"Helping the local church
fulfill the Great Commission"
Ministry Summary
Jesus has called us to make disciples, not just converts. We believe that disciple-making occurs best in the local church. It is there that believers can be helped to mature into fully committed followers of Christ, who manifest the presence and power of the Kingdom of God in their lives and ministry. Our passion is to enable people to grow in Christ, and to see the Church become all that it was meant to be! Our greatest joy is helping others to grow in knowing and serving the Lord.
God has called us to be teachers and equippers; we have over 25 years of experience in teaching, training, and creating effective ministry teams. We help people discover their unique gifts and give them the training and encouragement they need to move ahead in ministry. By doing this, we build up the Body of Christ and help believers discover God’s purposes for their lives. Many individuals we have mentored and equipped have gone on to become successful pastors and church leaders.
When the Lord sends us to a church, we serve there as a resource for the church leadership. We help them determine how to fulfill their vision for spiritual formation, then we stay with them until we see the work accomplished. We reside there for a season, establishing relationships, developing ministry teams, training up leaders, and setting the process in place to continue to grow and multiply after we leave. Relationships are key, and we spend our time developing people, not building programs.
A commitment—not a “quick fix”
We believe that teaching and training are most effective when done through authentic relationship, over an extended period of time. Rather than do a weekend seminar and depart, we believe it is much more effective to stay (for weeks or months, as needed) to establish relationships, raise up lay leaders, develop ministry teams, and release them to continue to grow and multiply after our season there has ended.
The bottom line
Unlike typical church consultants, we do not charge high fees for our services. Because “the worker is worthy of his wages,” we do expect to receive some compensation, as determined through honest discussion and prayer.
Michael Letinsky
Michael has a Ph.D. in Biology and was a Professor at the UCLA School of Medicine for 22 years. When he met the Lord in 1977, he began to seriously study the Bible and pursue spiritual growth. He has extensive experience in education, teaching and training, administration, computer technology, and leadership. After serving in several churches in lay leadership positions, as an elder, and as a key leader in two church plants, he was called into full-time ministry in 1997. He served as Pastor of Spiritual Growth at Sonrise Christian Fellowship in Simi Valley, California for over 5 years.
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A glimse into understanding the vision & passion of our pastors.
A weekly look at a different
Pastor of Simi Valley
One Pastor's Heart & Vision
Archives "A Pastor's Heart:
It has been almost seven amazing years since we planted a new wineskin called The River here in Simi Valley. We had no idea what the Lord was doing when He called us to begin in our living room.
After reading Deuteronomy 6:4-9, I began to see that God was calling families together. He wanted the children to be discipled by their parents. He wanted the generations together, learning, worshipping and modeling their faith to the next generation. This was a paradigm shift in theology for me. Beginning a house church brought the life of Christ to my family in unprecedented ways. Christ became real in our daily life.
We began gathering in our home doing a few simple and infinitely reproducible actions with the=2 0family of God. We gathered as families and singles as one church to pray over a shared meal, we had a time of fellowship, worshipped the Lord in song, shared our testimonies of what Jesus had done this past week, encountered the Word together as families and prayed for one another before departing to our homes. This has developed in to a network of House Churches called Living Streams that flow in to the larger network called The River.
Additionally, my relationship with the pastors has been life-changing and has definitely made me a better shepherd. Every Wednesday we pray together for each other and for a move of God in our city. We have committed to speak well of one another and eliminate the worldly spirit of competition. After 12 years of seeing God do a supernatural work of unity among the shepherds, I believe our city is closer to revival than ever before. John 17:23 says “I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” It seems to me that unity may well be the factor the precipitates the move of God we all seek for our city!
Pastor Marty Kruse
The River House Church Network
2369 Royal Ave. (Centerpoint Church)
805.526.0755 – church office
