved in beginning work in new areas and advancing work in existing situations. In some cases, they went into areas that were resistant to the Gospel and where the church was not established yet. He has been asked to spearhead new ministry opportunities and has been a success with long-term strategies. He can motive and excite people to begin moving with the vision that God has given him. They go to extreme lengths and tireless efforts to reach out in a myriad of ways to reach those who don’t know Christ. All the way from baking cookies for a new neighborhood at Christmas to inviting people into their home for services.
He has developed training for leaders and pastors. At the time of his “conversation,” he was just completing a 2-week work with students from NNU for a “Cross-Cultural Ministry” project. He hasn’t relied on new people coming into a community to do the work of the Lord but has worked hard at recruiting and training locals to be an important part of the ministry so it can truly be a work of God through the people they are trying to reach.
He lives a Missional lifestyle no matter where he is at. He talked about while being on a home assignment for some time, he spoke of trying to reach out to people during that time. They helped lead a city-wide event (several days long) combining forces with other churches in Poland to reach people for Christ. He talked in our “conversation” about going to where people are instead of waiting for them to come to us.
He brought up the idea of ministry on Ranches and was excited as we told them about the work that John & Clara Spencer are doing on our District.
On the mission field, He has had to be very resourceful in looking for opportunities and ways to reach new people for Christ and has been successful at doing that. He has been able to effectively create and share a vision from God for the people as they have started over 35 churches throughout their time on the Mission Field.
On the mission field, he hasn’t had access to huge funds or resources. He knows how to utilize what is available to help ministries grow and thrive as they reach to make disciples.
Communicator, Administrator, Decision Maker
If you’ve heard him speak, he makes things come to life. It’s not just a report of what has been happening. He helps you understand the life changes that are happening where he is serving. He has a way of helping you understand what he is saying no matter if he’s speaking to you one-on-one or speaking to a large crowd.
He has been a part of leadership for several years, part as a team member and part as the team leader. He can handle and direct people to what needs to be done. He feels it’s not always about the leader having the right answers or solutions, but being able to dialogue with others and involve them in the decision-making process. He feels that communication and cooperation is key to accomplishing the mission of God. Throughout our conversation with him, he brought up that communication with the individual churches across the District is key to all churches being able to complete our mission more effectively.
He has been involved in some tough situations where a course of ministry was needed to be changed. He was able to get this accomplished while working with his team. He said, “God is the one that has to move the people.” We encourage them, but, God is the ultimate moving force. He spoke of digging a little deeper than surface tensions when trying to get to the root of tough situations as He helps guide people to come to a tough decision. He feels that technology could be used more effectively in training and having conversations with Pastors and Lay Leaders of our churches. He hopes to continue to build on consistently keeping in contact with the District and continually keeping in contact with the key leaders of churches.
He is very interested and has a lot of experience in training and developing leaders and would continue to seek ways that he could help our Pastors and Leaders continue in education and training to so they can better serve their local churches. This includes finding easy ways for bi-vocational Pastors to access any materials.
His experience of living in Eastern Oregon, the Philippines, Ukraine, and Poland have him use to traveling so he wasn’t concerned about the amount of travel that it takes to see the churches of our District. He recognizes the importance of seeing people face-to-face as much as possible. However, he would also seek ways to meet with people through many of the Technology platforms that are now available as a way to continually keep the line of communication open.
Bob is a highly energetic and hard-working man. He has opened and expanded “Missions” into difficult areas and has established a lot of churches. He has worked with numerous teams that came to his mission field, which affirms to us his abilities to organize and strategize on a large scale. I truly believe that God has, and is, giving this man a vision for our district. He has a true sense of what our needs are and where we need to go. It was interesting to me that he asked us the question of “Why we’re not already fulfilling the dreams we already have as a district?” That is exactly the kind of questions we need to have asked of us. In other words, if there are lost people, if there are places for more churches, if we can see significant growth but aren’t, why? I believe this man can coach, motivate, and lead by example. I get that from his success as a high-level football player, his success at raising fine men (his boys) to follow him into ministry, and his ability to set high personal standards and achieve them.
No question this man knows he serves a “BIG” God and can persuade Church Leaders of our district to pursue “BIG” dreams that will honor our Lord.
Bob grew up in the small Ranch Community of John Day, Oregon, and still has ties to that area. He played football through college, attending Boise State University where he graduated in 1982. While at Boise State, he worked with the Youth Ministry at Valley Shepherd Church of the Nazarene in Meridian, Idaho. It was there that he met a young lady who was attending Northwest Nazarene University. They were married and attended Nazarene Theological Seminary, graduating in 1990. After they graduated NTS, they have served the past almost 30 years as Nazarene Missionaries. They are both ordained in the Church of the Nazarene.
They have three kids who have all attended Nazarene Universities and serve the church in various ways. One of which served on an NNU Travel Team and spent time at both REJOICE and Supercamp about seven years ago. Rocky Mountain District, I’d like to introduce you to Bob & Colleen Skinner currently serving as Missionaries in Poland.
The Skinners 1st assignment was serving the Church in the Philippines. The Philippines had been home for Colleen who grew up there with Nazarene missionary parents, Dr. Ron and Neva Beech, and became her home again as she returned with Bob. Their work in the Philippines had been dedicated primarily to local church development. They served there for nearly 5 years. The Skinners then moved to Kiev, Ukraine in 1995.
They arrived in the Ukraine where there was just 1 established Nazarene Church. After 17 years in this former Communist country, there were over 20 Nazarene Churches, 8 drug & alcohol rehab centers, trained local leaders, 4 children’s homes for abandoned kids & street kids, HIV/AIDS ministries, and multiple ministries to the entire gamut of society, including our own Ukraine Nazarene Medical Team.
In 2012, the Skinners transferred to Budapest, Hungary where Bob assisted in Hungary, but his primary assignment was to church development in Poland. The Skinners transferred to Poland in September 2015. Poland has 2 churches and 2 coffee houses associated with those churches in Poznan and Krakow. The vision is to find out where and how God is working in Poland and to join with Him! Bob’s vision for Poland was: “There are many unbelievers in this heavily Roman Catholic country, we desire to join with the Lord in reaching those who do not know Him and have a relationship with Him and bring them into the Kingdom and the Church of the Nazarene.” This speaks highly of their desire to reach new people for Christ, even in areas that appear to be unwelcoming to Christianity.
Godly Leader:
Bob is a Godly man that is an example of true devotion to the will of God and is dependent on His leading. When discussing how he would handle tough decisions or situations, he spoke of always seeking dialogue, advice, listening to the people, and then taking God’s direction. They have effectively taught, encouraged others to teach, and demonstrated what it means to live the Holiness Lifestyle that is a huge part of our doctrine in the Church of the Nazarene.
As a Missionary, Bob & Colleen testify to the importance of prayer in their lives and seeking God’s direction constantly as they reach the people of the Philippines, Ukraine, & Poland. When receiving the assurance of the Lord in answers to prayer, they enthusiastically work on accomplishing the direction that God has guided them towards. It is evident that the Skinners work at having everything they do with the Holy Spirit being in the middle of it. They have been great examples to many other missionaries, and it especially is revealed in their children, serving the Lord as well! One of which, we believe, will be joining Josh Allen in Missoula to help serve in the church. If we vote in Bob as our District Superintendent, he comes with a wife in Colleen, who is very supportive of the work being done. She would be by his side working as well. It is very evident that they come as a team to serve the Lord everywhere that they have been and will be in the future.
Visionary, Missional, Equipper:
In many of his missionary assignments, he has shown vision and been involved in beginning work in new areas and advancing work in existing situations. In some cases, they went into areas that were resistant to the Gospel and where the church was not established yet. He has been asked to spearhead new ministry opportunities and has been a success with long-term strategies. He can motive and excite people to begin moving with the vision that God has given him. They go to extreme lengths and tireless efforts to reach out in a myriad of ways to reach those who don’t know Christ. All the way from baking cookies for a new neighborhood at Christmas to inviting people into their home for services.
He has developed training for leaders and pastors. At the time of his “conversation,” he was just completing a 2-week work with students from NNU for a “Cross-Cultural Ministry” project. He hasn’t relied on new people coming into a community to do the work of the Lord but has worked hard at recruiting and training locals to be an important part of the ministry so it can truly be a work of God through the people they are trying to reach.
He lives a Missional lifestyle no matter where he is at. He talked about while being on a home assignment for some time, he spoke of trying to reach out to people during that time. They helped lead a city-wide event (several days long) combining forces with other churches in Poland to reach people for Christ. He talked in our “conversation” about going to where people are instead of waiting for them to come to us.
He brought up the idea of ministry on Ranches and was excited as we told them about the work that John & Clara Spencer are doing on our District.
On the mission field, He has had to be very resourceful in looking for opportunities and ways to reach new people for Christ and has been successful at doing that. He has been able to effectively create and share a vision from God for the people as they have started over 35 churches throughout their time on the Mission Field.
On the mission field, he hasn’t had access to huge funds or resources. He knows how to utilize what is available to help ministries grow and thrive as they reach to make disciples.
Communicator, Administrator, Decision Maker
If you’ve heard him speak, he makes things come to life. It’s not just a report of what has been happening. He helps you understand the life changes that are happening where he is serving. He has a way of helping you understand what he is saying no matter if he’s speaking to you one-on-one or speaking to a large crowd.
He has been a part of leadership for several years, part as a team member and part as the team leader. He can handle and direct people to what needs to be done. He feels it’s not always about the leader having the right answers or solutions, but being able to dialogue with others and involve them in the decision-making process. He feels that communication and cooperation is key to accomplishing the mission of God. Throughout our conversation with him, he brought up that communication with the individual churches across the District is key to all churches being able to complete our mission more effectively.
He has been involved in some tough situations where a course of ministry was needed to be changed. He was able to get this accomplished while working with his team. He said, “God is the one that has to move the people.” We encourage them, but, God is the ultimate moving force. He spoke of digging a little deeper than surface tensions when trying to get to the root of tough situations as He helps guide people to come to a tough decision. He feels that technology could be used more effectively in training and having conversations with Pastors and Lay Leaders of our churches. He hopes to continue to build on consistently keeping in contact with the District and continually keeping in contact with the key leaders of churches.
He is very interested and has a lot of experience in training and developing leaders and would continue to seek ways that he could help our Pastors and Leaders continue in education and training to so they can better serve their local churches. This includes finding easy ways for bi-vocational Pastors to access any materials.
His experience of living in Eastern Oregon, the Philippines, Ukraine, and Poland have him use to traveling so he wasn’t concerned about the amount of travel that it takes to see the churches of our District. He recognizes the importance of seeing people face-to-face as much as possible. However, he would also seek ways to meet with people through many of the Technology platforms that are now available as a way to continually keep the line of communication open.
Bob is a highly energetic and hard-working man. He has opened and expanded “Missions” into difficult areas and has established a lot of churches. He has worked with numerous teams that came to his mission field, which affirms to us his abilities to organize and strategize on a large scale. I truly believe that God has, and is, giving this man a vision for our district. He has a true sense of what our needs are and where we need to go. It was interesting to me that he asked us the question of “Why we’re not already fulfilling the dreams we already have as a district?” That is exactly the kind of questions we need to have asked of us. In other words, if there are lost people, if there are places for more churches, if we can see significant growth but aren’t, why? I believe this man can coach, motivate, and lead by example. I get that from his success as a high-level football player, his success at raising fine men (his boys) to follow him into ministry, and his ability to set high personal standards and achieve them.
No question this man knows he serves a “BIG” God and can persuade Church Leaders of our district to pursue “BIG” dreams that will honor our Lord.