David Kennard

David Kennard is the campus pastor of Mill site, which is the second location for River Side church in the Philadelphia area. The second site was set up in a mall which effect at drawing people in just to enjoy a few minutes of a sports game in the lounge or for a Sunday service. Well operating in a mall is expensive David pointed out that it was still a lot cheaper than building a multi million-dollar facility and it is in a great location. 

River side employs free market growth groups. They are structured in a way that many who attend them are not aware at first that the group is affiliated with a church. The leaders are trained to help those in the groups find their way towards Christ when God opens a door. These groups are effective at reaching out to the community and putting believers in contact with people who would be unlikely to get connected with a church in another.

River side is very focused on reaching out to those who do not yet know Christ. They try to shy away from using words that might carry a lot of whight with people that they are trying to minster too. For example they might say Christ follower rather than Christian. They make their services very visitor friendly by explaining what is going to happen before it happens and why they do what they do so that people new to the church don’t feel insecure or uncomfortable with what is going on around them. This is something that I think all churches should try to emulate. One of the biggest turn offs for someone visiting a new church can be a feeling that they don’t belong and that they don’t fit in. The church today needs to be as open to those who are familiar with the church as possible.