Robert Mearns was born in Aberdeen, Scotland and graduated from Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He has worked in both the private and public sectors of industry and began serving the church as an itinerant minister in 1981. Robert has been involved in the planting and oversight of churches in Europe, Africa, the Balkans and the United States. In 1992, Robert moved to the United States and now lives in North Carolina with his wife, Iris, three children and their families.