Discipleship Architect & Formation Pastor

Riverside Church is a growing, multi-generational congregation of 1,200 to 1,400 weekly attendees experiencing an exciting season of ministry with first-time guests walking through our doors every single week. While our front-door growth is strong, we need a strategic and programmatic builder to take full ownership of the back half of the spiritual journey. As the Spiritual Formation Pastor, you will architect, connect, and scale a cohesive, unified connection pathway that ensures no one falls through the cracks from their very first visit to becoming a deeply rooted, multiplying disciple of Jesus.

This is a rare opportunity to step into a healthy, financially stable, and independent church and build a major ministry framework from the ground up. You won’t just be maintaining legacy programs or doing the administrative shuffle; you will get to work directly with high-capacity ministry leaders, unlock a high degree of strategic autonomy, and shape the long-term discipleship DNA of a thriving suburban community.

Plus, you get to execute kingdom ministry in a relationally driven staff culture that balances hard work with healthy accountability, deep personal grace, and genuine fun in beautiful Southwest Florida.

• You are a deeply secure, self-aware, and relationally smart team player who has the personal humility to laugh at yourself when you fail and doesn’t take yourself too seriously.
• You are a high-capacity self-starter who thrives with a high degree of autonomy and flexibility, possessing the personal discipline to run hard after the mission without needing to be micromanaged.
• You are an architect at heart who can lean directly into strategic ambiguity, diagnose operational gaps across existing programmatic silos, and confidently design clear structural pathways.
• You value deep, table-based relational discipleship over rigid performance metrics or purely academic classes, keeping a firm focus on life-on-life investment.
• You hold a high level of relational intelligence that masterfully balances a warm, shepherding posture with crisp, direct administrative and leadership clarity.
• You are comfortable working in a highly collaborative, direct-feedback culture alongside strong, opinionated leaders who aren’t afraid to challenge your output for the sake of excellence.

Riverside Church is a growing, multi-generational congregation of 1,200 to 1,400 weekly attendees located in a thriving suburban community in Southwest Florida. Planted over 100 years ago in 1916 as a Southern Baptist church, Riverside became an independent church 12 years ago. Today, we operate with a highly collaborative leadership approach. Our Lead Pastor and Executive Pastor share responsibility for leading the church, each bringing complementary strengths to the role.

The Lead Pastor focuses on teaching and doctrine, while the Executive Pastor leads vision, strategy, and leadership development.

Currently, Riverside is in a strong season of ministry, with excellent external metrics in finances, attendance, and discipleship. We embrace a relationally driven staff culture that values hard work, proactive communication, risk-taking, and having genuine fun together. As a church, we are deeply committed to a groups-based model of life-on-life discipleship, moving away from academic or pressure-driven programs to foster authentic relationships that help our people genuinely find and follow Jesus.

Fort Myers offers a unique blend of coastal Florida lifestyle, strong family values, and year-round opportunities for recreation and community engagement. Located along Florida’s Gulf Coast, Fort Myers is known for its beautiful beaches, abundant outdoor activities, excellent parks, and…