Meet Our Pastor
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| Pastor Justin and Jennifer Soto. |
Salvation and Call -
Eight-year-olds who get saved can grow up and become pastors some day! This is certainly the case with Pastor Justin Soto, Pastor of River City Baptist Church. God's plans for Justin did not end with salvation as He led his family to a relatively new church in Southern California when he was 15 years old. The dynamic teen ministry of Faith Baptist Church of Wildomar and the leadership of Pastor Bruce Goddard were instrumentally used by God to direct the teen years of Justin Soto. While attending a nation wide youth conference at the age of 17, he surrendered his life to God's calling and full-time ministry.
Training -
Immediately after high school graduation, he went to Hyles-Anderson College, a Bible College in Northwest Indiana. He graduated in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Pastoral Theology. During his college years he was privileged to work at First Baptist Church of Hammond, IN, the church with the World's Largest Sunday School!
Ministry Experience -
Upon graduation from Bible College, Pastor went to work for his home church. He spent over four years as the assistant Pastor at Faith Baptist. His duties included overseeing a large bus ministry, soul-winning ministries, and adult ministries; including a young couples group and the senior citizen ministry.
In October of 2000 he answered the call to Pastor Charity Baptist Church in Colusa, CA. The church, which was just a small handful of people, had a burden to do something great for God. Located in a rural area, the church grew from around 20 per week to an average attendance of well over 100 each Sunday. In July of 2011, Pastor resigned from Charity Baptist to put all his efforts into the starting of River City Baptist Church.
Family -
Justin and Jennifer met in Bible college and were married in August of 1995. They have four children - Abby, Beka, Ellie, and Sam.
Convinced that the family unit, according to God's Word, is the backbone of society, the Sotos have poured their lives into family. This will be evident from just spending a few moments with them.
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