OUR LEADERSHIP
Shawn Barnard
Lead Pastor/Elder
Greg Douthit
Pastor/Elder
Tim Harrington
Pastor/Elder
Daniel Kilby
Pastor
ELDERS
River Valley Church is overseen by a team of elders, a plurality of leaders. Elders oversee the general protection and direction, leadership, doctrine, and major decisions of River Valley Church.
HOUSE CHURCH PASTORS
Each House Church is led by a biblically qualified, equipped, and accountable pastor from River Valley Church who oversees the teaching, leadership, and care of each individual in their House Church.
Our Beliefs
THE SCRIPTURES
We believe the Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. We believe in the accuracy, truth, authority, and power of the Holy Scriptures as the Word of God. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy.
ONE TRIUNE GOD
We believe in a personal God who has revealed Himself as One. God exists in three persons–Father, Son and Holy Spirit–each distinct, yet all of One essence.
GOD THE FATHER
• We believe God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and all human history according to the purposes of His grace. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
GOD THE SON
• We believe Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, He is the virgin born Son of God who lived in flesh, died for the sins of the world, was buried, rose again, and ascended to the Father according to the Scriptures.
GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
• The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. We believe that life on earth is to be lived in the power of the Holy Spirit, who indwells believers, enabling them to live distinctive lives in the life and power of Christ, bringing honor and glory to God the Father in heaven.
MANKIND
We believe that man is created in the image of God, with value, dignity, and purpose. God created male and female as the crowning work of His creation. By his free choice, man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race.
SALVATION BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH
We believe that the death of Jesus Christ was the final and complete sacrifice for the sins of humanity. Salvation is obtained by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. All who repent of their sins and receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord are born again into eternal life as children of God.
THE CHURCH
We believe that those who have placed their faith in Christ are united together in one Body, the Church, a distinctive community of faith expressed in local gatherings, engaging culture on every front with the gospel hope and love of Christ. As a body of believers, we expectantly await the return of Christ for His bride, the Church.
BAPTISM
We believe that baptism is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in a new life in Christ Jesus.
THE LORD’S SUPPER (COMMUNION)
We believe that the Lord’s Supper is an act of obedience as we eat of the bread and drink of the fruit of the vine as a symbolic reminder of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, broken and poured out for our sins on the cross. In doing so we proclaim the Lord’s death until He returns.
Our Values
We are a community of Christ-followers who desire to become more like Jesus as we are rooted in, and transformed by, the eternal truths of His word.
We desire to be Kingdom-minded and Spirit-led as we seek to make Christ famous in the River Valley area in which we are planted. Our aim is to make disciples who follow Jesus, and by doing so exhibit the love of Christ as we reflect His character and follow His ways.
JESUS ABOVE ALL
because all we say and do should be to the glory of God as we make much of Jesus. We believe there is no greater name and no greater message than Jesus and His gospel, which is why we seek to exalt His name and His word above all (Psalm 138:2).
GOD'S WORD
as the authority because it has God as its author. The Scriptures instruct us how to relate to God, to others, and how we are to live according to God’s ways. (2 Timothy 3:17; Acts 2:42)
PRAYING TOGETHER
as an essential spiritual discipline, not an afterthought. (Acts 1:14; 2:42)
WORSHIP AS A LIFESTYLE
because all of life is to be lived adoring the only One who is worthy of our worship—Jesus Christ. (Romans 12:1-2)
MAKING DISCIPLES
who make disciples for the sake of advancing the gospel, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the areas of influence He has placed us. (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8)
GATHERING TOGETHER
in homes and worship gatherings to live out biblical community as we demonstrate the “one-anothers” of God’s word. (Acts 2:46; Hebrews 10:24-25)
GENEROSITY
towards one another, and those in need, with the time, gifts, and resources God has entrusted to us. (Acts 2:44-45; 4:32-35)