David Kannard

            David Kannard is intentional about everything he does at Riverside Community Church in Pittsburgh, PA.  No assumptions are made in any facet of the service. They explain every biblical term, person, city, custom, etc. as though their congregation has never heard it before. This is so that they are not missing anyone. They don’t want to push anyone away or make anyone feel lesser because of a few terms. Their members understand this approach, so they don’t complain about the repetitiveness. He and the other pastors wear normal-guy, every day clothes to preach, etc., because they’ve found that people are not impressed with tradition or anything that looks like a show, but they want real and they want Jesus.

            Riverside uses the Engle Scale as the backbone of their small groups system. With the high majority of their attendees involved in small groups, leaders keep in perspective the fact that not everyone in their group is at the same level in their walk with Christ/may not have made a commitment to Christ yet.  Because of this, Riverside Community Church uses their topic and interest based small groups as evangelistic tools, as well as the regular accountability/support groups for Christians.  The most effective (Consistent number of commitments made to Christ) small group in their collection is their softball group. What is so inviting about these groups that nearly everyone is involved? It’s sharing real life together.  

            Kannard is passionate about people. It is evident in the way he talks about ministry, about church, and about life. I think that this is a huge contributing factor to the small group and overall health of his church. It’s not about the programs or the traditions, but about the people in the church and the surrounding community. Because of this, I think that Kannard would be a great guy to serve with and to learn from. I think more pastors need his mindset. 

C.J. Ortega

            C.J. Ortega is a pastor in center city Philadelphia, but he didn’t start out there.  C.J. and his wife Joy have been through many different experiences, which have molded them and prepared them for the ministry that they are involved in now. C.J. had a ‘colorful’ past living in the city, so when he decided to be a pastor, he wanted to be out of that scene.  He had prepared and was excited to go pastor at a church in the country, but was told that he would not survive the culture shock because he was “unchurched.”  Little did he know, the Lord had a specific plan for him in the city and, if he’d gone to the country church, he would have been challenged by the ritualistic nature and would bring the justice, but be lacking in the necessary grace.

            C.J. was hired to work under the head pastor at New Creation Community Church in Reading, PA.  He struggled to submit to the pastor’s vision when he had so many great ideas waiting to explode. Nine years later, C.J. was very involved in merging his church he planted, City Reach, with this church.

            There were many advantages of merging these churches. C.J. said that the merge increased their “footprint” in the city.

Ministries that they have include:

            -Sunday morning and Sunday night services every week

            -Feeding ministry to the streets on Friday nights

            -Food pantry on Saturday nights for approx. 75 families

            -Men’s discipleship/recovery home, which sleeps 10 men.

            -Youth ministry

            -Women’s ministry

            -Wrestling program

Their discipleship program is based on the vision of “Reach one to teach one to reach one,” which is pretty self-explanatory.

            On top of his work as the pastor of two churches and director of the men’s home and feeding programs, C.J. works a secular full-time job.  He does this because he wants his church to focus their funds on ministry rather than feeding his family. Though this is very generous, I think that the pastor’s time is valuable, and it may be better for him to be present and paid, than absent and saving money. 

            C.J. believes that the only reason to “do” ministry at all is to touch people, to share the life-giving hope of Christ with people. He said, “It’s about people. No matter if I’m the janitor or the pastor.”