MMFI Founder's Page

Bishop Richard (Rick) Callahan, D.Min., D.D. is a native of North Carolina. He moved to Vermont in 1982 with his wife, Phyllis, and their two sons, Todd and Benjamin. Bishop Callahan has served as Senior Pastor for Maranatha Christian Church for the past twenty years. He is a graduate of Gloryland Bible College and has earned a Master of Theology and Master of Divinity degrees from Christian Life School of Theology, Columbus, Georgia.

Apostle Callahan served as Coordinator and Executive Director for the New England Leadership Conference for sixteen years. He served on the Executive Council of the National Leadership Conference in Ridgecrest, North Carolina from 1988 through 1992. He became a member of Christian Believers United Ministerial Fellowship in March of 1992, and also served as a CBU Regional Director for New England. He currently functions in the capacity of Regional Advisor to Vision New England, and also serves on the International Board of Directors for Midlands Bible Institute in Wolverhampton, England. He is the founder and president of Maranatha Ministerial Fellowship, International, which purposes to extend and promote relationships and networking throughout the Body of Christ.

More recently, he became a member of the International Coalition of Apostles, under the direction of C. Peter Wagner and Dr. John Kelly. On July 20, 2001, Rick was commissioned as an apostle during a formal public ceremony at Maranatha Christian Church. Dr. John Kelly officiated the ceremony. On October 5, 2003, he was awarded his Doctorate of Divinity for life-long achievement by Dr. Ron Cottle of CLST.

For the past several years, Apostle Callahan has been moving into the apostolic direction the Lord has been taking him. Since 1991, he has assisted in the birthing and planting of three other churches in the state of Vermont. All three works remain thriving, healthy churches flowing in the power and anointing of God. He has traveled extensively, ministering in churches and conferences all across New England and the East Coast, Canada, Haiti, Central America, Europe, the Middle East, the Ukraine, Hong Kong, South Korea, India and the Philippines. While in Korea in 1996, Bishop Rick had the distinct privilege of meeting with Dr. David Yonggi Cho who laid hands upon him and prayed a prayer of anointing over his life and ministry. As a result of this powerful experience, and through much prayer and years of preparation in ministry, God birthed Proceeding Word Ministries - a dynamic and anointed ministry with an apostolic call and vision, whose purpose is to enhance, and encourage the Body of Christ at large. Prayer was monumental in the birthing of this ministry, and it continues to be the major contributing emphasis to the success of Proceeding Word Ministries.