Fridays | 11am–2pm | drive up food distribution (west end of the building)

Donate to the Food Pantry – view the shopping list suggestions or pick up food tags at the Ministry Information Counter in the Foyer on the first Sunday of the month. When you have food items ready to donate, use the food donation bins in the west wing airlock during the week or in the center airlock on Sunday mornings. Thank you for your support of Riverwood’s Food Pantry!

A Christian-based health care organization with a commitment to providing quality urgent health care services to the uninsured in the Greater Akron area. Services are provided at no cost to the patient by professional, licensed physicians and clinicians. For more information or to become involved, click the button below to contact us.

APS provides support and services for women and families in crisis pregnancies by providing material, physical, and spiritual assistance during pregnancy and after delivery. APS’s sister organization Eva also provides no-cost pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, and education on life options. For more information on how you can help, see more info.

The Akkin (ah-KEEN) live in western Dagestan in the Caucasus mountain region of Russia. They are one of 45 distinct people groups (ethnos) first identified by outsiders in 1997. There are about 100,000 Akkin scattered in the city of Khasavyurt and smaller towns. Some Akkin have left their homeland and are living as refugees in Austria and Germany. There are no known Christians among the Akkin in Dagestan or among Akkin refugees in Europe.

In 1995, we joined our love for one another and our calling to serve the North Caucasus Peoples of Russia. We ache for every one of the 45 Caucasus language groups and 1000 villages to have 1) at least a first chance to respond to Christ’s message of victory over death, 2) victory over Satan’s reign of terror, and 3) forgiving grace to those who surrender to Jesus.

We met through Campus Crusade for Christ (CRU) at Ohio University where we both did short-term trips to France. God clearly called us to France as we began our relationship together. Our student loan debt kept us in the US for the next eight years where the Lord grew us in many ways and taught us about church planting. In 2015, God opened all the doors for us to arrive in France eager for the journey ahead and to experience the call He had on our lives to serve Him there. Our son Aiden joined us on this journey a few years later.

I joined China Outreach Ministries in 2011 and serve with other COM staff at Kent State University. God has used our different spiritual gifts and talents to make a greater impact for His kingdom here in Kent, Ohio. China Outreach Ministries seeks to give Christ to China’s future leaders (current university students, research scholars, and professionals) while they are attending universities and research centers in North America.

Andrea (Andrew) is from southern Italy. I had the privelage to study in seminary (very uncommon for Itailians). Blerta is originally from Albania. I met Christ in the 90’s after communism fell and missionaries planted a church in my hometown. I moved to Rome to attend college – and met Andrea. Together we serve with CRU/Agape Italia full-time to evangelize and disciple students. In April 2023, we had our baby girl Gioia Grace.

Del Rey Ministries exists to build vibrant, self-sustaining, Christ-centered communities in the sugar cane villages of the Dominican Republic. We are a team of local Dominican and Hatian pastors partnered with American pastors.

John transplanted to Northeast Ohio and took the perspectives class with Pastor Lon at Riverwood as a Stow student. Jane, a Toledo native, met John at the University of Akron. After getting married and living abroad for two years, we returned to Northeast Ohio in 2011 for training and worked with international students. In 2018, we moved to North Africa where we currently live. We now have 4 sons: 10 years old, 8 years old, 2 years old, and a baby.

I grew up in Stow and was a member of Riverwood before moving away. I went through the MMS apprenticeship program, completed my aircraft mechanic’s certifications in 2017, and joined the long-term staff. Currently I’m serving as a project leader/supervisor.

God began to move us towards cross cultural work in 2015 when we joined the staff of a ministry in Central Florida focusing on short-term training trips with churches in the majority world. Through more than five years on staff there, God began to soften our hearts towards full-time cross-cultural missions and opened a door to work in central Europe with GEM. We have three kids – Andrew (9), Caroline (7) and Joshua (4).

We came to know Jesus in our early 30’s and soon after began attending Riverwood. While there, we became involved in cross-cultural ministry and short-term missions which planted the seed to share the Gospel globally. MMS prepares people and planes for world-wide missionary service. God had been equipping Dale with years of experience in electronics which would be handy for troubleshooting and repairing airplane avionics systems!

We serve with Beyond in South Asia with our two children Naomi and Ezra. We ministered with Beyond for 17 years and serve a Tibetean people group called the Tazig people living in the Himalayan mountains. Lizzy worked as a teacher and principal at an international Christian school for the past eight years. Unfortunately, we have used the maximum number of permits an expatriate can work in the country, and we are relocating in 2023 to a new country close to the Tazig people.

God called us to China in 2013. We quit our jobs, sold our house and cars, and we moved to China to serve as missionaries. Glen taught PhD students, and Erin taught undergrads at one of the top universities in Beijing, China. We were privileged to disciple first-generation Christians weekly. We returned to America in 2015 when God transplanted us to North Carolina State University to reach out to the Chinese students and scholars there. In April 2018, God relocated us to Kent State.

I grew up in Hungary, where my parents still serve as missionaries. After studying music education at Taylor University in Indiana, God opened the doors for me to move to SE Asia to teach music for 10 years at international schools in Cambodia, China, and the Philippines. When God led me to move to Ohio, where my parents are from, I started volunteering with Interaction International in order to continue serving missionary kids and joined their staff at the beginning of 2023.