Snapshot: The River Church

Name: The River Church
Address: 501 S. Main St., Suite 101, Alpharetta, 30009
Phone: 678-860-0971
Website: www.wadeintheriver.org
Services: 10:30 a.m. Sundays
Worship Style: Contemporary with communion
Average Sunday Attendance: 35
Minister: Scott Seeke
Denomination Affiliation: Seeke describes it this way: "I'm an ELCA Lutheran, but you don't have to be," adding that members of all denominations are welcome at The River, which happens to be sponsored by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Mission statement:

“We journey to experience and share abundant life. We do that three ways: Up, Out, and In. Up is in worship, Out is in service to our community, and In is through retreats and small groups,” said Seeke.

Pastor’s path

The upstate New York native knew at age 17 that he wanted to be a pastor. Seeke graduated from Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, in 2001, and served five years at Cross of Life in Roswell. The 36-year-old pastor began The River in 2006 for people interested in a connection to God and a faith community who have not found a place in an existing church.

Seeke co-wrote “Get Low,” a recently released movie starring Robert Duvall, Bill Murray and Sissy Spacek. The storyline is based on a story told involving his wife’s grandfather and great-grandfather.

Ministries:

Members of The River partner with 7 Bridges to Recovery, a ministry that works to rescue Atlanta’s homeless population. For more than two years, church members have traveled downtown every other Wednesday to minister to the homeless and “pray with them, hug them, care for them and love them,” urging them to leave the streets and enter into a free spiritual recovery program.

The church’s prayer team, which prays daily for anyone asking for prayer, is busier than ever, according to Seeke. After attending the Taste of Alpharetta, the team ended up with a stack of prayer requests.

“These are prayer warriors who really take this ministry seriously,” said Seeke. “It has become something far beyond what we thought it would be. We pray for anybody about anything.”

The River is a church that doesn’t keep a membership roster.  Seeke believes “you gotta belong before you believe” and encourages everyone to participate in church ministries at their own level.

“You’d be amazed at how doing that changes the way you view people who walk in the door,” he said. “Because now, instead of a potential new member, now they’re just like everybody else so you treat them like they are just one more person.”

The River  offers children's church on Sundays, a teen ministry called Nooma Night, and "Beer and Bible," an open spiritual conversation held every other Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Taco Mac at the corner of Windward Parkway and Ga. 9.
Thoughts from the pastor: