On Friday, June 26, the family of Teaching Elder Bobby Roberts was involved in a car accident in Greensboro, North Carolina. Their three-year-old daughter, Ellie, died as a result of injuries sustained in the accident.
At the time of the accident, Roberts was returning home from the PCA General Assembly and not with his family. His wife Annie, and their two daughters, Mary, age 5, and Ellie were travelling home from visiting family in North Carolina. The Robertses live in Jonesborough, Tennessee where Bobby pastors Christ Church.
Annie sustained injuries in the wreck, which required hospitalization and at least one surgery. At the time of publication, she was still in the hospital. Mary was treated and released. From the time the accident occurred, local news outlets reported that one passenger sustained critical injuries. Ellie was taken to the hospital to receive care but was pronounced dead early Saturday.
A native of Asheville, North Carolina, Roberts graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary Charlotte in 2020 and accepted a call to serve as assistant pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Johnson City, Tennessee. In 2025, he planted Christ Church as a daughter church of Westminster.
Andy Wyatt is the senior pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church, where the Robertses formerly served and worshipped. He provided byFaith with the following statement:
The Roberts’ family need our prayers at this time. The Lord invites us to the throne of grace and we need to bring this dear family there now. As you can imagine, they are grieving. They are devastated and full of sorrow, but God promises to be near to the brokenhearted. God’s Word instructs us to mourn with those who mourn and that is what the congregations of Westminster and Christ Church are doing now.
May the Holy Spirit intercede for this family with groanings too deep for words. Ellie was a joy to her family and to her church family. She had a smile that was sweet and contagious. Church members that often sat near them in worship have commented how sweetly Ellie would sing each Sunday. Her voice will be noticeably absent. Bobby has been a faithful and loving pastor to both of our congregations and we thank the Lord for him. There has been a GoFundMe page established for them.
Roberts and Annie met while students at North Carolina State University, where they were involved with Reformed University Fellowship. Their former campus minister, Chuck Askew, told byFaith, “Myself and so many of the people who know them here are heavy hearted in grief at the loss of Ellie. Though deeply saddened with and for them, I’m comforted that they have such a solid foundation of faith to weather this storm and a beacon of hope in their grief through the deep Christian community that surrounds them.”
During the college years in Raleigh, the Robertses were an active part of Christ the King PCA. The pastors who were close to them during this season of their life, Geoff Bradford and James Sutton, told byFaith,
This news is utterly tragic and heartbreaking. We find ourselves aching with the desire to simply be there—to hug them and find any tangible way to show them God’s love in the midst of their sorrow. We know many others are lifting the Roberts family up in prayer, and we are joining them in lamenting before God and asking that He himself would draw near and provide them with comfort and a profound sense of the hope of heaven.
Even as he grieves, Roberts tells byFaith, “Very thankful for the prayers. We will miss [Ellie] very much. She was the life and joy for us. We look forward to waking up with her one day in the kingdom of God.”
