Hi, I'm Neil Lee, the Pastor of this fellowship of believers known as "The River". We call our group "The River" because we believe that to be our "God Inspired" name; we also believe the name to be a reflection of who we are and what we are called to do. A river serves as a source of life and provision for the area through which it flows. We strive to do just that through acts of service and faithful financial support of local and worldwide ministries. A river flows...our services are completely led of the Holy Spirit and we flow in whatever direction He chooses to take us. We then take our "Living Water" into the various communities in which we live to share with and refresh our fellow man.
To appreciate the uniqueness of our fellowship, I have found that it really helps to know how it was birthed. In November 2005, I was serving in the position of worship pastor at a local church. The Father was doing some awesome things in my life at that time and I was sure that I would be at that church until I retired. Adonai had very different plans for me, and retirement wasn't among them. The church had recently had a 'mission conference' to which we had invited the messianic congregation of Shomair Israel from Knoxville to come and worship with us. I was 'leading worship', or so I thought, that evening ...but as I sang I couldn't help but notice that something different than usual was happening. There were beautiful flags and banners waving all around the building. People were dancing, and I mean really dancing in the aisles. There was electricity in the air. I soon realized that I was not at all leading the worship. The leadership was coming from the Holy Spirit flowing through our guests and spilling over to our people. I saw that these people had something that I didn't have. It was a freedom within them that was palpable, and I knew I had to have it.
Just a few weeks later, I was awakened at 4:00 am and immediately began to hear the Father speak to me. He reminded me of that service and the freedom of worship that I experienced. He told me that He had believers all over this area that He had called to be extravagant in their worship of Him, but many of them were in churches where they were not allowed to fulfill their calling because their worship might be distracting or offensive to some. He also let me know that there were some who had given up on the mainstream church altogether, choosing instead to worship at home or in small groups. He asked if I would be willing to "create an atmosphere" in which these people could come and do what they were called to do, to worship Him freely.
I said yes...
So here we are several years later.
Adonai has assembled the most awesome group of people that I could ever imagine to worship Him in "Spirit and Truth".