Robert Wolgemuth - The Most Important Place on Earth: What a Christian Home Looks Like and How to Build One

R obert Wolgemuth and I first met in 2002, when a mutual friend recommended his literary agency to represent my book-writing ministry. During this time I became acquainted with Roberts family and was quickly drawn to their tender hearts and their love for the Lord and for each other.

Several years later I interviewed Robert and his wife, Bobbie, along with their two daughters and one of their granddaughters, for a Revive Our Hearts broadcast. We talked about the value of singing as a family. Then I recorded a conversation with Bobbie and the girls about nurturing your childs heart.

On one occasion the Wolgemuths and I were involved in ministry in the same city and went out together for a meal. As we drove back to our hotel from the restaurant, I remember being spellbound as they sang hymns together in beautiful harmony. It was obvious there was something special and unusual about this family.

In 2012, Bobbie was diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer. Over the next two and a half-years, Robert and Bobbie openly shared their journey with many friends who were lifting them up in earnest prayer. In the midst of this trial, they were eager for Bobbie to be healed; but more than that, they wanted God to be exalted, and they were committed to trust Him and to embrace His plan for their lives.

When Bobbie went home to be with the Lord in 2014, I had the privilege of watching her memorial service by means of live stream. It was a beautiful celebration of a life lived for the glory of God. Several weeks later we aired a two-day broadcast honoring this faithful woman of God.

In the course of time Robert reached out to me, and we began communicating. Eventually he asked if I would be open to continue developing a friendship to see where the Lord might lead us.

I had grown to respect Robert from a distance and through our professional relationship. But I wanted to know more about his heart, his walk as a husband and a dad. Without his knowledge, I picked up The Most Important Place on Earth and started to read. (At the same time, apart from my knowledge, he began reading my book, Lies Women Believe!)

How I savored the up-close, personal glimpse this book gave me of its author. I read it eagerly, highlighting sentence after sentence, paragraph after paragraph.

Yes! So true! So good! I thought. If this man lives half of what hes written in this book, he would make an amazing husband!

Roberts perspective and insights on the Christian home brought to mind these words from the Old Testament:

Blessed is everyone who fears the L ORD , who walks in his ways!

You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house;

your children will be like olive shoots around your table.

Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
who fears the L ORD . (Psalm 128:14 ESV )

As I grew to know and love this man, I discovered in Robert a man who truly fears the Lord. And by Gods grace, what he had written in this book was not just theory but a sweet, established way of thinking and living. His humility and his strong desire to display the fruit of the Spiritin public and within the four walls of his homewere clearly evident.

During that season I texted these words to Robert:

I have witnessed in you and in your family the blessings and fruit of a steadfast, long-term practice of what you have written. The heart, the values, and the habits you promote in this book are the way you live.