Family and Friends Day: “A great time to connect with community”
Published 12:00 am Saturday, February 15, 2025
Tara and Branden Levi Spiker serve as the lead pastors of River City Church in Landis. — Submitted
Pastors Tara and Branden Levi Spiker will be sharing during the Family & Friends Day on Feb. 16. — Submitted
Pastor Branden Levi Spiker greets attendees as they leave the worship service. — Submitted
The congregation gathers for a time of prayer. — Suibmitted
River City Church had approximately 150-180 that attend services. — Submitted
Karen Kistler
karen.kistler@salisburypost.com
LANDIS — River City Church, 600 South Correll St., Landis, will be celebrating Family and Friends Day on Feb. 16.
This community celebration will begin at 10 a.m. with many special events and giveaways offered throughout the day.
The congregation, which was started nine months ago, “wanted to be a blessing to those who are in need,” said Pastor Branden Levi Spiker, who, along with his wife Tara Levi Spiker, are the lead pastors of the church. Therefore, through the generosity of the church family and River City’s leadership, they decided to host the Family and Friends Day as a way to give back to the community.
Knowing that grocery prices are high, Spiker said they wanted to give back “through gift cards and gas cards and pay a few bills for people.”
He said that instead of handing out food, which might be items the people would not use or like, they decided to give the various gift cards and Visa cards so people can go and purchase what they need. They currently have thousands of dollars worth of cards with more still being donated.
Pastor Spiker said they are asking people to register if they want to receive some of the gift cards. Online pre-registration is encouraged at the church’s website, www.myrivercity.ch, which he said would help speed up the process when people arrive on Sunday; however, he added, if people don’t have internet access, they can just come and register on the day of the event.
In addition to the gift card giveaway, other special events of the day will include kids’ activities, the Holy Cookie Dough food truck, which will be onsite and live music provided by members of the church, as Spiker said they have a “great music program and a live band.”
Wanting to encourage people during these times, Branden said he and Tara will be sharing a message at the event, and there will be a time of fellowship.
The children, nursery or newborn up to fifth grade, will be able to attend the kids’ church where they will have their own activities and will be given gifts as well.
Young people, sixth grade and older, will be with the adults.
“It’s going to be a great day,” he said. “It’s just a great time to connect with the community and also pray with people and be a blessing to them.”
Because parking is tight, Spiker encouraged people to come early, arriving no later than 9:45 a.m. He also said it would be a service but a different kind of service and that seating is limited and they would eventually have to cut it off once they were completely full.
The congregation anticipates offering a Family & Friends Day a few times a year, “but it’s definitely going to be an annual event,” said Spiker and would be different from year to year.
“Our church,” he said, “is really about being intentional about outreach and reaching out into the community. We want to make an impact. We want to really touch our community.”
Branden said that he and Tara originally came to North Carolina in 2021 and “decided that the Lord had called us to stay in this area and that He had called us to plant a church here.”
The pair went to Dallas, Texas, he said, and spoke to their pastors and leaders who gave their blessing for them to do this church plant.
The congregation originally worshiped at Camp Glow, a Christian camp, he said, prior to obtaining this building, which “the Lord opened up through a gracious couple that owned the church building.” Built in the 1940s, the building has had lots of remodeling work done to it, he added.
At first, he said, they were considering planting a church in the Kannapolis or Salisbury areas, but the Lord opened a church building in Landis, and because of the close proximity, they knew that “people would come from Salisbury and even as far as Concord” to attend services. In fact, they have families that come from Charlotte, Lexington and people that drive an hour one way to attend, he said.
“God’s just done a quick work in building River City,” said Spiker, adding that they run from 150 to 180 in attendance.
Knowing that people are hurting, he said they want people to know the church is diverse and it is a judgment-free zone and background doesn’t matter.
“We have all nations at our church,” said Spiker. “It’s really just a melting pot where everybody is coming together for one purpose, one cause, and that’s honestly to worship Jesus and to make an impact on our community.”
