Leadership and Staff
Our church is served by a great team of people, made up of pastors, elders, deacons, trustees and other staff. You can read about them all below.
Lead Pastor - Rob Payne (pictured with his wife Sarah below)
Rob grew up in Central Bedfordshire in a town called Houghton Regis.
He became a Christian in an Elim Network Church in Dunstable 1995, where married his wife Sarah and then moved to Dunstable in 1999. Rob went on staff at the church in 2003 as the youth & children’s pastor. He was brought onto the leadership in 2012.
He was ordained as an Elim Network Pastor July 2016 and completed a degree in Applied Theology at Regents Theological College 2018.
Rob was voted on to the Elim Network National Team in 2022 where he currently serves the Elim movement.
Rob and his wife Sarah have two children. They love movies, the theatre and of course the seaside.
Founding Pastors - Terry and Juanita Baker
Pastors Terry and Juanita Baker were the original founders of River of Life Church on January 27th 2002.
After official retirement a few years ago, they came back into Senior Leadership with the Church Leadership Team of Trustees and Elders to help the Church after the Pandemic. Through much prayer it was decided the Church should no longer be an independent Church but become an Elim Network Church and this happened June 2024, for which the Leadership Team thanks all those in the Elim Network and David Campbell for their help in achieving.
The Lord has blessed River of Life Church and the mortgage on the building was redeemed a year earlier than had been anticipated in December 2023 enabling the Leadership Team to seek God’s will on employing a paid, full time Senior Pastor for and by the Church.
This resulted in Pastor Rob Payne being employed full time as Senior Pastor of River of Life Church and he commenced employment 1 July 2024.
Pastors Terry and Juanita will remain in the Leadership Team of the Church and they are looking forward in faith, with great anticipation, to all that the Lord has planned for the future of River of Life Church, Felixstowe as Pastor Rob, his wife Sarah embrace and enjoy Felixstowe.
Elders
Terry and Juanita Baker serve as elders. You can read about them above.
Julie Harvey is the Worship team leader at River of Life Church, and finds it an honour leading a congregation into God's presence. She served for many years in Aglow International, a Worldwide Organisation, as the President of Ipswich, and was also the Worship Leader for Ipswich and Colchester Aglow. Julie is a Manager for Shelter Housings in Ipswich and she has worked in this role for 21 years. Her heart is to worship the Lord and serve others in the Church.
Sally Verow is co-leader of our Prayer Ministry Team and is a very charismatic member of River of Life Church. She has also, for many years, been the co-leader of our Samaritans Purse Annual Shoeboxes Appeal where thousands of underprivileged children receive shoebox gifts at Christmas time every year.
Deacons
Julie Harvey is one of our deacons. See her photo & bio above.
Ray Harvey has his own business which he combines with his work as the Custodian/Caretaker of River of Life Church. His expertise and long experience in property maintenance and management is second to none and he ensures that everything to do with the physical building structure and grounds of the church are maintained to an extremely high standard. His role as a Trustee synergises perfectly with his work as Custodian/Caretaker. When anything goes wrong in the building, Ray is always the first port of call!
Trustees
Terry Baker is our Trustees Chairman
Ray Harvey is Secretary to the Trustees.
Julie Harvey serves as a Trustee.
Sally Verow also serves as a Trustee.
You can read about them all in the sections above.
Staff
Anita Chenery is our full time Administrator at River of Life and deals with the running of the office, handling enquiries on a day-to-day basis, secretarial services, and assisting the pastors in the efficient running of the church.