The River Conference

06/14/2026

06/14/2026

This morning, Supt. James installed Pastor Dale Kaufman as the lead pastor of RIVER Church (Lakewood, CO). Pastor Dale began his ministry there as a youth pastor (1984) and now returns “home!” We’re so excited about what’s next for River Church!

Pray that River Church will overflow with the Holy Spirit and have a great impact in the greater city of Lakewood, CO for the Kingdom.

06/14/2026

Leadership Summit 2026 is a wrap. We’re celebrating 14 new ordained ministers, two new societies, three new Conference Ministerial Candidates, and two healthy transitions: from Supt. Michael Traylor to Supt. James Leman, and from Bishop Kenny Martin to Bishop Fraser Venter. Here are a few highlight pics! More to come. Please share your ordination pics to [email protected].

06/11/2026

Leadership Summit and Annual conference begins on June 12th in Denver CO! Powerful worship, rich fellowship, celebrating 13 ordinands and welcoming a new Superintendent and Bishop!!!!

05/18/2026

The River Conference is excited to announce our next Lead Pastor for RIVER Church in Lakewood, CO: Rev. Dale Kaufman. Pastor Dale will be appointed as lead pastor at our June 2026 Leadership Summit.

About Dale: Dale Kaufman is an ordained elder and is currently serving as the pastor of the Colville FM Church in Colville, Washington. He and his wife Pam have been married for 33 years and have two sons, both of whom are serving the Lord in ministry. Dale has pastored in several FM Conferences in his career, including in Colorado, Oregon, Michigan, and Wisconsin. He has a passion and zeal for preaching the Gospel, and especially for reaching the next generations through discipling and setting them free to do ministry. His three great loves are Jesus, his wife and kids (and now grandson), and Dr. Pepper!

Pastor Dale says this about his return to River Church: "Having served at what is now the River Church over 30 years ago as their youth pastor, I am excited to be 'coming home' and to have the opportunity to use the gifts and ministry skills that I have gained in that time to help revitalize and reinvigorate the church. I am passionate about helping to chart a new course of ministry that will bless the community of Lakewood and contribute to the building of God's Kingdom through the River Church. We will 'strain toward what is ahead,' as Paul says in Philippians 3, to bring the light and life of Jesus into the hearts of all that we can!"

Blessings to Pastor Dale and Pam and the community of Lakewood's River Church in this new season of ministry together. Please also pray with us for the next leader of Colville FMC and their transition as a congregation.

05/15/2026

The River Conference is excited to announce our next Lead Pastor for First Free Methodist Church, Spokane, Pastor Mia Shin. Pastor Mia will be appointed as lead pastor at our June 2026 Leadership Summit.

About Mia: Pastor Mia Shin has a passion to reach this generation with the authentic person of Christ. She empowers people to influence their community to impact eternity. For over 25 years, she has been preaching and mentoring in various multi-ethnic church contexts as well as teaching in K-12 public school and college settings.

She received her Master of Divinity from Talbot Theological Seminary at Biola and continuously seeks out ways to mentor young folks. Her life outside church walls— as she connects with and serves various organizations—exemplifies her priority of being Jesus to her community.

Pastor Mia’s husband of 26 years and her two adult children lovingly support her ministries. In her spare time, you will find her writing songs, singing her heart out, rock climbing, crafting, and drinking coffee with friends.

Pastor Mia says of her appointment: “I’m excited to partner with the members of First Church to reach the greater Spokane community with the tangible love of Jesus.”

She also wrote this reflection on her recent visit to Spokane:

"Whenever I am about to visit a particular city or country, my thoughts are drawn not to its location but to its people. Who can I reconnect with? Who will I meet? What is God doing among the people? So in considering this particular pastoral position — in a city I had never visited before — I felt it very important to meet
and use my noonchi* (definition below) with the leaders of First Church.

- Would we share a similar heart for those far from Jesus?
- Would we be open to the discomfort required when following the Spirit’s leading?
- Would we sense the familiar bond that siblings share in the Family of God?

After gathering with and hearing from many board and cabinet members, my husband and I felt a strange sense that we had arrived home.
“I really like them,” I said.
“Me too.”
“They feel like family.”
“Yeah.”

There was something beautiful about the thought of leading these beautiful brothers and sisters along the unpredictable journey of following Jesus. How will the Spirit stir the people of First Church to reach Spokane with the tangible love
of Jesus? We are about to find out!

*Noonchi = The Korean cultural norm of discerning and responding appropriately to words or body language (or lack thereof) in a given space."

Connect with Pastor Mia on Instagram or Facebook

05/10/2026

Happy Mother’s Day!! Thankful for all
Mothers and those in our communities who have mothered us!

04/25/2026

It is important to realize that most churches in the US have about 70 people in attendance. While we often look at numerical growth as a sign of spiritual vitality (and it is one of the signs), we are realizing that disciple-making is often a better metric, and that discipling is not reflected in Sunday specific worship attendance but in the effectiveness of the community to be disciples who make disciples in multiple spheres of influence.

If you attend a church that averages 80 people on Sunday, that's higher than the median.

If your church has 300 folks show up, that's 4x higher than the median.

The average church is small, folks.

70 people is the median.

02/24/2026

This week 15 leaders of The River Conference are at the Wesleyan Holiness Women Clergy conference in Minneapolis. God’s Spirit and presence was active in Minneapolis before we arrived, and we are here in a posture of encouragement. 700 women from 6+ denominations are here to gather and worship and learn and grow in ministry. Join us in praying that God would minister to the hearts of these women and men, and that our leaders would be Christ’s light to the hotel staff and small business owners who are so weary from all they have endured this winter. It is not a suprise to God that we are here in this city at this time. To God be the glory.

02/18/2026

Lord, Our Father,
We seek Your guidance to keep our hearts and minds attentive to both the solemnity and the anticipated joy of the Lenten season. Uphold and inspire our worship and prayers during this time. We pray, Lord, that this period serves as a moment for reflection and revitalization of our faith.
Amen.