A Mountain, Mission, and Major Change
The moment that changed everything happened high above Central America. Roberts had traveled there to help train pastors and host a ministry conference. During the trip, he and several colleagues decided to hike a place known locally as“ Prayer Mountain,” home to a towering Christian radio station overlooking the border of Honduras. It was supposed to be a meaningful spiritual moment. Instead, it became the start of a nightmare.
“ When we got to the top of that tower,” Roberts recalls,“ blood vessels behind my left eye suddenly burst.” Without warning, his vision filled with what he describes as“ a spider web of blood.” Internally, panic set in. Externally, he stayed quiet. He didn’ t want to disrupt the mission or distract from what God was doing among the pastors they had come to serve.
The bleeding seemed to fade quickly, but deep down, Roberts knew something serious had happened. When he returned home, specialists confirmed his fears: surgery would be required. Then came devastating setback after devastating setback. Two surgeries failed back-to-back that summer. During the final procedure, a tragic complication occurred: the retina in his left eye was accidentally torn, leaving him immediately blind in that eye.
Searching for hope, Roberts traveled to Duke University, where some of the world’ s top retinal specialists examined him. Their conclusion was crushing.“ There’ s nothing we can do.”
Losing Sight and Finding Grace
Fifteen months later, life changed again. As Roberts and his wife welcomed their fourth child into the world, his remaining eyesight disappeared completely. Now blind in both eyes, the young pastor found himself confronting questions he had never imagined asking.
Could he still preach? Could he still lead? Could he still provide for his family? Could the ministry survive this?
For a pastor whose church was growing and whose influence was expanding, blindness felt like the end of everything he had built.
Yet somewhere in the middle of the grief, Roberts began discovering something unexpected: grace.
" Today, Chad Roberts is completely blind. Yet somehow, his vision has never been clearer."
He often reflects on the Apostle Paul’ s words in 2 Corinthians about being“ given” a thorn in the flesh. Before blindness, Roberts admits he never would have described suffering as
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