About

Quality Living. Made Simple.

My name is Joshua Rivers. I have a wife and two kids that mean the world to me. Above all, I am a Christian, and my faith is one of my core values.

family

I began blogging back in 2009. I did just a couple posts in 2009 and 2010. I wrote a couple dozen articles as the Detroit Baptist Examiner and as the National Baptist Examiner on Examiner.com in 2010/2011. I also began blogging again – for a few months. I relaunched my blog in May 2012 (JoshuaRivers.net).

I started with a focus on leadership, training, education, and personal growth. I used the subtitle “Dedicated Discipleship” for a while. Over time, I began to see which posts were more popular, what terms were being searched to find my blog, and what I was most excited about writing.

That led to this blog and podcast: “Quality Living Made Simple.” My goal is to examine what it means to have a quality life and to share simple things to help achieve such a life. You should be able to expect a weekly podcast episode and 1-2 other posts each week – mostly devoted to personal growth and achieving a quality life.

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Here are some posts I would recommend:

Joshua’s Bio:

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My first introduction to Jesus was when I was thirteen. I was invited to a youth group activity with Madison Baptist Church (never heard of a Baptist church before), and I attended those activities for about six months. I was then invited to come to Sunday School. I made a profession faith shortly following that and started to get more involved: became an usher, joined the choir, went to the Christian school, and surrendered to full-time service. After I turned sixteen, I started having doubts about my salvation, and the doubts intensified during that year until I came to realize that I was still lost. Finally, one week before high school graduation, I gave up my pride and trusted Christ as my Savior.

I was baptized that Sunday and I re-surrendered to full-time service. I continued to work for the church doing the lawn maintenance and served as head usher for a year and a half. I enrolled at Oklahoma Baptist College and started Bible college in January of 2000. I surrendered to preach in October of 2000 at a Revival Fires! Conference. I met my wife during my first semester, and we were married in March of 2003. She graduated with a degree in Secondary Education in 2003, and I graduated in 2004 with a Pastoral Theology degree. I was ordained in Madison on July 4, 2004.

We served at Trinity Bible Baptist Church in 2004, and then we moved to Rockford, IL, to serve at New Hope Baptist Church. I was the Assistant Pastor at New Hope, and helped in several areas, including the youth group, visitation program, and the Christian school. This is where God began working on my heart about education. I worked a full-time job while continuing to serve at that church and studying about education, Christian education, and (eventually) Baptist education.

In 2008, we went through a terrible situation in the church – the pastor went into deep sin. I became the Interim Pastor. Through much work and prayer, God preserved the church and eventually led us to merge with Truth Baptist Church in September of 2008. I remained as the Assistant until May of 2009, and then my family and I moved to Taylor, MI, in August of 2009. I became the Youth Pastor of Taylor Center Baptist Chruch. After seeking the Lord, He has now led us back to the ministry at Windsor Hills Baptist Church.