The once-thriving and fairly wealthy congregation had plummeted to 350 members. There were almost no young families and few programs designed to bring worshippers in. Now it's at the top of the charts, named as one of America's nine best Protestant churches. Wilkes gives the Rev. Rick Ferguson, Riverside's pastor, most of the credit for jump-starting the wobbly church to 4,000 members, dozens of programs and ministries that do everything from counseling unwed pregnant women to shuttling people in from the parking lots on Sunday mornings. Members echo his findings.
Riverside feels like a family.
The preaching makes it, she said. Every week it's a Bible sermon. Ferguson is low-key about the rating his church got. During football season, church members troop into the 11 a.m. service as Bronco fans angle toward Mile High Stadium. Olivia Washington, a Riverside member since 1976, watched over one parking aisle as the wind started whipping.