Meet The Candidate – Ronnie G Collins

Personal Information

I was born on August 28, 1965 to Gray and Sylvia Collins; and have been a proud resident of Carroll County, VA my entire life. I am married to my amazing wife Misty; and have been blessed with 3 awesome children: Michael, Samuel, and Judah; and 3 wonderful grandchildren: Christopher, Victoria, and Autumn.Upon the death of my father 3 years ago; Misty, Samuel, Judah, and I decided to move and make our home with my mother. This is special to us because this is the house that my dad, my brother, and I built together in 1980 on Flower Gap Road in Cana,VA.

My number one priority is my relationship with my Savior Jesus Christ. My second priority is my amazing family. My greatest joy is being a father and a grandfather. I am also blessed to be able to spend a lot of time with my mother as part of the same household. As a family we work hard and we play hard; we do life together. Some of our favorite things to do are camping, 4 wheeling, sitting around an open fire, and being with our friends. Two of my personal favorites are reading and running. I love to learn and I am an avid reader of a broad spectrum of subjects, such as: the Christian life, leadership, politics, running, health and fitness, history, and fiction.

There is no secular vs. spiritual struggle in my life. I believe that every portion of my life is ordained by the Creator of the universe. For the person who is a follower of Christ, everything is spiritual. Whether I eat or drink, work or play, preach or teach; I do it all as unto the Lord. I believe that life is to be lived to the fullest and in order for life to be full and blessed, we have to serve and bless others as we have been blessed. With that said I am the most blessed man in the world.

I am an Ordained Elder in The United Methodist Church and I am the founding pastor of an amazing church family called Out of the Box Worship Center on Main Street in Hillsville, VA. All of the ministries at OOTBWC are carried out by amazing, hard working teams of members and volunteers. The work that is performed could not be accomplished by one individual; we believe in the power of a team working together to achieve goals. The focus of our church is to reach the people outside of our four walls. Our goal is to help make our community a better place for everyone through being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ.

We offer two worship services on Sunday mornings, 10 AM and 11:15 AM, where everyone is welcome. We are different, having been called “The Hippie Church” among many other things; due to our non-traditional approach to church. On Wednesday evenings our church reaches out to those in our community who are addicted to “anything unhealthy,” through a ministry called Recovery at Hillsville. At 6 PM we serve a free meal to anyone who wishes to come, and then have a worship service, message, and group work at 7 PM. We have ministries available for youth and children at all of our services on Sunday morning and Wednesday evenings. We are in process of starting two new ministries; a food pantry and clothing closet that will be available to anyone in need in our community and surrounding area. Our most recent ministry focus is taking our Recovery Ministry to those in our local Regional Jail. This is a work in progress. We currently visit all interested inmates, correspond through written means, and share Bible study through correspondence. We are working diligently to be able to take this ministry to the next level on the inside.

Some will ask, with a plate this full; being pastor of a growing and active church, a husband, a dad, a grandfather, a substitute teacher, and an owner/operator of rental properties; why would I want to get into local politics. The simple answer is as follows…

I desire to serve my community in the most effective ways possible. I have the honor as a pastor to serve the people of our community in some of the most intimate and personal manners. Officiating weddings, baptizing babies and adults, speaking to their greatest hurts and needs, working with those addicted to find freedom, visiting with those who are sick, and sitting by the bedside of those in their final moments here on earth. This work is demanding and very rewarding at the same time.

I want to serve our community through local government in order to help meet the needs of a greater number of people and to give them a voice. I want to serve and give back to a community that has given my family and I many happy years.