Breaking News
Todays News

Former farm girl now pastors full gospel church in Marshalltown

By CHUCK FRIEND 4 min read

While watching a Billy Graham service at age 13 in her parent's living room on a farm near Melbourne, Roberta Edgar said she accepted Jesus as her Lord and savior and was born again.

Even after graduating from West Marshall High School and working as a utility and billing clerk at Fisher Controls, she tried as much as she could to serve the Lord. However with no real help in reading the Bible, she did not feel like she was growing in her faith.

"My sister invited me to come to Des Moines and perform in the musicals presented by what was then First Federated Church, so I did," Edgar said. "I became friends with a great number of people who one could tell really loved the Lord and I wanted to be like them."

When driving back and forth to Des Moines she heard God speaking to her.

"He was saying, 'I have something for you to do in Marshalltown,'" Edgar said. "But I continued attending a full gospel church in Des Moines and was baptized in the Holy Spirit -- all the time hearing that message from God."

She met and married Dick Edgar in Des Moines and together the couple felt the Lord was leading them to do something together. They were ordained as ministers in 1986. Their son was born in 1984.

"I had always been interested in helping to counsel people and try to help pastors and other churches, but my husband and I were led to start our first church in Marshalltown at the Senior Center on State Street," Edgar said. "We were there for two years before learning a building on Highland Acres Road was for sale. We prayed and believed that we would be able to afford the building and purchased it for $25,000 in 1988 after it was originally listed at $55,000."

Edgar's husband pastored the church and she helped with women's groups, children's ministry, a puppet team and other necessities. He passed away in 2009 -- forcing immediate changes.

"Our son was living in Tulsa and working for Oral Roberts University in the Finance Department after graduation and returned to conduct his father's funeral," Edgar said. "I had a feeling that he would move his family back to Marshalltown and that is what happened."

He took over as pastor for his father and continued in that position until September of 2019, when his friend in Oklahoma needed him to work on youth conferences -- something they had been doing for 10 years.

Then being the pastor was a role Edgar would fill.

"I heard the Lord repeatedly say 'You are going to be a pastor. Say it after me, I am going to be a pastor,'" Edgar said. "I had never pastored before by myself - but knew I had to answer the call."

Edgar said her congregation includes people from Marshalltown, Traer, Gladbrook, Eldora, Tama-Toledo, Conrad and Melbourne. Occasionally, the church receives visitors from Ames, Ankeny and Indianola.

"We have a great group of people - I am so blessed," she said. "In my heart I have the desire to build up the church to be the body of Christ that believes the whole word of God and does the work of the church that they are called to do."

Edgar feels the Lord is also telling her that the local church needs to become a training center for this part of Iowa -- a location to train leaders to help other congregations. She said the Lord is showing her that a "river of life" is flowing from the Marshalltown area and has heard that people will return to this area to help with the training center.

Edgar is encouraged about the young people in her church who have a genuine love for the Lord, and said she loves to lay hands on them and pray for them as they are the future of the church itself.

"I am just a plain farm girl who answered the call to do something for God in Marshalltown. Now God is showing me what needs to be done in the future," she said.

Starting at /week.