"A Passion for Loving God and Others" …..Bonsall, CA
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Pastor Mel loves serving as a pastor. He felt God calling him into ministry as a young man and is passionate about communicating the truth of God’s Word, whether it’s at church on Sunday morning or with someone he meets at the corner market. Mel completed his Master’s of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) as well as substantial work toward his Doctorate at the same school. He has over 30 years in ministry experience that has helped to shape and change his life. By God’s grace, he has served at ‘Peoples Church’ in Toronto, Canada, at Calvary Evangelical Free Church in Essex Fells, N.J. and for 12 years was the Senior Vice President of Student Life at Trinity International University/TEDS in Deerfield, IL. Prior to coming to Riverview, Pastor Mel was the Senior Pastor of a church he planted called Harvest Bible Chapel in Lake Zurich, Illinois. In less than 10 years, this church plant grew from 200 to over 1300 people on Sunday mornings. Mel, his wife Barbara met and were married in Germany and now have six children: Joelle, Brieanna, Mandy, Caden, Brady and Capri. The family is enjoying their newfound friends and church family here at Riverview and in the Fallbrook/Bonsall community. Pastor Mel loves telling people about Jesus Christ and teaching God’s Word in creative, practical ways. You’ll find him after every service standing by the doors of the church greeting people and getting to know them by name.
Ron Downing – Executive PastorRon works to ensure the fulfillment of Riverview’s mission and ministry strategy through organizational, administrative and pastoral leadership. What he loves most about his job is being able to use the gifts and abilities God has given him to be a benefit and encouragement to the other pastors and church leaders. Born in Escondido and raised in a Christian home, he gave his life to the Lord at the age of 17, and married his high school sweetheart, Cheryl, in 1973. He has spent over seven years in the U. S. Air Force, 20+ years as a Technical Consultant and Computer Software Engineer, and has been a pastor in full-time ministry since 1997. Ron got hids Mastor’s Degree from Liberty Theological Seminary, Lynchburg, VA. Ron and Cheryl now live in Fallbrook, and have two adult children. Their daughter, Heather, teaches middle school at Valley Christian School in San Marcos, and their son, Jason, works for a security company in Texas. Their first grandchild, Asher, was born to Jason and Catherine on Jan 22, 2012. 
Ron’s absolute favorite foods are Mountain Dew and dark chocolate. Some highlights of Ron’s past are that he has worked as a Law Enforcement Officer in Juvenile Hall, and as a Computer Systems Analyst on the NASA Space Shuttle program. Also, he has ridden over 90,000 miles on a bicycle, including being part of an 8-person team that rode in the Race Across AMerica (RAAM) in 2007, covering 3,054 miles in 6 days 9 hours and 22 minutes!
Joe has been at Riverview since May 2008 and says the thing he loves most about his job is being able to work with students (and at times being able to act like one). He grew up in a Christian home in Crestline, California; and after leaving home, he attended three colleges – cramming ‘four years of schooling into six’ and graduating at last from Cal Poly Pomona with a minor in Bible and a double major in International Business and Marketing. He worked with the youth at EV Free Fullerton for eight years (two years as a paid intern)- and it was there he met his lovely wife, Kimberlee. Married to Kim since 2004, they have ‘an energetic boy’ named Michael, and two delightful daughters Lizzie and Audrey. Joe loves to eat anything his wife cooks, especially her Chicken Chorizo, and you might be interested to know that he has managed to forget all his embarrassing moments – pushing them out of his mind so he’ll never have to think of them again.
Kathleen is responsible for overseeing and developing all aspects of our children’s ministry, and she loves the kids and the people she works with. Kathleen met her husband Tim in high school, and accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior after she began attending church regularly with his family. They were married at the age of 20 and started their family right away. They have three adult children – Timothy currently serving in the Army, Brian and Katie both attending college. They are an active family who enjoy football and baseball, the beach and boating. They’ve been at Riverview Church since November of 1988, and Kathleen began working with the 3-year-olds class soon after coming here. Before too long she agreed to be the coordinator, and shortly later became the director. Kathleen is a well-rounded person who says she would have gone into politics if she didn’t have a family.
