Doc Belcher, Richard P., Sr. Homegoing

Rev. Dr. Richard Paul Belcher, Sr., TEGA CAY, SC - Richard Paul Belcher, 85, of Fort Mill, SC went to be with the Lord on January 3, 2020. Born October 12, 1934 in St. Joseph, MO, he was the son of Delbert and Virgie Belcher. He is survived by a son, Dr. Rev. Richard Paul Belcher, Jr. (Lu) of Fort Mill, SC and daughter, Ann Jeanette Gottman (Tom) of Springfield, MO; a brother Delbert Belcher of Scotts, MI, a sister Joan Teachout of Trenton, MI; five grandchildren and twelve great grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his mother and father, and his wife Mary Anne Belcher. He attended Hannibal-Lagrange college for two years and graduated from Wheaton College. He became an evangelist before he pastored Washington Park Baptist Church in Washington Park, IL from 1961 to 1976. While pastoring he pursued an M.Div. from Covenant Theological Seminary and a Th.D. from Concordia Theological Seminary, both schools in St. Louis, MO. In 1976 he took a teaching job at Columbia Bible College (now Columbia International University) in Columbia, SC and taught for twenty-nine years. He authored many books, including his best-known Journey in Grace.

He had a heart for missions and went on numerous mission trips to India, Brazil, Africa, Taiwan, and other parts of the world. He became pastor of Covenant Baptist Church, Columbia, SC in the years before his retirement from teaching in 2005. The last years of his life he lived in Fort Mill, SC. Funeral service were conducted at 11 AM on Tuesday, January 7, 2020 at Palmetto Funeral Home in Fort Mill, SC with Dr. Rev. Richard Belcher, Jr. officiating. The burial was conducted at 3 PM at Bush River Memorial Gardens in Columbia, SC. The family received friends prior to the service on Tuesday, from 10 AM until 11 AM at the funeral home. The family is being served by Palmetto Funeral Home and Crematory of Fort Mill, SC.

• Richard Belcher's students called him Doc
• He founded Evangelizing India for Christ in 1993
• Doc invested himself in numerous students for many years. He would call, email and meet them for lunch. He would come and preach at the churches they would pastor.
  
• He was a mentor to many young men. He would even pay for the lunch of students off campus who disagreed with some of his convictions and encourage them with matter upon which they both agreed.
• Doc would encourage men who had been rejected by others and were struggling. He never gave up on them. Doc rooted for the underdog, and if that was you, you greatly appreciated it.
  
• After teaching at Columbia Bible College during the day, he would preach at revivals and Bible studies during the evening hours or on weekends
• He founded Richbarry Press with a local Pastor to distribute his many written works
• He planted Covenant Baptist Church in West Columbia, SC
• He was Chairman of the Board of Christ for India for several years before founding EIFC
• He taught Bible, Preaching, Advanced Greek and Theology at CBC in the 1980s
• Doc wrote and performed the life of Bible characters and great Christians in music and script. He would read the narrative and punctuate it with meaningful hymns and worship songs. These include Adnorium Judson, David Brainerd, and Pontious Pilate and about 11 more. The Judson one is available online at Sermon Audio.com.
• Doc took many teams to India and Africa for a week or two of ministry and went alone to do specialized training for many years. It is estimated that he went to India over 35 times.
• J.A. Medders wrote: "Don't do ministry and missions as if it rests on you. Work and sleep like a Calvinist. Work like it is all up to the most powerful person in the universe. Work like you are God's humble coworker, pointing people to the person and work of Jesus Christ. Go the the nations, evangelize your friends, and plant churches because you know God is sovereign. Be a hard-working, expectantly-evangelizing Calvinist who trust God's sovereignty. Work hard for the glory of God. And enjoy watching what he lets you be part of." (Humble Calvinism, 2019, The Good Book Co., Loc. 1393). Doc did not write this, but he lived it.
• After teaching and meeting with students all day, Doc would work on books he was writing and travel to preach revivals and mini-Bible conferences. I rode with him to a revival he was preaching at in SC one hours' drive away on one occasion. He took time to share his faith at the gas station we had to stop at on the way home and gave the cashier one of his books. John Cummings drove Doc back and forth to preaching engagements many times when he had bad headaches or was too sick to drive, but he kept his ministry promise.
• Doc banked on prayer. On my first trip to India in 1994, our team was in a large diesel van heading to the airport. The driver ran it out of diesel fuel, and we had to pull over 0.3 tenths of a mile from a fuel station. Doc stood up and prayed. The van started after the prayer and made it to the fuel station and then to the airport. There were many other instances like this through the years.