Robert Shaw did not enter the ordained ministry until his third career. Highlights of his wanderings include:
- Bachelor of Science with majors in Physics and Natural Sciences from Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA
- First Career – Lieutenant, US Navy: He served our nation teaching nuclear physics in Orlando, Florida and coordinating the operations of a nuclear reactor on a US Navy submarine based out of Bangor, Washington. While in Orlando, he married Lori.
- Second Career – Systems Engineer: For eight years Robert wrote specifications, test procedures, technical presentations, and reports to support the design of US Navy sonar systems at General Electric. During these years he was ordained as a Deacon and later as an Elder at the First Presbyterian Church of Liverpool, New York. Both of their children were born in upstate New York. Later, he briefly returned to this career designing sonar and laser systems for SAIC in Bloomfield, Indiana.
- Third Career – Minister of Word and Sacrament: After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Robert earned a Master of Divinity from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Before coming to Temple Terrace he served as pastor of a congregation in western Pennsylvania, Interim Pastor of two congregations in southern Indiana, Moderator of the Synod of Lincoln Trails, and pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church, in northwestern Indiana. Their adult children have remained in Indiana pursuing their own careers.