Rev. Richard Harless
“Interim Pastor Bethsaida Baptist Church”
Rev. Richard Harless is currently the Interim Pastor at Bethsaida Baptist Church here in Lexington, Kentucky. He has served as an associate minister at Bethsaida under Rev. Dr. Bishop E. Carter III for over 20 years. Prior to that he served as an associate at West Durham Baptist in Durham, North Carolina and also at New Hope Baptist in Beckley, West Virginia.
He retired as an Executive and Administrator over Prison operations with the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the Federal Medical Complex in Butner, NC. He worked for over 27 years with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, where he held various managerial positions, at several locations. After retiring, he worked as a part time contract Chaplain at the federal Prison Camp there in Butner. Rev. Harless was also in the Life, Health and Retirement planning business as a second career for over 30 years.
In 2002 Rev. Harless and his wife Rosie N Harless moved back to Lexington when Mrs. Harless accepted the position of Camp Administrator and Executive Assistant at the Federal Medical Center here in Lexington. For several years, Rev. Harless was an Instructor at the Bluegrass Community College, where he assisted students with assessment preparation for the General Educational Development (GED) program. He most recently served as a Promotion Process Assessor for Toyota Manufacturing in Georgetown, Kentucky. He currently serves on the Lexington branch of the state volunteer Board of the AARP, where he is an instructor for seminars sponsored by the organization. He is member of the local NAACP, and a board member of the Friends of the Lexington Senior Center.
Rev. Harless is a graduate of Beckley College, Beckley, WV, with an AA in Business Administration and a graduate of Bluefield State University, WV with a BA in Social Science. He attended North Carolina Bible College, Durham, NC, and at Lexington Theological Seminary, Masters of Divinity Program. He has been privileged to spread the good news of Jesus Christ, not only in the United States, but internationally in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Africa, while participating in mission trips.
He is married to the former Rosie Newson and they have five children: Sons, Travis and Alex; and daughters, Farra, Crystal and Naomi. They have six wonderful grandchildren: Christopher, Jayden, Caleb, Chanel, Capri and Haevyn.