After a season of transition and prayerful discernment, Connections Church is thrilled to welcome our new senior pastor, Pastor Rob Byker.
Pastor Rob brings over two decades of ministry experience, having faithfully served at Rehoboth Christian Reformed Church in New Mexico for 21 years. Most recently, he has been serving individuals with intellectual and developmental challenges in the Denver area, reflecting his heart for compassionate, Christ-centered leadership.
Rob is joined by his wife, Kendis, and while they already call this region home, they are excited to step into this new role within the Connections Church family and to serve the Highlands Ranch community in a new way.
We invite you to read the letter below to hear directly from Pastor Rob as he shares his heart, his journey and his vision for this next chapter at Connections Church.
Hello, My Name Is…Pastor Rob
Greetings friends of Connections! I want to introduce myself to you as the new pastor of Connections CRC. Since I was a young boy, I felt called to become a pastor … to spend my life sharing Jesus’ love and salvation with others. That calling solidified when my dad was charged to plant a home mission church in San Antonio, Texas. During those years, I experienced firsthand the joys of reaching our neighbors with the good news of Jesus. I saw Jesus forgive guilty hearts, provide meaning to empty hearts and love to lonely hearts. He also provided direction to those confused about living true in a difficult world. I wanted into His kingdom service.
I began my pastoral journey at Second CRC in Grand Haven, Michigan in 1998, and served as their Associate Pastor of Outreach for several years. In 2001, I accepted the call to be pastor of Rehoboth Christian Reformed Church in Rehoboth, New Mexico. For the next 21 years, my late wife, Lisa, and our four children (James, Josh, Jacob and Nadia), and I thoroughly enjoyed working in that cross-cultural context among the Navajo people. In Rehoboth, I learned what Christ means by the command to love one another. I had often pictured that as primarily giving love, but my family and I also received an incredible amount of love and support from Rehoboth Church, particularly over the course of Lisa’s six-year terminal battle with brain cancer.
God graciously reunited me with a dear family friend in Kendis, who had also lost her first spouse to a brain tumor. I joined Kendis in Englewood, CO in July 2022 to become her husband, and for the past several years have been serving the intellectually and developmentally disabled community as a direct support professional … all the while providing pulpit supply to CRC churches, praying that the Lord would lead me to a church I could serve.
From the moment I set foot in Connections Church, I felt at home. The people are kind, and their hearts are dedicated to sharing the love and hope of Jesus with all they meet. And now that they have called me as their pastor, I am so grateful to join them in their mission…in our mission to cultivate “a welcoming community where you can belong, connect with God, grow in faith following Jesus and reflect God’s love in the world through His Spirit.”
I am so excited to join the Connections Church family and mission and personally invite you to join us for worship soon! Sunday service starts at 9:30am, and we meet at 2121 Dad Clark Drive in Highlands Ranch. It would be wonderful to be introduced to you! And may God bless you this summer!
In His Grip,
Rob