Church Spotlight: The River

Chris Farley teaching at The River

A couple of weeks ago, I revived the “church spotlight” series on my site introducing you to Cornerstone Church. Today, I’d like to highlight The River Church in Semmes, Alabama where Chris Farley (no, not this one) is the senior pastor.

TONY: Tell us a little bit about your personal story.

CHRIS: I was born again at an early age, rededicated my life to Christ when I was 17 and entered the ministry my freshman year of College in 1988. After graduation, I traveled extensively both nationally and internationally speaking in churches and leadership conferences, and was serving on staff at a church in Ohio when in 1999 a small, traditional congregation in the deep South called and inquired if we were interested in being their pastor. I was 30 years old and there were around 20 people attending — and that was on a good Sunday!

TONY: When did your church launch?

CHRIS: Although this church had been in the community for decades,The River actually launched only 8 years ago. That’s when we discovered our true DNA as a community of faith and as a result we changed our ministry philosophy, our core values and the name of the church.

TONY: Where are you located?

CHRIS: Our campus is located in Semmes, a suburb of Mobile, Alabama.

TONY: Tell us something unique about your church.

CHRIS: When you’re talking about the south, particularly the deep south where we’re at, most would say almost everything about us is unique; from the type of music we play, to the subjects I speak on, to the creative elements we incorporate into our four weekend worship experiences. But, if I had to name one, it would probably be our culture of diversity, acceptance and unconditional love.

TONY: Any ministry highlights from recent months?

CHRIS: Actually, 2010 was unbelievable. Personally, I have never experienced anything like this before. I’m just blown away when hundreds of new people are showing up and sometimes as many as 30-40 of them are coming to Christ each and every week.

TONY: What’s your latest leadership learning?

CHRIS: Without question, understanding the importance of growing with the ministry. We have a little saying around here, “You can’t go, if you don’t grow.” The concept of “Grow the leader, grow the church” has taken on a whole new meaning for us. I’m constantly reminded that a growing church has the uncanny ability to leave you and your staff behind in the dust wondering what just happened! I could talk about attendance growth, fiscal growth, impact and influence growth, but all of this would would be short-lived without an unswerving commitment to unstoppable personal growth both for me and for those who serve at The River.