Christmas of 2000 offered the first Advent season of the new millennium. As part of that significant celebration, historic First Presbyterian Church of Baton Rouge founded a new church, a fellowship named River Community Church and planted in Prairieville, Louisiana in Ascension Parish. First Presbyterian, at the time pastored by Rev. Russ Stevenson, contributed fifty members to the new venture and called Rev. Garnett Slatton, then a member of the First Church staff, as the church plant’s founding pastor.

Russ retired four years later (after twenty years as the senior pastor at First Presbyterian) and moved back to his native New York state with his wife Sherrill, where—in less than a year—he completed a book he had longed to write. As the new church approached its fifth anniversary, Garnett and the leadership of River Community sought a mission-minded pastor to plant their own daughter church, and they invited Russ to consider a return to the area to begin the work of planting a church east of Prairieville nearer Gonzales.

After much prayer, Russ agreed, and he and Sherrill settled into a home in the Pelican Point development, just south of Gonzales. He began teaching two Bible studies in the fall of 2005 and added an Alpha Course in January of 2006, meeting with over fifty people in the Pelican Point Clubhouse. That group was a mix of Protestants and Catholics, friends and neighbors, long-time church goers and those with spiritual questions, all of whom enjoyed the informal learning environment.

Former River Community youth pastor Steve Wallace and his wife Carole joined Russ and Sherrill in plans and prayers, and—as River Community Church South—the new congregation met for its first regular worship service on Easter Sunday 2006 with Russ preaching, Steve leading worship, and Carole handling media.

Since that initial service, River Church South has met in the landmark St. Joseph’s Schoolhouse on The Cabin Restaurant property. Located at the intersection of Highway 44 and Highway 22 in Burnside, the building was built by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart at the close of the Civil War, rescued by its current owners, and moved to the site from its original location in Convent. The old schoolhouse was Louisiana’s first school established for the education of the children of freed slaves and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Jeff Beck joined the staff as Director of Student Ministries early in 2008, Russ published his book Forgotten Foundation, and on November 16, a Chartering Commission of denominational pastors and elders—including members of the sessions of both First Presbyterian of Baton Rouge and River Community Church—welcomed River Church South as an established church within the New Wineskins Presbytery of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC). Members adopted Articles of Incorporation, presented elders, and officially called Russ as pastor of the new EPC church.

By God’s grace, River South continues to grow, adding new members and a variety of additional weekly programs and ministry opportunities. We invite you to help write the next chapters in our story of worship and service in Ascension Parish.