Robert Hempy 1933-2005

Robert Walker “Bob” Hempy passed from this life into the next on August 16, 2005, at the City of Hope Hospital in Duarte, California. He was 71 years old.

Bob was born and raised in Southern California, and pastored in this same area for almost the entirety of his 50-year ministry. Bob accepted Christ as his Savior during a 1950 Billy Graham Crusade at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. He graduated from Azusa Pacific University in 1955 and went on to earn master’s degrees in Divinity and Psychology.

He met Barbara Brown at Azusa Pacific and they were married in 1956, eventually becoming parents to four children. During the course of their 49-year marriage, Bob and Barbara served as the pastoral couple at Arrow Highway Wesleyan Church in Covina, CA, Upland BIC, Alta Loma BIC, Manor BIC, and Solid Ground BIC. As part of their ministry, Bob and Barbara conducted marriage and family seminars known as Lasting Love throughout the United States and Canada.

Bob Hempy will be remembered as the consummate pastor. In stature and voice, he was bigger than life. In spirit and personality he was humble, humorous, and self-effacing. Bob liked to refer to himself as a “Good News preacher,” always focusing his teaching on God’s grace and mercy. He was a great storyteller, often using illustrations that revealed his great love of history.

More than anything, Bob will be remembered for his authenticity and his sense of humor. Never taking himself too seriously, Bob brought a smile or laugh on many occasions. It was his willingness to let people know what was really going on in his life that made him such an encouragement to so many.

In all of life, Bob exemplified the faithful messenger described in Isaiah 52:7: “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” Indeed, Bob Hempy will be remembered as such a herald as this, one who by his life and ministry led so many to be able to say, with gratitude, “Our God reigns!”

Bishop Perry Engle
August 23, 2005

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