Meet the Pastors
Pastor Steve was born and raised in a Jewish home. He was Bar Mitzvahed at the age of 13. Pastor Steve graduated from the University of Central Florida in 1972 with a degree in Political Science/Pre Law. In 1974, while seeking to find answers to life, he was attempting to "find God" through various "Eastern metaphysical theories." On August 24, 1974, while attempting to meditate, Steve asked these questions: "Is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob real? Are you there? Is Jesus who He says He is?" Suddenly, Steve entered into an open vision and saw a ball of fire, amber in color. A right hand stretched out towards him and he heard an audible voice that said, "Yes I Am. What you are doing is wrong. Stop and follow Me." Since that time, Steve and Diane's life has dramatically changed.
Diane was saved and filled with the Holy Ghost at the age of five while attending services at Central Foursquare Church in Orlando, Florida. Pastor Steve met Diane in 1969 in Orlando. They were married on June 5, 1970. They have been called into the ministry of the Lord, Jesus Christ since 1974.
Pastor Steve and Diane started a church in their home in Orlando in 1978 called Victory Tabernacle and maintained that local church for over five years, until the Lord called them to Tampa, Florida.
They moved to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in 1991 to begin hosting the nationally syndicated overnight program, Praise in the Night, which is heard locally Monday through Friday nights from 11pm to 1 am on 91.3 FM, KDKR. They have been involved in various ministry offices: holding revival meetings in the U.S., Canada, and various other foreign nations.
The Basic Tenets of Our Faith
We believe in the One, True God. That He is triune in nature as Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
The Scriptures, otherwise known as the Bible made up of 66 books of the Old and New Testament, are God-inspired and are infallible.
God has created all things for His pleasure and purpose.
The Son of God was manifested to be the sin-substitute for fallen man. Hence, we believe in Original Sin and the total depravity of mankind.
Jesus Christ has paid for our eternal salvation and it is only through Him whereby we can be saved and obtain eternal life. Salvation comes by grace, through faith, not of works, but is a gift of God.
The Second Coming of the Lord, Jesus Christ to establish the Messianic Kingdom upon the earth.
The Baptism of the Holy Ghost on those who believe in the Lord, Jesus Christ with the Scriptural evidence of speaking in Tongues as shown in the Book of Acts.
The resurrection of the dead and the Final Judgment of the dead. The saints and fellow heirs to be alive with God forever. The unbelievers will experience eternal damnation.
The Birth of Riverwalk Fellowship
Pastors Steve and Diane Solomon started a church in their home in Orlando, Florida in 1978 called Victory Tabernacle and maintained the church for over five years. The Lord called them to move to the Dallas/Fort Worth area in 1991. They began ministering to a nationwide audience through the radio program "Praise in the Night."
In 1996, the Lord began to speak to Pastor Steve about pioneering another church. Pastor Steve began to seek the Lord as to the time and place, and he wanted this call and vision to be saturated in the presence,
power, and will of God.
Through the direction of the Lord, this new vision began to take shape in 1999. Pastors Steve and Diane were members of Calvery Cathedral in Fort Worth and began to share and pray about the new church with
Pastor Bob Nichols.
The Lord spoke distinctly to Pastor Steve to start the church in the beginning of 2001. The following is Pastor Steve's testimony of the events leading to the birth of Riverwalk Fellowship.
"I had just returned from a revival meeting with Pastor Sam Carr in Shreveport, Louisiana and I was back in the Praise in the Night studio on the night of January 1, 2001. The Lord spoke to me about the date to start the meetings. He spoke to me and told me to read 2 Chronicles 3:2. I knew that our first meeting would be February 2, 2001. We didn't have a congregation. There was my family, Phil Ligon, the staff of PITN and their families along with a few other families.
On January 8, 2001, the Lord spoke to me and said, "Call Spencer Nordyke, he can help you." I had never met Spencer, but I was familiar with his ministry, "Youth Wave." I called Spencer and he directed me to call Pastor Danny Smith.
The Birth of Riverwalk Fellowship (page 2)
I called Danny at the exact time he was writing an advert-isement to be placed in the Dallas Morning News asking for a ministry or church to help him with the expenses of his building. Needless to say, the Lord was working all things out for Riverwalk Fellowship. We began our first meeting on February 22, 2001, in Grand Prairie.
The Lord continued to add to the church and we had our first Sunday service on April 1, 2001. Through the summer of 2001, we all believed that the Lord was going to give us a building in the near future. I received two distinct "words from the Lord" concerning our current building and facilities. The first word came from Dr.Christian Harfouche. Christian was having a series of meetings at Christian City Church with my good friend, Pastor Mike Hankins. This was in August, 2001. During the meeting, Christian called Diane and me out and told us that the Lord just spoke to him about Riverwalk. He said, "THE LORD IS GOING TO GIVE YOU A BUILDING THAT IS COMPLETE, AND IT WILL BE 40% OF ITS VALUE." This was an amazing word in itself, plus the fact that I knew we had very limited resources as we were a new church.
The second distinct prophecy came from another friend, Pastor Sam Carr of Word of Life Center in Shreveport. Just a couple of weeks after the word concerning the building, Pastor Sam called me and told me that while he was in prayer, the Lord spoke to him about our church and he said, "THE LORD JUST TOLD ME THAT YOU ARE GOING TO RECEIVE A CALL FROM A LOCAL PASTOR WHO IS GOING TO LEAVE HIS CHURCH TO PURSUE OTHER MINISTRY VENTURES. HE IS GOING TO GIVE YOU HIS BUILDING AND CONGREGATION." Well you can imagine that I had a hard time even believing it!
On the morning of October 2, 2001, I left the house and told Diane that I was going to look for a building and didn't know how long I'd be gone. In my heart, I was prepared to drive all over the DFW Metroplex until I found the building! I was not gone from the house for more than 10 minutes when I received a totally unexpected call from a person whom I hadn't spoken to for over seven years. Bill Fletcher, Pastor of Grace Fellowship was on the phone and he asked me if I could come by the church; there were some things he wanted to talk about. Now I was about five minutes from the church already heading in that direction. When Bill and I got together, he informed me that he was going to pursue a ministry of outreach and evangelism, and he had been praying
The Birth of Riverwalk Fellowship (page 3)
about asking me if I would be willing to merge our two churches and for Diane and me to become the Pastors of the new church. This was an exact confirmation of the prophecies spoken over us, including the fact that the building and property mortgage that we assumed was exactly 40 % of the appraised value. We had our first meeting in the current facilities on the first Sunday in November, 2001.
Since then, we've seen the Lord, Jesus manifest His love, power, forgiveness and healing power in every service.
The church has grown in influence as the "Feed the Multitudes" food bank ministry has become one of the largest sources of public charity to feed the needy in Tarrant County. Every Tuesday, we have a service with praise and worship along with teaching and prayer for those who come to receive free groceries. In 2002, Riverwalk served over 15,000 families and held a special Thanksgiving dinner and gave toys for Christmas to those in need. Operation Blessing is a regular partner with Riverwalk in these endeavors to assist those who need help in our community. This public charity minstry is staffed by over 30 volunteers from the church who come out every Tuesday to participate in this outreach program.
God has exciting plans for the future of Riverwalk Fellowship. Join us as you fulfill your call in this life!