L. C. Robie and his twin sister, Leola, were born August 3, 1892, part of a family which included a sister, Grace, and younger brother, Howard. His parents, C. H. and Emma Robie, lived in Olean, New York, where the senior Robie was a jeweler and optician. After studying at Wesleyan Preparatory School, Robie was employed as an auto mechanic and then in tool engineering with firms in Utica and Rochester, New York. His activities included playing semi-professional baseball.

Experiencing a call to a revival ministry after conversion in the Methodist Episcopal Church, Robie began preaching in the early 1920s in factories, hospitals, and rest homes. He subsequently became an official evangelist for the Assemblies of God, headquartered in Springfield, Missouri, and also published a monthly magazine. He was also associated for several years with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Trained as an airplane pilot, he flew his own plane for a ten-year period, ministering in airport rallies as part of his evangelistic activities.

In 1983, he was retired and living in Union Springs, New York, after a forty-two-year career in the United States and Canada conducting noon-time rallies in factories and crusades and revivals featuring his instrumental music and songs. Robie took as his life verse Zechariah 4:6: "Then he said to me, 'This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel. Not by might, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts.'"