John Wiley is the founding pastor of River Christian Fellowship, located in the Kansas City metropolitan area.

John did not grow up in the church; in fact, he never even attended a church service in his youth. While serving in the U.S. Navy in 1980, John had an encounter with Jesus Christ, and accepted him as his Lord and Savior. Upon being discharged from the military, he immediately began service in full-time ministry. He served as a Children’s Pastor in three different churches over a 15 year time period. In 1995, he left occupational ministry and entered a fulltime business venture, relocating to Kansas City, Missouri.

His business venture flourished for six years, allowing John many opportunities in leadership, international travel, and business management. In 2001, John had an encounter with the Lord, wherein the Lord impressed on him that he was being held personally accountable for the well-being of his community. Within several days, his teenagers approached him, telling him that students in their high school wanted to have a Bible study and needed a place to meet. In 2001 River Christian Fellowship began as a meeting of 15 teenagers in John’s living room.

Today, John continues to serve as the lead campus pastor, but now River Christian Fellowship has roughly 300 people in attendance, with 10 House Churches meeting throughout the week. In addition, The River has planted two other congregations meeting in alternate locations in the Kansas City area.

In 2009, John Wiley founded a non-profit organization called River of Refuge. This organization has purchased a formerly vacant hospital with the intention of transforming it into transitional housing for the hidden homeless—working poor families who are in need of housing assistance. John didn't think it was fair that the working poor or "hidden homeless" in Kansas City, Mo., had to live in pay-by-the-week motels, so his church did something about it. In 2009 he lead the way to the purchased a $16 million vacant hospital for $1 million and is working to convert it to the River of Refuge, a 150,000-square-foot facility. In 2006 he watched as half a a dozen children got off a school bus and went into a motel. At the time he thought to himself, No child should have to live in such a horrible place.

So he and the church he lead began reaching out to homeless people who pay $800 to $1,200 a month to live in motels. "We've been rescuing these families, paying their rent and taking them hot meals, but the financial weight got to be a lot," While driving past the old Park Lane Hospital one day, he said to himself, Somebody ought to buy that hospital and turn it into a place for homeless people—and he quickly became accountable for his words.

John has formerly served as an elected City Councilman as a part of his commitment to be responsible for his community. John believes you do not need to go halfway around the world to find relevant, life-changing ministry. Instead, each person needs only to own their own community; own what has been placed in front of them.