Alden Stephens, Pastor of Administration & Missions

Alden is the only member of the church's pastoral staff who grew up in the church and has been involved at Riverbend practically all his life. He is a native of the Daytona Beach area, having been born here in 1956.

After attending and graduating from Seabreeze High School in Daytona, Alden received an associate's degree from Daytona Beach Community College and then went on to Florida State University, where he earned a bachelors of music education degree. That led him to accept a position as a music/drama teacher at Seabreeze High School, a position he held for five years. Then he went into the business field, serving for 11 years as a sales representative with Unisource, a paper company.

He was summoned by Senior Pastor Roy Hargrave to join the Riverbend staff as church administrator in 1993. A couple years after that, when the church voted to relocate from downtown to its current location, Alden was responsible for overseeing the purchase of the property, the development of that land and eventually the construction of the facility on a 46-acre site. That construction was completed in February 1997. Then Alden led in the logistics involved in the church's purchasing an additional 15-acre tract in 1999 and another 50 acres in 2001, giving Riverbend a congruent site of some 112 acres.

Alden, who in the past has also worked in his dad's printing business, was ordained into the ministry in May 1998. He coordinates the activities of the church staff, manages the church budget and oversees the physical facilities of the church campus. He also assists on the music staff and has made three missions trips to South Africa and three to Honduras.

Alden and wife Nancy have three children: Lauren (married to Pastor Jeff Eckert), Cliff and Luke. They have one grandchild.