River of Life Ministries was founded in 1998 by Mark Simpson, a pastor from the Chicago area. Although Mark was a senior pastor at the time, he knew he had a calling to full time missions, so he took a enormous step of faith and left full time pastorship to begin teaching, training and equipping young believers all over the world, as well as bringing people to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Over the years, Mark has ministered in countries including China, Mexico, Guatemala, Indonesia and Peru. Not only does he work with established churches in these countries by training and equipping the leadership and the congregation, he also trains young pastors and leaders as they start their own churches. In addition, Mark takes teams from churches all over the United States to places like Mexico, Peru and Guatemala to help build homes and churches for believers there.
His ministry has seen thousands of adults and young people come to know Christ - and a discipler at heart, he goes back every year to each location to encourage and strengthen the believers in their faith and their own ministries of local outreach.
We started this blog to have a chance to share the things that God has shown Mark over the years, from the time he was a young missionary of twenty three,
living in Guatemala, and newly married to his wife, Lois - to his years pastoring churches in Pittsburgh and Chicago, and through the last ten years as he’s devoted his life to reaching the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We pray that you find hope and encouragement for your walk of faith as we post writings that deal with the issues of every man’s walk of faith - from deep, relevant teaching from God’s Word to understanding the Great Commission that God has called for all of His children - reaching the world around us with the message of hope and restoration that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Mark and his wife, Lois, have four children - a daughter and three sons. Two of his children are married and he is getting ready to be a grandfather for the first time as his son and daughter-in-law are expecting a baby in August of 2008. Mark and his family all live in the Chicago area. If you would like to contact Mark, you can e-mail him at riverofliferevival@gmail.com.
