Pastor Richard J. Farinella was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1958 to Italian immigrants from Sicily. Raised Catholic, he experienced his new birth on January 10, 1974. He graduated from Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri in 1980 with a Th.G. (Theology Graduate) and later a Bachelor of Science degree in Bible. He served as music director, assistant pastor, youth director and Christian school principal for churches in Missouri and Mississippi before establishing
Woodin Valley Baptist Church in Bothell, Washington in 1985.

He has served as Washington State Representative for the Baptist Bible Fellowship International, as vice president of the Western States Baptist Bible Fellowship, and also as a member of the board of directors at Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College and then Heartland Baptist Bible College from 1996 to 2001. He was the first editor of the Global Baptist Times, official publication of the Global Independent Baptist Fellowship from 2001 to 2006. Pastor Farinella has authored multiple books, as did his late wife, Kathy Farinella. Both Pastor Rich and his current wife, Diana Farinella, lost their first spouses in death, but the Lord being gracious, brought them together to enjoy six children between them, and eighteen grandchildren. They are grateful to serve in what they feel is one of the greatest churches and mission fields on earth.