Reverend Richard W. and Robin Anderson began their ministry at Palm City Presbyterian Church in March, 2005. 

Prior to being ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) 31 years ago, Reverend Anderson spent six years in Germany where he sang with the German Opera.  He was the first person to graduate from Yale University with degrees in both divinity and music.  Pastor Dick, as he likes to be called, grew up in Belvidere, Illinois, west of Chicago, where both his parents were elders in the local Presbyterian Church.  After beginning his ministry on the campus of Eastern Illinois University, Pastor Dick was called to serve his home church, First Presbyterian Church of Belvidere.   Under his leadership the Belvidere Church grew by 340 members in the first three years and was recognized by the “Church News Service” as one of the fastest growing churches in Illinois.  In addition to preaching two services on Sunday mornings, he also directed the 70-voice middle school and senior high school swing choirs.

His next pastorate was as Senior Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Covina, California, a suburb of Los Angeles.  He then was called to the First Presbyterian Church of Aurora, Illinois.  Of Dick’s ministry in Aurora, Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, Rev. Anderson’s congressman and good friend said, “Pastor Dick Anderson was the spiritual leader of one of the largest congregations in my 14^th District of Illinois.  First Presbyterian has taken an active role in the life of the community, and is the home for outreach ministries for all young people, including programs for at-risk teenagers.” (God’s Gym).  One thousand young people between the ages of eight and twenty-five now are card-carrying members of this dynamic program.  Church growth expert and prolific writer, Dr. Lyle Schaller, called the Aurora ministry “one of the most remarkable center city churches in America led by an A-Plus senior pastor”.          

Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.’s  definition of a leader, “a person who is able to move, inspire and mobilize masses of individuals so that they will work together for a common purpose”, in this case, the furthering of the Word of Jesus Christ, certainly describes Reverend Anderson.

At the Aurora church, Pastor Dick oversaw a staff of 30, preached two traditional and one contemporary service each Sunday, and coordinated a family camp for 600 participants at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.  Over a period of six years, he preached to almost 2000 people in one service at Christmas and Easter at Aurora’s Paramount Arts Center.

Pastor Dick and Robin, who is from Long Island, have five children, two of whom attend college in Illinois.  Robin shares her husband’s views of ministry and participates fully in the life of our church.  Together they make a strong ministerial team as they lead PCPC into the future.

An avid golfer, Pastor Dick also loves to read historical biographies and enjoys doing costumed monologues of Biblical characters, as well as Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain and Will Rogers; the latter have been used as outreach tools to attract new people to his churches.  He also collects American’s funniest jokes and stories.  Dick has been a soloist at New York’s Carnegie Hall, performing in Russian, and has sung “The Gettysburg Address” on the NBC Today show.  He has written three musicals, including a Holy Week presentation titled, “The Living Last Supper,”  that has attracted literally thousands of visitors, and was performed most recently at PCPC last Spring.

Pastor Dick would very much like to get to know you better in the weeks ahead and would covet the opportunity to have you consider becoming an active participant in the life of Palm City Presbyterian Church.