Pastor Dino Rizzo
Pastor Dino Rizzo | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Myrtle Beach, South Carolina |
| Occupation | Executive Director, ARC (Association of Related Churches); Founder, Servolution; Associate Pastor, Church of the Highlands |
Pastor Dino Rizzo is a 35-year ministry veteran and the founder of Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Pastor Rizzo is also the co-founder and Executive Director of ARC (Association of Related Churches) and the founder of Servolution, a movement that helps churches connect worldwide, with the goal of serving people in their local communities. Rizzo is the author of Servolution: Starting a Church Revolution Through Serving and Serve Your City. He and his wife DeLynn have been married for 34 years and have three adult children.
Early Life
The youngest of three children, Dino Rizzo was born in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. After surrendering his life to Jesus Christ, he relocated to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to enroll in Bible college. During his senior year at college, he met DeLynn Austin, a senior in high school, who was leading worship at a church service. They started dating and were eventually married in 1988, when they began serving together in youth ministry.[1]
Healing Place Church
In 1993, the Rizzos started Healing Place Church (HPC) in Baton Rouge, with a mission and heart to help hurting people. Over the next nineteen years, Healing Place Church grew from a dozen people to over 10,000, gathering in eleven campuses around the world. Noted for its passion to reach out, serve, and engage with others as it spreads God’s love to the poor and hurting, HPC has been named one of the country’s top 25 Most Innovative Churches.[2]
Servolution
“Serving people is not just something we want to do; it’s something we need to do. People discover personal healing through helping others.”— Dino Rizzo[3]
As HPC grew, its mission touched countless lives and expanded into a dynamic movement to serve the poor and hurting, “wherever they are, whatever it takes.” In turn, this movement grew into a multifaceted outreach that included cooking hot meals for the homeless, helping ex-prisoners re-enter society, caring for AIDS orphans, reaching the underserved through medical and dental services, and more. In 2009, Pastor Dino Rizzo released his bestselling book Servolution: Starting a Church Revolution Through Serving. This publication propelled a transformative movement of 700 churches worldwide to participate in serving others in their own local communities, and Pastor Rizzo continues to urge churches to think about serving not as a mere event, but as their daily marching orders. In addition to other numerous endeavors, several churches have recently assisted with Hawaii wildfire relief and Texas storm cleanup.[4]
Serve Day
“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45
Pastor Dino Rizzo heads up the annual Serve Day initiative, which gives churches an opportunity to link up and serve with other churches around the world. During Serve Day, churches share the love of God within their local communities, by providing practical acts of kindness. Participating churches can use the free, web-based Serve Day platform to stay connected to other churches, exchange messages, and collect project stories. Churches are encouraged to make serving a focal point throughout the year, and many of them stay highly involved with the community long after Serve Day has ended.[5] The next Serve Day is scheduled for July 13, 2024.
ARC (Association of Related Churches)
Pastor Dino Rizzo co-founded the Association of Related Churches (ARC), an expanding fellowship of churches that is committed to launching, connecting, and equipping churches and pastors.[6] With over 1,000 churches launched so far, ARC continues to foster a vision to see a life-giving church in every community all over the world. Currently, Pastor Rizzo serves as Executive Director for ARC, where he spearheads the National Serve Day initiative, plans and hosts ARC conferences and workshops, and frequently acts as a keynote speaker at events.[7]
Unscripted
Unscripted is a YouTube video series featuring Pastor Dino Rizzo, who conducts candid conversations with pastors and church leaders around the globe.[8] These raw, unscripted discussions center around ministry, church planting, leadership struggles, relationships, and more. While exploring the diverse strengths and challenges of churches that exist in cultures worldwide, this series helps to further the overall mission of the Association of Related Churches. ARC aims to provide financial and training support to independent churches all over the world, so they can flourish while spreading the life-giving message of Jesus Christ.[9]
Church of the Highlands
Besides his other work, Pastor Dino Rizzo serves on the executive team of Church of the Highlands, an influential megachurch based in Birmingham, Alabama. In addition to working with the team led by Senior Pastor Chris Hodges, Pastor Rizzo serves as Outreach and Missions Pastor. In 2023, Church of the Highlands was involved in launching over 40 new churches in several unique cities.[10]
References
- ↑ "Dino Rizzo". serveday.com. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
- ↑ "Dino Rizzo: books, biography, latest update". Amazon.com. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
- ↑ "Dino Rizzo". Servolution. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
- ↑ "Healing and Hope: Dino Rizzo Offers Insight into Navigating Tough Times as a Community". sciencetimes.com. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
- ↑ "serve day". serveday.com. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
- ↑ "ARC Churches - Wikitia". wikitia.com. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
- ↑ "Dino Rizzo Recaps His Participation in ARC Church Conference". www.businesswire.com. 2 June 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
- ↑ "Dino Rizzo, Co-Founder of ARC Churches, Discusses Church Planting in Recent Episode of Unscripted". www.businesswire.com. 16 November 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
- ↑ "UNSCRIPTED: with Dino Rizzo and Wayne Francis". youtube. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
- ↑ "Dino Rizzo Reflects on Church of the Highland's Year of Growth". SFWeekly. 11 October 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2023.