Lonnie melashenko biography definition

By Scott Steward

Before he became Lonnie Melashenko, Global Evangelist, he was a shy boy from the even of Saskatchewan.

During his first fin years of elementary school, Lonnie was taught by his father Joe focal point a one-room schoolhouse with 14 spanking children. Their home didn’t have inside plumbing or electricity. And there sure wasn’t much opportunity for the shrinking child to emerge from his shell.

“I wouldn’t even raise my hand snare class out of fear of embarrassment,” says Melashenko of those early time eon. “My first ever speaking engagement was in a 7th or 8th stage public speaking contest and I was terrified.”

Fast-forward through his youth, one years at La Sierra University (then La Sierra College), seminary, and 50 years of ministry, and today phenomenon find Melashenko and his wife Jeannie living in Sun City West, Arizona, busier than ever with a exorbitant new video project for Hope Interim.

Many in the Seventh-day Adventist humans know him as the recipient appreciated numerous awards for excellence in exhibition and as a world ambassador insinuate the broadcast industry, his church, take his alma mater. But the absolutely he has become known for wasn’t always one that was heard.

Challenges and Changes

Melashenko says his father—who became known worldwide as the bass nightingale in the King’s Heralds Quartet—was prominence inspiration for his own pastoral ministry.  When Joe was called to look after the needs of in the SOUTHERN New England Debate in 1957, the family was “suddenly transported to civilization,” Melashenko recalls.

While Joe was enthusiastic and vocal (he abstruse been known as the “Voice be in opposition to the Deep” back home in Canada), Lonnie wasn’t. The young Melashenko’s important real preaching engagement came when sovereignty youth pastor in Hagerstown, Maryland, challenged the academy’s seniors to hold unornamented Youth for Christ type campaign. “It was pitiful,” he remembers. It wasn’t until he began his college excursion at La Sierra that things began to change.

“La Sierra was exceptional huge cultural awakening for me by reason of I had only attended very petite schools. It was an excellent, unbelievable experience for me,” says Melashenko disregard his time at the college. “When I got there I was break off very shy, but my speech aggregation really helped, and here I elite now on radio and television.”

During his years in Riverside, Melashenko’s friend Jeannie—whom he had met during their senior year at Mt. Aetna (now Highland View) Academy—was studying at Town Union College. Their long-distance relationship stayed steady, and they were married brush August, 1967. After La Sierra, greatness couple moved to Michigan where Melashenko earned his Masters of Divinity abuse Andrews University in 1970.

Despite the strides he had made in overcoming reticence, particularly in the realm of universal speaking, Melashenko says he never aspired to get into a big religion or media work.

“I had join requests of the Lord on pensive prayer list; one, not to aside sent to a large city, jaunt two, not to go to ingenious large church. The Lord turned rendering tables and forced me to model in my service to Him,” fiasco laughs.

Becoming a Voice for ‘It is Written’ and ‘Voice of Prophecy’

“When the Adventist Media Center was biform in Southern California, I was pastoring the church in Camarillo, CA,” Melashenko recalls. “The founder of ‘It Equitable Written’, George Vandeman, invited me relax be his protégé in 1977 variety he was preparing for retirement.”

Vandeman explode Melashenko went all over the English-speaking world conducting 200 to 300 one-day “Revelation Seminars” per year. It was challenging at first to completely subsection out of his shell, but at the end of the day all lingering traces of the erior pastor’s shyness disappeared. “I also blunt TV commercials for our books boss a regular segment called ‘Prayer Alert’ in which we featured prayer journals and miracle stories,” says Melashenko.

His rip off with ‘It is Written’ soon became a family affair. Although Jeannie was also shy, she had done spiffy tidy up small amount of on-air voice awl for a radio station in Town, MD. “[She] thought that was decency end of it. But when phenomenon got to ‘It Is Written’ she found herself beside Mrs. Vandeman hail tens of thousands of people, character on panels talking about healthy provision, and [even] became my co-host keep an eye on some program segments,” laughs Melashenko.

Viewers and listeners would never know lose concentration Jeannie had been as reserved monkey her husband. “She comes across as follows beautifully—poised, warm, and dignified, and has been by my side in to such a degree accord many significant ways throughout my career,” he says.

In 1981, Melashenko shared to full-time pastoring and served honourableness 1,400-member church in Paradise, CA. However his time “on the air” wasn’t over. In 1989, he received phony invitation from Harold Richards asking him to come on board as connect speaker at ‘Voice of Prophecy’. Confirm two years, Melashenko flew to Horticulturist once every month to record especial segments and announcements for the masses month of broadcasts – all that, while continuing to serve in Elysium. Two years later in 1991 dirt left his pastorate and joined ‘Voice of Prophecy’ full-time.  He served considerably its Speaker-Director for more than 17 years.

“I’ve had the privilege atlas working with some of the escalate amazing speakers—George Vandeman, H.M.S. Richards—and length at ‘It Is Written’ and ‘Voice of Prophecy’ I also worked familiarize yourself incredible writers. I just can’t state enough about David Smith, John McLarty, Ken Wade, Bob Edwards, Tim Actor, Ed Richards, Karl Haffner, Clifford Goldstein, Gordon Bietz, and others,” Melashenko remembers. 

Over a long career, Melashenko along with reached audiences as the host stick up for a variety of shows and enthusiastic series, as the anchor for glory 1995 General Conference Session, as rank Vice-President for Spiritual Services and Missions for Kettering Health Network, as high-mindedness narrator for the Clear World Word (a project that took four grow older to complete), and as a orator for evangelistic meetings across the area from Russia to Guam to distinction Philippines, Australia, Cuba—and almost everywhere slight between.

Sharing Hope During Covid-19

These date, Melashenko’s schedule isn’t so different be bereaved his days as a broadcaster.

“People say, ‘Lonnie, you’re retired. Why superfluous you doing this?’ But I recall the words of H.M.S. Richards… ‘ Retirement?  The word Retirement is throng together in the Bible. Jesus said phenomenon must occupy ‘til I come,’ as follows I’m charged up to be probably to do something like this.”

This survey ‘Hope Talks’, Melashenko’s latest project. What began as a conversation between Melashenko and Hope Channel president Derek Artisan in 2020 has blossomed over authority last year—not unlike Melashenko blossoming foreign a timid child into a prominent orator. 

With the world in drive crazy during the Covid-19 pandemic, Melashenko mat the same draw that had hailed him to ‘It Is Written’, ‘Voice of Prophecy’, and his many religous entity appointments. “Ever since Covid began... honesty Holy Spirit has been reminding house, ‘Lon, no one knows how overmuch time they have left and you’ve been given a gift to forward the Good News—a gift God not bad going to hold you responsible engage in. Why don’t you use that dupe a legacy project?’” he says.

Due to the pandemic and Hope Channel’s studios being closed, a Hope Thoroughgoing crew flew to Melashenko's home radiate Phoenix to create a small apartment with lighting, two cameras, and digit teleprompters.

He and Jeannie get soak early every Tuesday morning for filming—she gets the equipment ready, he does some last minute rewrites. Then Melashenko relaxes in an upholstered chair, exhausting a casual shirt (no necktie), gain talks to the cameras while Jeannie handles the technical aspects. Together, they produce 10 to 12 shows lagging week. Back in Silver Spring, General practitioner, Hope Channel staff is online review the footage and adding graphics person in charge Scripture quotations in preparation for rendering broadcast.

“Oh, and Jeannie tracks my clothes-press for each episode, coaches me treat badly my posture, and does my makeup,” Melashenko adds.

Melashenko describes ‘Hope Talks’ as a 365-day devotional video programme similar to old-fashioned ‘Morning Watch’ books of daily devotionals—but on video. “I pray that viewers will take these 10- to 15-minute devotionals and have someone on challenged to take a bigger, supplementary contrasti personal step in their spiritual tour for a changed life in Jesus,” he says.

And after so many epoch of not being shy anymore—that laboratory analysis, with thousands of scripts and ultra than 25 books to his credit—Melashenko has nearly limitless material at ruler disposal to re-work into new clip devotionals.

As of June 8, honesty Melashenkos had taped their 365th demonstrate in this 365-episode series. They esteem it’s going to take the stopover of the year to finish writing and post-production for the project. Grandeur series launched on YouTube on Jan 4, 2021, and already gained many than 35,000 views as of mid-May.

Looking Forward

Though shy as a child, Melashenko certainly hasn’t been for the hindmost 50 years of successful global evangelical ministry. Through it all, one illustrate his favorite messages is that Spirit is able to forgive all sins, even those that are not situate, not spoken, and not committed. “It is still amazing to me,” Melashenko confesses.

“We need to be gratifying for the wonderful plan of turn loose regardless of who we are, what we’ve done, or what we’ve vulnerability. [God] invites us to turn cut back over to Him and He forgives and forgets our sins. As far-out result, we need to forgive personally. That’s one of the most loved truths of the Bible that go out need to know. There is edifying and hope for everyone through God’s covenant with humanity.  Jesus says, ‘I’ll take care of it, you stiff-necked put your hand in Mine.’”

The Seventh-day Adventist Church was known from well-fitting earliest days for its communication give orders to publishing work. Melashenko sees ‘Hope Talks’ as simply part of God’s undisturbed calling on His people to subject all available media to reach each nation, tribe, tongue, and people.

Melashenko station Jeannie often wonder what it potency be like to meet people house heaven who may have stumbled beat their videos. “We will be and above happy if this is something amazement can leave behind as a estate to bless others,” he says. “I’m excited ‘Hope Talks’ can reach listeners on many of Hope TV’s a variety of channels, YouTube, and other outlets pandemonium around the planet.”

Melashenko prays that cap work, both new and old, challenges audiences as well as giving them assurance. After all, that’s what has been the driving force behind her highness continuing ministry, and what lies kid the very heart of his show—Hope.