Our Story
Roy Shinn, LEAD PASTOR
A Promise is Given
When I answered God's call to full-time ministry as a college student in 1996, church planting was not something I imagined in my future. But a promise from God changed that.
During the summer of 2006, while in a seminary class, God’s promise in Psalm 2:8 gripped my heart. It was God's global promise to bring the nations and the peoples of the earth to Jesus Christ as His treasured possession. It was a Father's promise to His Son that was rooted in an older promise God made to Abraham. In Genesis 12:1-3, God promised to bless Abraham so that he would be a blessing to all the nations of the earth through Christ. As Abraham's children of faith, we are now that channel of blessing.
I knew at that time God was calling me to play a part in something very big that millions of others were also a part. He's promised to use our frail lives as pipelines of His blessing; to bring the nations to Christ and bless them through us! And God had guaranteed the outcome. So with a lot of excitment and some fear, I stepped out to start The Promise Church in Riverside, CA only knowing one thing, God always keeps His promises.
A Promise Unfolds
Beginning January of 2008, I started to learn how faithful God is in keeping His promises. First, I had the opportunity to present my church plant proposal to our sponsor church, The Garden Christian Fellowship, and to our denomination, The Missionary Church; and the response for support was tremendous. By April, God had given me seven brave individuals to join the church plant team, and two more soon after that.
In addition to all of this, the most amazing blessing on this journey came in June of 2008 when God brought me a life partner to pursue His promise together. On June 7th I was married to my beautiful wife, Jill, who I did not know lived in Riverside when we first met a year prior!
By the end of June, 2008, Jill and I came back from our honeymoon, settled into Riverside, and began meeting with our launch team of 10 people right away.
A Promise is Kept
Since June of 2008, it has been an incredible adventure of stepping out in faith and seeing God 's promises come through again and again.
We have met hundreds of people in Riverside; and passed out thousands of flyers, water bottles, doorhangers, and office supplies.
God opened the doors for us to work with local businesses to bless the community with free goods and spread the word about The Promise.
God sovereignly connected us with several other churches in the Riverside area through a city renewal ministry. We've been privileged to partner with them in serving the homeless, and we look forward to working with them in the future.
God graciosuly opened the doors for us to meet at an elementary school near the UCR campus. And on Oct 5th, 2008 we held our first public worship service when God's promise became a tangible reality. Since then, several people have come to visit our church, and catch the vision of God's promises for their lives. We will continue to hold preview services until our grand opening on January 11th, 2009.
We invite everyone to come join The Promise, and take part in fulfilling God's awesome promise to bring Riverside and the nations to Christ and be blessed.
