Meet Robert.
Dr. Robert Cowman has served as lead pastor of Columbus Road Church in Quincy, Illinois since 2004, and has been in pastoral ministry for more than thirty years. Before Columbus Road he spent twelve years as outreach pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Norwalk, Ohio, and served as a county jail chaplain — ministry that shaped a lifelong focus on evangelism, outreach, and helping the local church genuinely reach its community. He and his wife Lisa have been married thirty-nine years; they have four adult children who walk with and serve God across the country, and four grandchildren.
Dr. Cowman is passionate about equipping and leading others, and he brings that pastoral work straight into the classroom. He taught the doctoral course “Methods and Programs for Church Outreach” at Baptist Bible Seminary, and teaches master's-level online courses for Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary — coming alongside pastors and ministry students with practical, tested feedback on their projects and their current ministry. His decades of work with people of all ages and backgrounds give him a grounded, real-world perspective on leadership.
As a lifelong learner, he understands the process — and the importance — of digging, discovering, sorting, and applying what students learn in real ministry contexts. That is exactly the conviction Anchor is built on: students don't wait until after graduation to do the work; they learn to lead faithfully while they are already in it, drawing on lessons forged across more than three decades of pastoral experience.
Outside the church and classroom, Dr. Cowman is the head men's soccer coach at John Wood Community College — one more arena where he has spent decades developing people through discipline and practice — and in his spare time can usually be found outdoors hunting or fishing. He holds a Doctor of Ministry in Outreach from Baptist Bible Seminary, where his dissertation was “An Outreach Strategy for the Local Church,” along with a Master of Divinity and a Bachelor of Science in Bible from the same institution.