Join us as we sit down with Dr. Richard Robinson, the long-time host of Holy Ground Heard Weekends on KLTT. Dr. Robinson reflects on his two decades in radio, having started the show back in 1998. He shares heartening stories about his family’s legacy at Northside Baptist Church, and the stability it has brought to the community. With unwavering commitment, Dr. Robinson continues to nurture a deep connection with the community while expanding the church’s outreach through the radio.
It’s Mike Treen with Crawford Media Group and KLTT Radio. Today we’re joined by Dr. Richard Robinson. Dr. Robinson is the host of Holy Ground Heard Weekends on KLTT and you’ve been with us for two and a half decades?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, we actually came on the air way back in 1998. That’s amazing.
SPEAKER 02 :
Wow.
SPEAKER 01 :
So it’s been that long. What a blessing. You came by the church and had a chat with me, and I decided to take that leap of faith and try this out. And we were on the station Sunday at 9 a.m. originally.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay, right.
SPEAKER 01 :
And we were there for several years at that slot, and then we had to go off for just a few years. I think it was around 2006. Okay. And then we did get back on with a daily broadcast for a while, and now we’re back on Sundays at 9 a.m. again.
SPEAKER 02 :
And then there’s a replay, too. Do you remember offhand when that time is?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, at 5 o’clock the same day on Sunday.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right, 5 p.m. Sunday. So we give people two chances, and that’s important because if you’re at church or if you have things going on that you can’t listen the first time, then you have the 5 p.m. as well. Well, it’s been a blessing to have you as a part of our ministry here. Tell us a little bit about the history of Northside Baptist Church, the church where you’re pastor, and also to Holy Ground.
SPEAKER 01 :
Okay, the church was actually founded by my dad. It was First Baptist of North Glen prior to him, but it was struggling. It merged with another church that was struggling, and then he came along and was called as the pastor in the spring of 1980, and he incorporated it as Northside Baptist Church. I graduated from college, Bible college, in May of that same year, worked for six and a half years with him. And then the Lord led us to Cleveland to pastor for six and a half years. And then I came back in 93 and was assistant pastor, or actually, I’m sorry, co-pastor with him until he left in 95, at which time I became senior pastor. And we’ve been there ever since. In fact, last Sunday, I just celebrated my 30 years as senior pastor of the church.
SPEAKER 02 :
Congratulations. That’s amazing. And your wife, Donna, is with us. We’re going to hear from Donna in a separate interview, but 30 years, I mean, what a legacy. Amazing.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, you don’t see that too often. In fact, our church has only had two pastors, my dad before me and now me. The stability has really helped our church a lot. There hasn’t been a lot of different drama going on in our church. God’s given us good stability, and I appreciate that. I think it’s helped the church as well. And fortunately, my dad, being a builder, he built a beautiful about 400-seat auditorium. He did. So it’s been a blessing to just have all that done with, and I can just focus on what I’m good at.
SPEAKER 02 :
Tell me about some of the distinctives. When people say, I love North Glen Baptist Church, why do they…
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, Northside Baptist Church really does fill a need for a church that has a very family-feeling atmosphere to it. Not too big, not too small. And everybody gets to know one another. We’re a very supportive family. And yet we offer all the standard things that people come to expect in a church. And people also enjoy the fact that we’re on the radio, and they’re very supportive of that. They’re really the ones who pay the lion’s share of the bill for it. And they’ve been very kind to me to allow me to pursue this. And I’ve been very grateful to them ever since. So, yeah, it’s been quite a ride.
SPEAKER 02 :
What types of things do they say about the radio program? Why is that a priority for them? Because you’re right, it’s been a priority now since you started with us, like we said, you know, a couple decades ago.
SPEAKER 01 :
I would say that what really excites our people is the fact that the sermons that they hear in the auditorium, eventually they know that it’s going to be heard on the radio with a much, much broader audience. And we do get visitors from time to time that come and they say, we heard you on the radio. And we get also letters from other people outside the state. You know, this signal is, what, five states it reaches? Yeah, correct. Every now and then I’ll hear from people outside the Denver metro area. And we’re on some smaller stations across America now, too, finally. So we get to, it’s like a big electronic slingshot. And people like the fact that the sermons don’t get stuck in a recording room and collect dust. They see it as a way to sow the seed of God’s word. And since God’s word is timeless, the messages are timeless.
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s really God’s Word alive, and like you said, there’s all these communities it reaches, including people that may not have a church close by, or they might have a church and just they feel like it’s not a good fit for them. This is big for them to be able to have holy ground as an option.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, it really is.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s great. So Northside Baptist is for people that want to visit, hear this interview, tell them you’re basically off of 120th, just a little bit south, right?
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s exactly right. Very easy to access from I-25. And if you just get off at 120th Avenue there, you’re going to eventually come up to Washington Street. And you’ll turn right. We’re five blocks on the left-hand side. And we have a map on our website. Visit NBC.com, and they can locate us from that as well. And get an overview of our entire church and what we have to offer.
SPEAKER 02 :
So visit NBC.com. Okay. Coms, orgs, we have to keep those all straight. Yes. Tell us about you have bridged into another kind of a fun hobby, now become a little bit a professional pursuit as well with graphic design. Tell us about that.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s right. Well, I actually discovered this ability that I have when I became pastor here at the church. We started, oh, my goodness, two decades ago. started doing these themes and I would design their church posters. And so I acquired all the software. I just was attracted to it like a fish to water. And I really, really enjoyed it. And I’ve made all kinds of educational printed material, promotional material, and I really enjoyed it. I never thought it’d be anything more than just helping out my church. But then my wife, Donna, she felt God’s call to be an indie author. And I guess back in 2014, I did her first cover for her book. And she really liked it. It was well received. And then we kind of got on a roll together. She has got several titles already released. And I’ve been doing all her artwork, all her covers for her. And people have enjoyed the covers. They’ve liked them. Some feedback. And she approves, of course. She’s the most important person. And I discovered I just have a gift for putting elements together and make it appear to be part of the storyline and complement the contents of the book. And so I have decided to offer my services to a wider audience, and I can scratch this itch inside me and meet a need for other people as well.
SPEAKER 02 :
Now, who of our listening audience, who should call you if they have a need for graphic design? What are the types of projects that you work on?
SPEAKER 01 :
Okay, the types I do is for Christian only. That’s really what my focus is. I’m interested in doing fiction and nonfiction. And so I really am interested in getting the author’s perspective of what the book is about. And then I am just interested in customizing that vision of the book onto the cover. And that’s what I think I most enjoy is the creativity side of it, coming up with a way to visualize the author’s ideas. And this is something that I did not see coming. I never thought I’d be doing something like this. 30 years ago, I never thought I’d be doing this.
SPEAKER 02 :
God blindsided you, right?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah. It’s just amazing how you play around with something and you can see that God has given you a direction to go. And so since a lot of these companies that produce covers, they’re mass-produced, many of them. Many of them just use templates, and they’re not necessarily spending a whole lot of time with trying to customize something for the author. They’re just churning them out.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, they probably just get a name and a topic or a title and build around it. You’re getting to know the author. Yes. You’re saying, so you generally do just books?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, just book covers.
SPEAKER 02 :
For authors, okay.
SPEAKER 01 :
And interesting thing is I will do a promo poster for the author if they want it. And they will have to, of course, take it to a printer to get it printed. But I will design that for them as well. And also a little Facebook poster, things like that. There’s an additional charge for those things. But that’s not difficult for me to do at all. I’ve been doing posters for 25 years. So not a problem. And yeah, I really do want to… I think I understand what Christian authors want. I’m a Christian. And I’m interested in glorifying God with this company. And I want what they are bringing to the public, I want that to glorify God. I want it to also have a chance to be found. If you stop and think about it, The cover, they say never judge a book by its cover. But the truth is people are going to make at least an initial assessment, that first impression from the cover.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, they are.
SPEAKER 01 :
And I believe that a cover designer for a book is something like a car designer. Because if you think about it, a car – and there have been some companies like this – They’ve had very well put together cars. The mechanics are very good. But the appearance of the car is kind of bland, not very pretty. And so some Asian car makers have had this problem. is that they put their cars well together but the car just isn’t very stylish or very attractive. The same thing goes for a book. When a person sees an attractive cover, something that really seems to create a curiosity, then they’re going to pick that book up and possibly start reading and getting interested and want to purchase the book. So I feel that’s my job is to let the book be so attractive and interesting that it has a better chance of being picked up and read.
SPEAKER 02 :
I think that’s a wonderful role, and any Christian author would want that for their book. How did they get a hold of you? What’s the website? I know you have a new website for people.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, we do, and it’s pcbdesigns.net. The name of the company is Premier Christian Book Designs. So that’s just a contraction of that for easier remembrance. It’s Premier Christian Book Designs, and it’s pcbdesigns.net. You can find us there. And when you go to the website, you’re going to see everything you need to know to do an initial investigation. You’ll see the purpose, my purpose. You’ll see why we offer a clear advantage over others, especially non-Christian ones. I use all the highest standards of graphic design, latest software, professional licensed images. One thing that’s really an advantage is there is no certain number of revisions required. I’ll do as many revisions as is necessary.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s wonderful. Excellent.
SPEAKER 01 :
And no prepayment plan either. So you only pay after you’re satisfied with the final product. And if you meet your approval, then you pay and you get your pictures and everything that you need.
SPEAKER 02 :
So we have Their Salvation, Listening to Holy Ground, Dr. Richard Robinson, and we also have, for the Christian authors, we’ve got such a great resource for them, and that’s through pcbdesigns.net. So tell us about the radio program, too, for more information or to come to the church and to visit you and say hello.
SPEAKER 01 :
We would love to have radio listeners come in, and if nothing else, just say hi to us. We’ve had people like that from time to time. They just wanted to meet me. And also David Armstrong, our announcer for the broadcast. David’s great. Yeah, they can certainly come by and do just that. And as well, if they’re looking for a church home, we’d be glad to sit down with them and talk to them about that. Yes, I really appreciate radio listeners. I know they’re out there. Sometimes I don’t hear as frequently. But when I do, it’s usually something very touching to my heart. People pulling off to the side of the road and saying, I just had to call you or send a quick text to you or email. Those are really tells me it’s definitely worth it all. So please come by. Our Sunday school starts at 930 on Sunday and 1030 for the morning worship. We have a 6 p.m. service as well and a Wednesday service at 7. And so whatever time frame works, we would love to meet our radio family out there. We call them our second family. That’s so good. And so we’d love to meet you and again say thank you for everybody that has dropped me little messages and told others about the broadcast. I appreciate that very much. We are an independent Baptist church, so we’re staunchly evangelical, and I think that’s something that’s appreciated, too. We don’t give an uncertain sound. We’re very clear about what we believe, and I think it comforts people in many ways that we know where all the lines are drawn spiritually, and we don’t want to step out of bounds.
SPEAKER 02 :
So good. Dr. Richard Robinson, Holy Ground. Go to 670KLTT.com and you’ll see all the times when Holy Ground can be heard. Dr. Robinson, thanks for taking the time with us.
SPEAKER 01 :
Oh, you’re very welcome. Thank you for having me today, Mike.
