Interview with Bishop Robert, author of Count to One

The prayer of Jesus in John 17 was that His Church would be one, and that together we would display the glory of God to a lost and dying world. Our unity would prove our message. Sadly, we’ve badly missed the mark.

Bishop Robert lifts the veil on what the Holy Spirit has been doing across the globe, enflaming hearts of believers everywhere to fulfill Christ’s prayer. Today, God is moving His Church to the place of unity we see in John 17! Count to One lays a simple and compelling foundation every believer can stand upon, examining the issues and answering the questions everyone asks about overcoming the barriers to genuine Christian unity.

God gave Bishop Robert an interesting task one day in prayer, telling him “I am teaching you to count to one!” The lesson was to be found in a simple truth revealed in the pages of the Scriptures. The Lord’s determination to see the unity of His Body restored and His desire to see the power of His glory displayed to a lost and dying world will strike you with deliberate force as you take in the message of Count to One.

Christ desires to see His Body as one—a powerful and life-changing reflection of His own ministry on Earth, and Bishop Robert lays out the principles that every believer in Jesus can use to begin breaking down the barriers, which have held them back and building bridges of unity within the Body of Christ. Using a combination of fascinating historical insights and refreshingly simple applications of Scripture, Bishop Robert leads you down the path to real freedom to love your brothers and sisters in Christ in a new and effective way.

Read the book and meet the family you never believed you had. Welcome home!

For more information, please visit www.BishopRobert.com

What is your favorite quality about yourself?

I’ve spent the last 8 years working with a former diplomat. When I began, the Lord told me, “I’ve got you working with an ambassador to teach you how to think like an ambassador.”  I love how the Lord developed an ability to break down walls and build bridges with other people.

How long have you been writing?

"Count to One" is my first book. However, as an international business consultant working with governments and large non-profit entities, I have had to do quite a bit of writing my entire career.

Who or what influenced your writing once you began?

The thing that influences my writing is my passion for the subject and the message. I believe passionately about Christian Unity and the Body of Jesus Christ working across denominational barriers to accomplish the Great Commission.

What made you want to be a writer?

I do not consider myself to be primarily a writer. I look at the book Count To One to be a tool to get the message of Christian Unity out to as many people as possible. I consider the writing of the book part of what must happen to more fully express the vision and challenge.

How did you come up with the title of the book?

The idea for the book comes from Ephesians 4:4-5 – There is one body and one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all. Thus – Count To One.

A few years ago, the Lord arrested me as I was reading Ephesians, chapter 4.  I use the term arrested because, day after day, regardless of my planned reading program, I found myself returning to the same chapter and re-reading those same words.  Even when I would decide that I had spent enough time in Ephesians 4 and deliberately started to study a different book or began a specific topical study, the Lord’s conviction would come upon me and give me no peace until I turned back to what had, by now, become a very familiar passage.

This continued on for several months. Finally, I decided to directly ask the Lord what He was doing.  I am not one who frequently speaks of receiving a message from God. I am very careful before I declare that He has said a specific thing prophetically or directly, because I don’t want to be guilty of putting words into His mouth. But in this instance, His answer was clear, direct, and frankly, a bit unsettling. He simply said,

“I am teaching you to Count to One!”

I’ll be the first to confess that my mathematics skills are not the stuff that legends are made of. In fact, my feeble attempts to do all but the simplest math in my head are sort of a running joke in my family. Thankfully, the Lord wasn’t really talking about math. He was talking about unity. The light of understanding dawned as the words of Ephesians 4:4-6 flooded my mind ….

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, Who is over all and through all and in all.

The Lord’s determination to see the unity of His Body restored, and His desire to see the power of His glory displayed to a lost and dying world struck me with deliberate force. He desires to see His Body as one—a powerful and life-changing reflection of His own ministry on Earth.

The prayer of Jesus in John 17 was that His Church would be one, and that together we would display the glory of God to a lost and dying world. Our unity would prove our message. Sadly, we’ve badly missed the mark. 

In Count to ONE, I lift the veil on what the Holy Spirit has been doing across the globe, enflaming hearts of believers everywhere to fulfill Christ’s prayer. Today God is moving His Church to the place of unity we see in John 17! Count To One lays a simple and compelling foundation every believer can stand upon, examining the issues and answering the questions everyone asks about overcoming the barriers to genuine Christian unity. 

Christ desires to see His Body as one – a powerful and life-changing reflection of His own ministry on earth, and I lay out the principles that every believer in Jesus can use to begin breaking down the barriers that have held them back and building bridges of unity in the Body of Christ. Using a combination of fascinating historical insight and refreshingly simple applications of scripture, I lead readers down the path to real freedom to love their brothers and sisters in Christ in a new and effective way.

The Word of God is clear that we are called to work as one body, our diversity, rather than being a reason for division must be celebrated and we must recognize that it is because of our diversity we can reach the world. We also must realize that together we can do things that individually we could never accomplish. The book is a call to the Body of Jesus Christ to embrace our diversity and come together to focus on the Great Commission.

I tell the readers, “Read the book and meet the family you never believed you had.  Welcome home!”

Are there any current books that have grasped your interest?

I really enjoying Touching the Heart of God by Paul Wilbur. He and I are good friends, and I love his insights from the Messianic Jewish perspective.

I also like Just Choose! by Michael Phillips. He says, “We only have time for one passion in life. Choose yours carefully.”

What was the hardest part of writing your book?

The most challenging part is capturing the power of the events and meetings and conveying them on paper.

Give us three “Good to Know” facts about you. Be creative, you can talk about your first job, something that inspires you, anything fun that might grab the readers attention.

1.    I have spent 6 months a year in Israel for the last 8 years. I love the country and the people.

2.    I’m told that the made-from-scratch biscuits I bake are astounding.

3.    I’ve been studying the martial arts since I was 12 years old, and hold a 9^th degree black belt.

Tell us a little bit about the cover art. Who designed it? What made you choose that particular image/artwork?

I knew that I wanted a photo from an event in Washington, DC called
“TOGETHER 2016”.  This was an event that I spoke at attended by over 300,000 people and it encapsulated the focus of the book, Christians coming together across denominational lines to worship and serve.

All the book cover designs had this element.

The final decision was actually made at our local book store. My wife and I went into the store and randomly chose 6 or 7 people. We asked them to look at the bookshelf closest to them and then without hesitation point out 2 or 3 book covers that stood out to them, book covers that would cause them to pick up the book and take a look at it. Based on the results of this random survey we chose the colors and the design of the book.

Bishop Robert is a voice for unity in the Body of Christ. His heart’s cry is the prayer of Jesus in John 17, that followers of Jesus may be one, and so proclaim the message of the Gospel in the power of His glory.

God gave Bishop Robert an interesting task one day in prayer, telling him “I am teaching you to count to one!” The lesson was to be found in a simple truth revealed in the pages of the scriptures. The Lord’s determination to see the unity of His Body restored and His desire to see the power of His glory displayed to a lost and dying world will strike you with deliberate force as you take in the message of Count To One. 

Bishop Robert serves as the President & Chief Executive Officer of Count to One, a ministry which exists to promote greater unity in the Body of Christ worldwide. Christ said that our love for one another would be the way the world would know that we are His disciples. As followers of Christ forgive one another and love one another - we will be in a better position to serve Jesus and fulfill the Great Commission.