Our Leadership Team

River Church is led and cared for by a Pastoral Leadership Team consisting of three members, Dave Edwards, Dick Jaques and John Kelsey.

Dave Edwards

Dave Edwards brings experience from over 30 years of ministry in student ministries and churches in Texas, Nebraska and Oklahoma. Dave’s vision and skills provided the impetus for the birth of River Church in 2006. He now invests much of his time to developing leadership within the church to insure that River remains consistent to the Bible, zealous for Christ, and focused on ministry to our members, our community and the nations.

Dick Jaques

Dick was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas and graduated from Kansas State University in 1982 with a Bachelor's of Science degree. He spent six years on staff at the BSU at K-State. In 1990, He graduated from Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon, with a Masters in Education. Dick serves as the counselor on staff with the Baptist Student Union at OU. He has been there since 1992.

He and his wife, Nancy, have three children; Matt, Emily and Bethany.

Dick and Nancy love to open their home to college students, and especially international students. In their spare time, the couple love to golf. Nancy is known for her wonderful cooking, and Dick is known for his coffee snobbery (as him about it!).

John Kelsey

John and Jen Kelsey are both originally from Sapulpa, OK. They began dating at the age of sixteen, and were transformed by the ministry of the Baptist Student Union at the University of Oklahoma. After graduation, John and Jen got married and prepared for the mission field by going to graduate school at Southwestern Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX. God had other plans in mind, and John and Jen returned to Norman in 1998 to work on staff at the BSU. Their heart passion is to raise up life-long disciples of Jesus at OU.

In 2006, they joined with Dave and Nancy Edwards and Dick and Nancy Jaques to plant River Church. As a part of this leadership team, John and Jen are excited to pursue God and serve His people by reaching Norman with the Good News of Jesus Christ. As a preacher's kid and a preacher's grandkid, John and Jen feel like they are a part of a church that really makes sense to them for the very first time.

They love the community and vision of River Church! Their son, Josiah Max, loves his friends at River and loves learning about Jesus in the Children's Ministry.