Hi!  I’m Shawn Blackwelder, the pastor here at Riverside.  I believe that the spiritual life is a journey, and it’s my job to be a guide.  One of the things I enjoy is kayaking (and the Elizabeth City area provides lots of opportunities).  When I started out, I needed someone who knew what they were doing to help me choose the right kayak and equipment, to teach me the right techniques, even how to paddle.  What I didn’t need was someone to do the paddling for me, because the point was to learn how to do it myself.  I needed a guide—someone to show me where to go, to identify safe and hazardous routes—so I could become adept enough to explore a little on my own.  I think that’s a pretty good analogy for the work of a pastor.  I’m supposed to help people discover their own gifts, and then equip and empower them to use those gifts.

As I see God at work in people’s lives, in ways I never could have predicted, I understand more and more that God is a big God—holy, vast, and wondrous—the God of Ephesians 3:20, who can accomplish “abundantly far more than all we could ask or imagine.”  Yet, although our God may be a big God, that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t enjoy performing on a small stage sometimes.  God takes great pleasure working in unexpected places.

Pastor Shawn Blackwelder and family

Dan Simmons, Music Director

Frances Shannonhouse, Administrator