Bob Broadbooks: Sketches

Bob Broadbooks pastored for 20 years in Kansas, Colorado, and Florida. He went on to serve as superintendent of the Alabama North District and is currently superintendent of the Tennessee District for the Church of the Nazarene.

Q. Where are you most comfortable? 
A. With my family.

Q. Who is the person you would most like to meet?
A. Abraham Lincoln, who is my distant relative.

Q. What is the best advice you have received?
A. You only have five quarts of blood. Be careful how you spill it.

Q. What is the best advice you have given to others?
A. Don't give advice.

Q. What book has affected you recently?
A. Leading Quietly by Joseph Badaracco, Jr.

Q. What is your favorite Bible verse?
A. The Bible's greatest promise: Philippians 4:19.

Q. If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?
A. I'm happy the way things are.

Q. What is your most enjoyable free-time activity?
A. Collecting antique milk bottles and Church of the Nazarene Manuals.

Q. Do you have a personal motto?
A. For almost 30 years, I have ended every letter I have written with the phrase: Pleased with the Prospects. In my lighter moments I like to say, "I'm dying and nobody cares!"

Q. What makes you laugh?
A. Funny things children say.

Q. What makes you cringe?
A. When parents say harsh, hurtful things to children.

Q. The best thing about your life is:
A. Thirty-five years ago I looked into my wife Carol's green eyes, and I am still not over the spell of it.

Q. Is there a personal goal you long to see fulfilled?
A. I want to be faithful in helping people come to Jesus, and then show them it is possible to enjoy the deeper life of holiness. I want to be a caring man until I die.

Q. What key lesson have you learned from your children?
A. Each one is naturally unique. They thrive when we allow them to be themselves.

Q. How do you want to be remembered?
A. As a man who lived peacefully and brought peace into difficult situations.

Holiness Today, May/June 2005

Please note: This article was originally published in 2005. All facts, figures, and titles were accurate to the best of our knowledge at that time but may have since changed.