Vice-President of Academic Affairs;

Instructor in Bible, Discipleship & History

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Biography

Richard was born on February 22, 1972 to Lynwood and Dorcas Englehardt. He was raised in the Seyfert Wesleyan (formerly, Evangelical Christian) Church where he was saved in 1982 under the ministry of Berwin H. Hainley. That very night after the service, Richard had an unexpected seizure and was left paralyzed on one side of his body. After being taken to the hospital, the Lord intervened in response to his father’s prayers with healing. When his father said amen to conclude a prayer Richard sat up in bed and was fine.

“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” – Edmund Burke

In his late teens he began to feel a call into the ministry and expressed this to Berwin H. Hainley while working on the Seyfert Campground. Upon graduation from high school he attended Kentucky Mountain Bible College graduating in 1994 with a degree in B. A. in Religion with an emphasis in ministerial studies with Greek. For the next six years Richard studied at Evangelical School of Theology (now Evangelical Seminary) in Myerstown, Pennsylvania. He also pastored the churches of Mount Carmel and Grier City, Pennsylvania. In 2000, he graduated with a M.Div. in Pastoral Ministries and a M.A. in Religion with an emphasis in historical and theological studies.

In the fall of 2000, Richard began teaching at Kentucky Mountain Bible College. His emphasis in teaching is history while teaching some theology and Bible classes. In 2004 he began taking classes toward a Doctor of Ministry in Leadership in Community Spiritual Formation from Denver Seminary in Littleton, Colorado. He complete this degree in 2013.

“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4)

On December 30, 2006, Richard married Jonette Meise a chaplain in the U.S. Army. After a tour in Iraq, Jonette joined Richard in the ministry at KMBC in 2008. Today Richard teaches multiple classes each semester and services as the college’s Vice President of Academic Affairs. He has two children, Dorcas Joy and Berwin Warren Thomas.