Pastor Wes Richards celebrated his 40th year in ministry with an honouring service at the Theatre Royal Windsor on Sunday 11 October, with over 450 people in attendance.

Video greetings from around the world were shown to the congregation and spoke of the influence of the Senior Pastor of King’s Church International.

There were also gifts presnted to Pastor Wes including a book with over 250 messages from church members, friends, relatives and ministry pastors across the globe.

A reception for hundreds of people was also held at the Harte & Garter Hotel after the Sunday morning service.

Pastor Wes said: ‘It was an impressively well-kept secret and I was very touched by all that took place. It’s been a privilege to preach the good news of God’s amazing grace for so many years and to see how a local Christian church consistently working together can help bring positive change to many individuals, families, communities and even countries.’

King's Church International was founded in Slough by Pastor Wes' late father, Billy 'WTH' Richards, a former Welsh coal miner in 1943 and was originally known as The Gospel Tabernacle.

Wes Richards became a pastor of King's Church International in 1975 after the death of his father in 1974. He had been a journalist for the previous 7 years, starting at the Slough & Windsor Observer before becoming a leader/feature writer for a daily evening newspaper. 

During his time as Senior Pastor he has founded a £1 million project for the homeless, overseeing the purchase and development of a 23 bedroom property in Windsor, named 'King's House', which housed over 500 families.

King’s House was cited by Margaret Thatcher’s then housing minister as a ‘prime example of entrepreneurial spirit’ in the charity sector.

He also founded The King's House School, Windsor in 2012, starting with 12 pupils, which has now risen to 50, with capacity for 75 for the 2016/17 academic year. 

He has spoken in dozens of countries at churches and at international conferences in Singapore, USA, Colombia, Australia, South Africa and at major Christian conferences in the UK.

In 2008 he addressed the President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, on behalf of the international delegates at an international church conference in Bogota, Colombia in front of 15,000 people. He also preached to over 100,000 people in Simon Bolivar Park in Bogota as part of the same conference. 

Pastor Wes Richards is also the overseer of King's Church International in Robertson, South Africa. Seven years ago he started a church for children from the poorest backgrounds which now has an attendance of over 1,000 children. The children are also given clothing and meals through church funding. 

He also oversees a sister church in Sri Lanka, which has three campuses. 

Pastor Wes Richards and KCI have also built a long standing relationship with a leading Christian NGO, in Burkina Faso, one of the world's poorest nations. 

For a quarter of a century King's Church International has provided substantial support for the building and development of six schools in the capital Ougadougou and in Gourcy, a northern town.

In 2012, Pastor Wes’ memoir, entitled ‘Hope and a Future: a story of love, loss and living again’ was published. It tells the story of the death of his wife, Carol from cancer in June 2002 at the age of 51 and the subsequent healing and recovery of the family.

After Carol’s death the three Richards children, Wesley, James and Melody, met and fell in love with two sisters and a brother from the same South African family, resulting in three weddings.

Today Pastor Wes has 13 grandchildren.

 

The story was published in the Windsor Observer and can be found here: http://bit.ly/1NfoZF5