A well-known pastor with 35 years in the ministry, Dino Rizzo spent 20 of those years starting and leading a megachurch. Dino Rizzo is a vital source of advice and inspiration for many people because of his long years of experience, which have enabled him to live, love, and lead with remarkable talent.
In 1993, Dino and DeLynn Rizzo established Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge. The church, which focuses on helping the impoverished and the wounded, started off with just twelve individuals and has since expanded to over 10,000 weekly attendees across nine sites globally.
Dino also started the Servolution movement, which calls on churches to band together and start a revolution of humanitarianism. Dino’s dedication to outreach and mission work is demonstrated by the many initiatives and initiatives Healing Place Church participates in, from providing free medical and dental clinics to assisting ex-offenders in their re-entry into society.
Dino is also a co-founder and the executive director of the ARC (Association of Related congregations), an organisation that has established more than 1000 congregations all over the world.
At Church of the Highlands, Pastor Rizzo is a member of the Senior Leadership Team and oversees all outreach initiatives, missions, prison ministries, dream centres, and Serve Days.
Dino is an accomplished writer who is the author of various publications, including Serve Your City. He and his wife have three adult children and have been married for 34 years.
In July, Serve Day will soon be here. How have churches changed and grown in terms of how they serve the community?
There are now so many wonderful churches. God has called so many churches to a city and an area because they now recognise the need of loving their community.
We all share the sentiment that we adore what takes place in the church. We adore our Sunday service, as well as our relationships, career paths, and dream teams. We adore what the church produces. And that is outreach as well as Serve Day.
We just didn’t have much to offer when we first established a church, but the one thing we could do was love people. During Serve Day in Birmingham, we witnessed God working mighty miracles through Servolution.
Because of the resources—the money and, of course, excellent churches—Pastor Chris [Hodges] has raised the bar to entirely new heights.
When a church declares, “Hey, the suffering of our community, the dearth of our community, the hurt of our community, we’re going to bring the Gospel to that, that is something else entirely.” The hands and feet of Jesus will be brought.
In the world we currently live in, I believe that is of the utmost importance.
Can you offer any advice to churches, especially the smaller ones out there, that are still debating whether or not to take part in Serve Day?
Everyone has that in their heart, and it will change everything, in my opinion. All you want to do is assist someone. Jesus’ work on your behalf shows how kind God has been to you. The greatest legacy you can leave after receiving it is to spread it, according to Pastor Chris Hodges.
On July 15, thousands of churches will participate in Serve Day. I’m really glad we’re going to make it bigger. Because we frequently believed that we were “too little. We don’t really have that much money, man. There are not enough of us.
But I usually advise people to “start doing something.” Make a difference in one life if you can’t alter the entire planet.
When I was a pastor, I moved some single moms with a caravan as my first outreach. Because the aim was too big and had too many issues, we were unable to launch.
Encourage the tiny church, small group, or college group to realise their potential.
Why should people participate in Serve Day?
Every day, we witness horrific events that ought not to be the case. We observe someone battling. From the border, tales are told. We hear accounts of trauma and suffering. Our first reaction is “Man, it shouldn’t be that way.”
Okay, well, if it shouldn’t be that way, then we should take action, a charitable church participating in Serve Day says. What should we do in a situation where that isn’t how it should be?
You may observe this daily in Jesus’ life as He frequently passed by the sick and the suffering and stopped to do good deeds. From those instances, we gained a lot of knowledge.
On Serve Day, there are so many charitable churches represented, including the church I work for, [Church of the] Highlands.
When I consider what the church is doing, I consider this. And mentioning everyone who donates. They consistently donate because they are devoted to their tithe, their offer, and their giving.
The woman who works two jobs, the man who awoke this morning in your neighbourhood, dug a ditch while standing in it, repaired a roof, went on a sales call, and brought their present to church. Understand why? They aspire to change things.
