CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - Campbellsville University will host Lonnie and Belinda Riley, founders of Meridzo Ministries in Lynch, Ky., on Wednesday, Aug. 30, at 6:30 p.m. EST in Ransdell Chapel at 401 N. Hoskins Ave., Campbellsville, Ky.
Debbie Carter, wife of Campbellsville University President Michael V. Carter, said,
“Campbellsville University is honored to host Lonnie and Belinda Riley. They will be sharing their testimony of how God has worked in their lives and of the many prayers of faith that have been answered in their quest to follow the calling on their lives.”
Carter, who is also affiliated with the Carver School of Social Work, said everyone is invited to attend the service.
Meridzo Center Ministries serves thousands in Harlan County and beyond with food, clothing, furniture and appliances, job training, home repair, church repairs and construction, refurbishing and building city parks, starting new ministry-related businesses, as well as a host of other ministries.
Carter said the Lord called Lonnie and Belinda Riley to Lynch (in Harlan County) in 1999 to help the people of Eastern Kentucky, specifically Lynch, through sharing and demonstrating the love of Jesus Christ.
Carter said, “They had no preconceived plan or strategy but had faith that if they were obedient to the call upon their life God would lead, guide and provide. God has abundantly provided in a miraculous way and is chronicled in their book ‘Miracle in the Mountains' and Bible study ‘By Faith: Living in the Certainty of God's Reality.'”
Eighteen years later, Meridzo Ministries is continuing to bring hope and light to the people of Lynch and beyond as they share the gospel of Jesus Christ through faith in action.
Lonnie and Belinda Riley were the recipients of the 2017 William Cooper for Faith and Community in Action Award at Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin's Prayer Breakfast in February 2017.
They also received the Tony Turner Award and the Community Development Award by the Tri-Cities Chamber of Comerce.
They have received many other awards including being named in 2004 Missionaries of the Year by the North American Mission Board for the United States and Canada.
The couple has served as college administrators and State Convention Staff. Riley has served as pastor of small and large churches and trustee of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary for two terms.
The couple's ministries include Solomon's Porch Retreat Center, Black Mountain Exchange, Lamp House Coffee Shop, Mushroom Growing Facility and Apartments, Faithfully Fit Gym, Hope House, Calvary Campus at Blackey, Maytown Center at Langley, Heaven's Door Chapel at Lake Cumberland Resort and other personal ministries.
For more information about the event, contact Carter at dwcarter@campbellsville.edu.
Campbellsville University is a widely-acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 5,000 students offering over 80 programs of study including 19 master's degrees, six postgraduate areas and seven pre-professional programs. The university has off-campus centers in Louisville, Harrodsburg, Somerset and Hodgenville with instructional sites in Elizabethtown, Owensboro and Summersville and a full complement of online programs. The website for complete information is campbellsville.edu.