Riverside’s Leadership Team (LT) is the group of members that have been chosen by the congregation to lead Riverside. The LT is responsible for building, maintaining and overseeing the spiritual welfare of Riverside and for directing and overseeing all Riverside ministries and organizational duties. The LT includes our Senior Pastor and Riverside members of appropriate character, giftedness, and call. (1 Timothy 3:1-13, Titus 1:5-9, Acts 6:1-4) Each LT member has particular ministries that they advocate for.
If you have questions for the LT, you can contact them collectively at lt@rcovenant.org or individually via the email link in their names.
Lauren Dorn
Lauren grew up in Sheridan, IN and studied Athletic Training (Sports Medicine) both in undergrad at Purdue University and graduate school at Indiana University (although she doesn’t broadcast this while living in Lafayette 😉 While in grad school, she worked as an athletic trainer at Bloomington North High School, then moved to Crawfordsville in 2014 and worked at Wabash College for eight years. She now works for Franciscan Health Sports Medicine in Lafayette, and gets to serve the Greater Lafayette community in various outreach programs. Helping people to navigate orthopedic injuries and teaching them how to take care of their bodies has always been a passion of hers.
Lauren met her husband Bobby Dorn in the fall of 2019 and married in April 2021. Getting engaged and wedding planning in the middle of a pandemic was an interesting experience and has always been a great conversation starter. They currently live in Lafayette with their mischievous cat.
Lauren grew up in the church and at the age of 13, she accepted the Lord as her Savior and then learned what it meant to follow Him as a freshman in college. Getting plugged into a church was never an issue for this extrovert and being involved in the community wherever she lived helped her to feel more grounded. After serving in a church in Crawfordsville for several years, she came to Riverside as she started dating Bobby.
When she’s not at work or church, you can find Lauren hiking through nature with her husband, spending time with family, grabbing coffee while catching up with friends, and trying to finish her crochet blanket.
Tom Elliott
Tom was born and raised in Newcastle, England to hippy parents. Much of his childhood was filled with church, travel, Newcastle United, and numerous other people living with the Elliott’s who needed a leg up in life. As a directionless young adult, Tom signed up to work as a camp counselor at Camp Tecumseh YMCA. Working and living in this supportive, accepting community had a profound impact on Tom, and thus he returned for several years. Tom met his wife (Hurricane) Katrina at camp, she fell for the accent (“it was the only thing I had going for me”) and married a year later. Tom and Katrina have three kids (two teenagers – Ouch!) Sophie 16, Ollie 14 and Tre 9. They live in West Lafayette September-June, then at Camp Tecumseh June-August where Tom works full time.
The Elliotts have been at Riverside since 2012, involved in a lot of aspects of the Church. Katrina worked on Staff from 2013-2020. Together they led a Pod and organized the annual Variety (formerly Talent) Show for several years. Tom has taught in the children’s ministry, helped in the welcome ministry and led the City Outreach Team (COT). Tom and Katrina value deep Christ centered community where people (including the kids) feel loved and connected. They also have a feeling that fun and creativity are a part of God’s DNA, so try to bring it into the Church setting whenever possible.
Brad Fischer
Brad Fischer grew up in Peoria, IL where he was raised in a church that counted extended families on both sides as members. Sermons were spent playing tic tac toe with his grandfather on the church bulletin. Family moves in high school took Brad from Peoria to Shanghai, China and finally West Lafayette. As a Purdue University student, Brad found himself in classes with a girl who had moved away from his street in 5th grade. Six months later Ashley finally caved and agreed to their first date.
Brad has Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from Indiana University. Professionally he works for Caterpillar where he is currently Director of Manufacturing Engineering. Career stops have taken Brad and Ashley from Peoria, IL to Corinth, MS to Greenville, SC and finally West Lafayette, IN. They have attended Riverside since 2014. In Brad’s free time you can find him reading, cheering for Purdue or Newcastle United, building legos, or enjoying a strategy board game. Brad and Ashley have two sons, Luke and Isaac.
Andrea Patrie
Andrea Patrie grew up in a Christian family in Lafayette. She met her handy husband, Philip, in 2008 at Anderson University where she majored in Business Management and minored in Spanish. After a few years in Seattle, Andrea decided to try joining her family’s pest control business in Lafayette and persuaded Philip to join a few years later. They have two elementary aged children named Mac and James.
Andrea has attended Riverside since 2012. She has participated in pods, nursery, women’s bible study, the 2018 assistant pastoral search team, City Outreach Team, and most recently the refugee resettlement team.
Rita Riggenbach
Rita’s family first connected with Riverside in 2010 when pastor Dan Teefey spoke at their kids’ middle school. Rita grew up in Goshen, Indiana with believing parents whose life centered around church. She was baptized in her early 20s, and later as an adult, God led her to an awakening and deepening of her faith. At that time the Bible became more alive and she more closely felt the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
Rita has a bachelor’s degree in social work and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in occupational therapy. She met her husband Kevin while singing in a community choir. After the birth of their quadruplets, she left the workforce to raise kids. Their adult children are now in their own careers scattered around the country.
As family responsibilities allowed, Rita has been active in Bible Study Fellowship over the last 20 years. At Riverside she has participated in welcome and children’s ministries, women’s Pod, couple’s Pod, and Stephen Ministry leadership. Among her sweetest fellowship moments are those with gals in women’s pod and with fellow sojourners in couple’s pod.
Rita and Kevin recently retired. Rita delights in cooking, daily walks, reviving old furniture, and digging in the dirt.
Rob Stahelin
Rob grew up in the suburbs of Chicago in a family that enjoyed sports, travel, family gatherings, and church. Rob studied biochemistry as an undergraduate at the University of Illinois at Chicago, which prompted him to join the Chemistry Ph.D. program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. During his time in graduate school, Rob met his wife Roberta (they were married in 2004) and in 2006 they moved to South Bend, IN.
From 2006-2017 Rob worked at the Indiana University School of Medicine-South Bend and the University of Notre Dame. In August of 2017 Rob moved to a job at Purdue University where he teaches and does research on how viruses replicate. Rob and Roberta have four daughters ranging in age from 7 to 14 and they reside in West Lafayette.
Rob has served as an AWANA’s leader (2014-2016), part-time Sunday School teacher since 2013, and has served as Bible Study Fellowship Children’s leader since 2019. Rob also served on several church committees during his time in South Bend, IN and Addison, IL. Rob, Roberta, and their children started attending Riverside after moving to West Lafayette, IN in 2017. After trying several churches in the area they were very happy to call Riverside home and become members. Rob and Roberta have volunteered as Sunday School Teachers at Riverside the last few years.