Our Team

Pastors David and Julia Blair come from very different backgrounds but both had the same vision and call on their lives which brought them together. David was born in Blue Earth, Minnesota and grew up on a farm. Julia was born and raised in Sumy, Ukraine. Her family later moved to New Jersey when she was fifteen.

David gave his heart to the Lord when he was eight and Julia surrendered her life to Christ at the age of twelve.

David and his wife Julia met at the River Bible Institute in 1999 and were good friends during this time.

David and Julia graduated from RBI in 2002 with a Bachelors of Theology. Julia, then went on to complete her master’s degree in Christian Counseling from Life Christian University. They were both very involved at The River at Tampa Bay Church, volunteering in many departments of the ministry. In January 2003, David had the privilege of becoming Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne’s Personal Assistant, traveling on the road with the RMI Crusade team to many cities and countries of the world.

Around that time he and Julia fell in love and began dating in February and were married on November 8, 2003. They continued traveling with the crusade team for another year. In 2005 David & Julia were brought into the Pastoral team at The River at Tampa Bay Church. They were honored to be apart of Pastoral care, follow up, overseeing home groups, and teaching in the River Bible Institute.

In October of 2017 the Lord began stirring in their hearts about moving back to Minnesota. Then, in September of 2018 they began to travel helping a church in New York and then moved from Tampa to Minneapolis in December to start The River at MSP Church, now called "The River Church Hutchinson".  

The River Chruch Hutchinson was planted on April 7th, 2019 in Hutchinson, MN with a powerful week of revival meetings where many were healed and people were set ablaze by the power of God!