H. M. S. Richards, Jr., speaker emeritus of the Voice of Prophecy international radio broadcast, died of heart failure on April 11
H. M. S. Richards, Jr., speaker emeritus of the Voice of Prophecy international radio broadcast, died of heart failure on April 11 at Glendale Adventist Medical Center. He was 70.
Pastor Richards’ father founded the Voice of Prophecy ministry on October 19, 1929, with a radio program on KNX, Los Angeles. Harold Marshall Sylvester Richards, Jr., was born six days later on October 25, 1929.
Pastor Richards entered the ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Dallas, Texas. Other pastorates followed in Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Wichita Falls, Texas. In 1956, at a camp meeting in Keene, Texas, he was ordained to the gospel ministry, with his father officiating.
In 1960 he was invited to join the Voice of Prophecy staff to assist his father as associate director-speaker. Their roles reversed in 1969, and the father assisted his son in the radio ministry until his death in 1985.
The Voice of Prophecy broadcast is heard either weekends or daily on 450 stations in North America. Overseas, programs in dozens of languages reach into nearly every country from more than 1,000 radio stations. A weekly television program airs on several satellite networks.
Pastor Richards is survived by his mother, Mabel (age 100); his wife, Mary; their children, H. M. S. Richards III, Jon Lyall Richards, and Mary Margaret Richards King; seven grandchildren; his sister, Virginia Cason; his brothers, Kenneth and Jan; and several nieces and nephews.