By Danny Federico: Riverbend News
A new pastor has made his way to the Beachville Advent Christian Church located at 24815 County Road 49 in O'Brien. Robert Osburn, who was born in Akron, Ohio in January, 1954, moved to Florida from Augusta, Ga., in October of this year.
While he has pastored to some degree in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio and California, Osburn says this is his first time moving to Florida. He learned of the position at Advent Christian when the church's former pastor took a position as a chaplain at a nearby nursing home. He visited the church to check out the position and ended up applying for it. When he was extended an offer for the position, he readily accepted. Osburn says he has always been interested in pastoring, but his interest truly began to pique around the ages of 10 or 11. "I can't think of a time when I wasn't interest in it," he said.
The change of attitude toward the church has been a challenge for Osburn, but he says he does his best to overcome it by "being as friendly and open" as he can be in the hopes people will return. While Osburn feels a connection with the entire book of Psalms, he feels most connected to Psalm 103. He states, "in past years, Christianity has been looked at as a list of dont's, not as a system," which is something the book of Psalms acknowledges.
Osburn and his wife of seven years, Diane, collect things in their spare time. They attend various garage sales and frequently collect elephants, cookie jars and even Santas. Together, they have nine children, 16 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.