Calvary Chapel Palm Harbor

E-MAIL: Brett Robinson
Pastor Brett Robinson was raised in a Christian home. In fact, his father was a pastor for 40 years. Since Brett was always involved in church while growing up, by the time he reached high school, people began to ask him when he was going to be a pastor like his dad.  “With an attitude of pride, I kind of hedged away from it,” stated Brett. “My heart was basically to find comfort and stability in life and to pursue the American dream.” In an effort to do just that, Brett went to college without considering the ministry.

During his college years, Brett was very involved with church, went on mission trips and even led mission trips. He recalls going to a mission conference at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Brett’s reason for going to this conference was to see if God wanted him in missions. At the end of the conference the attendees were asked, “If you would go anywhere and do anything for the Lord, stand up and make that commitment.” That’s exactly what Brett did; he stood up and made that commitment. “But I quickly forgot and went on with college,” recalled Brett.

He then met Holly on a mission trip and they married 3 ½ years later. Holly had been attending Calvary Chapel St. Pete since 1981. Brett began to go to Calvary with Holly and decided to make it his fellowship when he saw how important the fellowship was to her. Once he was there he found the teaching, worship, and fellowship were really important to him as well. “Jesus was really working in us,” said Brett.

When Brett and Holly were expecting their first child, Brett lost his job in computers. He began to look for new employment and had good interviews, yet no call backs. Nothing was happening. It was at this point that he became concerned about providing for his family. Holly was pregnant and Brett wasn’t sure what he was going to do. He then did something he thought he would never have to do – he filed for unemployment. Then he began praying. He said, “God if you want me in ministry, you are going to have to put me there. I don’t want to put myself in. I don’t want to force any doors open.”

By this time, Brett and Holly had been attending Calvary Chapel St. Pete together for about two or three years. One day, Pastor Danny Hodges invited them over to his house for dinner. While there, Danny asked Brett if he would be willing to come on staff at Calvary Chapel for the same amount he would make on unemployment. “I had already prayed for this, so it was obvious to me God had opened up the door. I stepped out and said, ‘sure’.” Brett went on staff part time at Calvary St. Pete as an assistant to Danny, doing whatever needed to be done.

A couple years after that, Brett was at a mission conference at Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale. At the conference, while they were watching a video, Brett was thinking that he had seen the video before but he just couldn’t place where. When they got to the end the speaker asked, “Would you be willing to go anywhere and do anything for the Lord? If so, stand up now and make that commitment.”

“It struck me that I was there – at that conference!” said Brett. “As I filtered that through and thought about it, I really felt like God was telling me He brought me here. All the things I was running from and the different issues in my life, God just wanted me to see that He was faithful. I made the commitment and He was faithful.”

This was a real confirmation for Brett that God really put him into ministry. “This was important for me because after I was working part time at Calvary for about eight months and working other jobs to make ends meet, Danny said they could bring me on full time and he wanted me to pray about it.” Brett prayed and accepted the full time position. Right after that, two of the computer jobs where Brett previously had really good interviews, called him and offered him positions. If this had happened earlier, at the time when Danny had asked Brett to come on board at Calvary, he said he would have been really tempted to stay in computers. "Because God held those offers back and allowed me to get established in ministry and get involved, I was able to see how I was called to be a pastor,” Brett remarked. He then began to do more and more in the ministry, starting as an assistant, then leading ministry, then teaching. He began to see these things grow and he saw people growing and responding.

Danny urged Brett to start praying about pastoring a church, so he began to pray and waited to see what God would do. About three years later, Danny spoke with Brett and Dave Vollmer, who is also on staff at Calvary Chapel St. Pete. He said he really wanted them to be praying because he felt it was time for them to be proactive and go out. Right after that he asked Brett if he felt like he was ready and Brett said “yes”.

“I really wanted to see God touch a group of people through the teaching of the Word and through fellowship and worship. I really wanted to see that happen and I felt I could expand ministry in that way,” stated Brett. One week later, Bob Eaton (one of our Elders), who was attending services at Calvary Chapel St. Pete, asked Danny if he would consider planting a church in North Pinellas County. It was God’s perfect timing.

“Right when we were praying about it, Bob came. We had a large group of support and it has been that way ever since,” Brett commented. “I have been amazed at how generous and solid our body is and God has been gracious. I have learned a lot of lessons, and I’m still learning a lot, but God continues to be faithful. Right now, at this point in ministry, I am greatly encouraged.”

While Brett was in ministry at Calvary Chapel St. Pete, he met Jim Nelson. “Jim was a partner in prayer with me and has always been very encouraging. It is neat to see how God brought us together in ministry.”  

Pastor Brett has been married since 1991 to his wife, Holly.  They have five children; Rebecca (17), Kara (16), Joel (14), Ethan (9), Faith (7).
(updated 10/19/2011)

E-MAIL: Jim Nelson
Favorite Verse- "Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee and declare thou unto Me.  Job 40:7 

Pastor Jim Nelson served in the United States Coast Guard for 23 years. Jim and his wife Gina gave their hearts to the Lord in 1981 prior to being stationed overseas. He retired in 2002 and was asked to go on staff at Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale as the assistant children’s minister. Jim and Gina had already been volunteering in the children’s ministry for two years prior to this and when he was stationed in Miami from 1992-1995. He was well acquainted with the staff and many have become good friends.

Jim worked directly for Pastor Doug Rasku. “He and I basically tag teamed the children’s ministry. But then I felt a draw on my heart to do more, more than what I was already doing. I couldn’t put my finger on it because I didn’t know what more could be. I was working about seven days a week and I was very busy,” said Jim. There was a paid staff of five in the children’s ministry and over 500 volunteers that Jim was directly responsible for and close to 3000 children. “We had a Saturday service, three Sunday services, a Wednesday night service, plus all the activities in between, so that kept me out of the house a lot,” Jim stated. Even so, he continued to pray to be used more in whatever capacity God would desire.

“In my morning Bible study I was going through the Book of Acts,” Jim recalled. “In Chapter 8, God called Philip to Gaza after a big revival in Samaria. Philip was teaching the Gospel and people were being saved. He was definitely busy doing the work of the Lord. That’s kind of the situation I was in in Ft. Lauderdale.” “There was definitely a lot of ministry happening and a lot of fruit being produced,” Jim continued. “I was being used and it was a great time of service. Yet, when I was reading in Acts where God called Philip to the desert, he said ‘Philip, go to Gaza’ and the very next sentence was ‘and he went’. He didn’t question, he just went to the desert. I then prayed and asked God to give me that kind of faith, just to go when called. No matter what it looks like, no matter where it is, just give me that faith because I want to be used.”

The very next day, Brett sent Jim an email inviting him to serve at Calvary Chapel in North Pinellas. “My jaw about hit the floor,” said Jim. He knew Brett from when he was stationed in St. Petersburg between 1995-1998. “He had actually asked me before I retired from the Coast Guard to come here and work alongside him when I did retire. I prayed about it because I try to never do anything without a lot of prayer and it just wasn’t the right time,” acknowledged Jim. “I didn’t get a peace about it. God basically said I have something else for you to do and that was before I even knew I was going to be working in Ft. Lauderdale.”

Jim shared the news with his wife and they prayed and got good solid counsel from trusted brothers. Jim continued to read the Scripture and God confirmed it time after time that this is where He wanted Jim to be. Once he had confirmation, Jim put his house on the market. He put the real estate sign in his yard on a Friday afternoon and by Friday evening he already had three showings. “We sold it the very next week,” Jim said. “We had just bought the house a year before when I got the job in Ft. Lauderdale because we thought we were staying. I made a pretty decent profit from the sale, which basically allowed us to move here and find another house. That was all God. He knew that if I had come here when Brett previously asked me, I wouldn’t have had the money to do it. “He provided everything. It was all in God’s timing.”

Jim has been involved in serving at Calvary Chapels since 1992. He served in the Children's Ministry and as a Deacon at Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale from 1992-1995, served in the Children's Ministry at Calvary Chapel St. Petersburg from 1995-1998. He also coordinated the Children's Ministry at Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland County, PA from 1998-2000 and again served in the Children's Ministry at Ft. Lauderdale beginning in 2000 as a volunteer until asked to go on staff as the Assistant Children's Minister in 2002.

Jim and Gina have been married since 1979 and have seven children, four in-laws, and four grandchildren, Christopher & Esther Nelson and their son Asher, Zachary & Rachel Copple and their daughters Olivia & Willow, Timothy & Elizabeth McTague and daughter Maren, Justin & Abby Nelson, Nathan & Angela Young, Daniel, and Rebekah. Gina serves in the Women's Ministry and Children's Ministry.

• Administration
• Children's Ministry
• Young Adult Bible Study

Pastor Jim has been married since 1979 to his wife, Gina.  They have seven children; Christopher, Rachel, Elizabeth, Justin, Angela, Daniel and Rebekah.  They have added in marriage, Christopher's wife Esther (Bozarth), Rachel's husband Zac Copple, Elizabeth's husband Tim McTague, Justin's wife Abby (Zubkousky), Angela's husband Nathan Young.  And over the past 4 years they have added four grandchildren; Asher Nelson, Olivia and Willow Copple, Maren McTague, Ezra McTague  expecting 2 more within the next 4 months(updated 10/19/2011)