NEWS BLOG

2000+ Imagine Christmas

Backpack Peoria 2008

Bare Feet, Open Hearts

Ebenezer Seminary, Tanzania

Election Eve Prayer

Fear Factors 2008

Fun For All at the Fall Festival

Gross-Outs, Games, and God (Fear Factors 2007)

Ladies Get a Taste of Heaven!

Metamora Football Wins State Championship!

Mission Peoria: A View from the Frontline

Overflowing with Baptisms!

Project Armor-All Comes to Riverside

Tanzania Missions in Peoria Journal Star

Watoto Children's Choir Spreads Joy

Yule Like Riverside!

July 4, 2010

Riverside To Open The Oaks Campus!

We are very excited to announce an exciting new venture that Riverside Community Church is embarking upon.

Recently we were approached by a church in Peoria, 12 Oaks Community Church, who were interested in donating their church to us.  They had a smaller congregation, but a great 250 seat church that they felt Riverside, with it’s resources, could help to build and grow. The church is located at 2906 N Twelve Oaks Drive, Peoria.

This miraculously came at a time when we as a church leadership felt that God was leading us to look for opportunities to open Riverside campus churches around the area.

We are excited to announce that due to this donation we will be launching our first campus church in this building – Riverside Community Church, The Oaks.

So what is a campus church, you may ask?

Many churches around the country are successfully using this model and are seeing great growth in their churches.

The idea is that we will raise up a team of people that are willing to commit to helping launch this new campus. This team will not be people who plan on just going to attend. This team will be the backbone of the church. They will be the ushers, the greeters, the children workers, the worship team. If you are interested in finding out more about what opportunities there are to serve send us an email to pat.sheets@riversidepeoria.com

By the fall this team will be ready to have their first Sunday service at this location. We will spend a lot of time promoting this launch around the community and are expecting many brand new people to start attending this church that have never been to Riverside before.

The way that we plan on ensuring that this new campus carries the DNA of Riverside is quite a unique one to Peoria, but one that we feel that will help Riverside reach many more people across the city.

Every element of the service will be live. The greeting, the worship, the announcements, the whole service UP UNTIL the message. At this point a large center screen will come down, and then utilizing some great new technology, we will present that morning’s sermon from the sanctuary in Riverside’s downtown location. This means that everyone who starts to attend this new campus will get the same feel and experience that we all enjoy each week at Riverside downtown.

For this to be successful we feel that this campus will need a full time campus pastor. Pat Sheets, one of our current elders, will assume that role. As the congregation continues to grow we anticipate that the staff there will grow too.

Stay tuned, as we expect this to be just the first of many more campuses to come across Central Illinois.

Posted 7/4/2010 in In the News

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May 21, 2010

Riverside Takes a Stand on Proposed Project

In light of the recent press with regards to the relocation of Big Al’s, we would like to take a moment to share with you Riverside’s stance on this matter.

Our church recognizes that we are in a unique location in the heart of downtown Peoria. This is intentional. We believe that God has placed us here to impact the inner city of Peoria, and all the surrounding areas, with our ministries.

We also recognize that in being located downtown we are neighbors with businesses that a lot of churches don’t normally find themselves next to, including bars, nightclubs and Big Al’s itself.

Although as a church we do not agree with what Big Al’s represents, we do realize that as a business they have a right to be in Peoria. Our concern is that we feel there are rules already in place that should not allow this relocation to take place.
 
This relocation flies in opposition of the ordinance that states that no adult club should be located within 500 feet of a church, school or residential property.  However, current changes are being processed on the basis of an amendment used to grandfather Big Al's present location.

Riverside is located no more than 400 feet from where this establishment would be located. The Journal Star reported one councilman as saying the properties would be right at 500 feet apart, but the ordinance states property to property, not “depending on exactly where you measure the church from the edge of the proposed building."

It is also the opinion of some members of the public that preference should be given to Big Al’s over the church, as they pay taxes and we don’t. While it is true that as a non- profit organization we are exempt from paying taxes, we would like to shed some light on what we DO offer the city.

Since arriving in the City of Peoria, Riverside has renovated two rapidly deteriorating landmark buildings within the city, and in doing so has invested $4.5 million in these buildings with no monetary support from the government.  Riverside invests over $200,000 annually on programs that directly benefit the inner-city of Peoria. Through our Dream Center Peoria programs over the last eight years we have provided 14,000 backpacks with school supplies to kids in need, and this year we are introducing a program for school kids’ uniforms. We help over 500 families a month with clothing, food, household goods and furniture. Our state of the art youth facility provides a safe environment for kids in the city to flourish and find refuge from the streets. Our AOK events mobilize volunteers from over 10 churches to impact 10 targeted areas of the city through acts of service on a Saturday, every other month. And from fall to spring each year more than 250 kids and youth participate in DCP athletics. In addition, Riverside invests over a million dollars annually into the local economy.

I have written to all of our city council members. In the letter I stated, “The reasons the original ordinance was passed are the same reasons we appeal to you to vote for the upholding of the said ordinance - the safe guarding of women, youth and children within the vicinity. Please, this must be your main concern, as it is ours. We want to appeal to you as the representative of the people to please vote to uphold the law - the original ordinance.”

I would encourage any that are in support of Riverside on this issue to contact our city’s councilors prior to the vote this coming Tuesday, and let them know there are many who are not in favor of this move. You can find their contact information at http://www.ci.peoria.il.us/council-members.

Posted 5/21/2010 in In the News

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April 14, 2010

More frequent updates coming soon!

Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Feeds... there are so many ways we can communicate with you, and right now we're re-vamping everything!  We hope you'll join us for the ride!

Posted 4/14/2010 in FYI

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February 11, 2009

Miracle Stories Keep Coming In!

Pastor John originally asked for Miracle Stories months ago, but the stories of God at work in our lives keep coming in!

We've received so many stories that we've kept a record of all of them and add a few each week.  Have you read them lately? Stories will be updated as often as possible, so keep checking!

Click to read the miracle stories

Posted 2/11/2009 in FYI

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November 11, 2008

Andy King (Executive Director, DCP) Honored

Andy King (Dream Center Peoria Executive Director) was honored recently at the "40 Leaders Under 40" banquet.

Read more at the Dream Center Peoria blog.

Posted 11/11/2008 in Concerts, Conferences, and Special Events

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