On June 30th, 2025, Bishop Larry Meadors was installed as the new Superintendent of the Appalachian Conference, following the retirement of Preston Mathena. Presiding Bishop A.D. Beacham, Jr. was present to install Bishop Meadors. Bishop Beacham remarked, “I have served with Larry in various boards and committees for over 20 years. He is well prepared and well equipped to lead the ministers and churches of the Appalachian Conference and to impact the global IPHC.”
Bishop Larry Meadors
Installation Prayer Over Bishop Meadors
President of the IPH Foundation Preston Mathena, Bishop and Mrs. Meadors, Former Appalachian Conference Superintendent Rev. Walter Lee Wood, and Presiding Bishop A.D. Beacham, Jr.
Meadors grew up in Roanoke, Virginia, attending one of the Appalachian Conference’s five original churches, New Life Christian Ministries, as a third-generation member of the IPHC. Meadors’ mother and grandmother were instrumental in ensuring he stayed in church and learned about the love of a Savior who was steadfast and true. Meadors recalls a story from his shy pre-teen years when his grandmother, a simple, country woman, said to him as he left the church, “Larry, you gonna make a preacher!” Young, introverted Larry replied with, “Grandma, I don’t wanna be a preacher. I just wanna be a Christian.” Little did he know what the Lord had in store for him.
At 16, Meadors felt the call into ministry, and he and a friend started a before-school “chapel”. It was in this place that he came face-to-face with the love of his life, Gloria: “She sat down in a desk behind me one morning, and when I turned around to say hello, I met the biggest, most beautiful smile I’d ever seen in my life. I fell in love at first sight.” At the time, Gloria didn’t quite feel the same, but they remained friends.
Meadors went on to attend Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from 1980 to 1984, studying for a Pastoral Ministry degree; he occasionally ran into Gloria when he returned to the Roanoke area on breaks from school. On one visit, Gloria decided to give dating a go, and in the fall of 1983, at the beginning of Meadors’ senior year of college, they were married. Following graduation, Meadors assumed that the Lord would provide a job quickly, and they wouldn’t return to the Roanoke area. A job didn’t materialize, so the Meadors returned home, and he picked up a hammer, choosing to work in construction. Not long after, Meadors felt compelled to visit Walter Lee Wood at his home church to ask permission to assist with the youth program. Wood told Meadors, “I can’t pay you anything,” and he responded, “I didn’t ask for anything.” Wood did “find” $100/week for Meadors, and he remained there for five years in youth pastor and associate pastor roles. In 1989, Meadors took over as pastor for Abundant Life Fellowship in Pilot, Virginia, where his family remained for 13 years. Here, in a parsonage surrounded by beautiful countryside and numerous cows, the Meadors family, now including children Maria, Jacob, and Timothy, would thrive.
Meadors has served in the Appalachian conference for 41 years to date. He was ordained in 1986, and that same year, the CE (Christian Education) Director at the time, David Wood, asked Meadors to fill an unexpired term on the CE Board. Meadors has continued uninterrupted in some sort of board ministry since then. In 2002, he took over as the CE Director of the Conference, under then Superintendent Ken Kingrea. This position required his family to move onto the Maranatha Campgrounds in Dublin, Virginia, where they ran the summer camps. Since 2010, Meadors has served as the Missions and Evangelism Director under Preston Mathena. In this role, he focused on church planting, revitalizations, promoting missions through offering and support, and the “nuts and bolts” for the Superintendent and the conference. In 2023, Meadors was elected to a second role as the Assistant Superintendent.
Meadors Building a Wall While on Mission Trip
Meadors Preaching with a Translator
Now, as the newly-installed Superintendent, he and Gloria are “excited for this new season of ministry.” The Meadors have spent decades of ministry with their sleeves rolled up, and this new season will just be an extension of what they have been doing. Meadors believes that a “Bishop is called to be a pastor to the pastors,” and he plans to do everything he can to fulfill that role.
Bishop Larry and Gloria Meadors
On a return trip from India, where the team ministered directly to pastors, the Lord gave Meadors a vision for the Appalachian Conference:
- It’s Time for a Season of Revival. We need to look for it and cooperate.
- It’s Time to Raise Up Sons and Daughters. To bring modeling, mentoring, and launching out to the forefront.
- It’s Time to Strengthen Our Bonds Together. Emphasize fellowship and create a culture of ministering together.
Meadors’ next season will be built upon the foundation of the past leadership of the conference. He shares: “It doesn’t seem real in a sense, to be asked to do this.” He goes on: “Ministry flows out of being a servant. We are so ready to serve pastors and churches and get back into a pastoral role.” Meadors’ grandmother would be pleased to see that he did, in fact, “make a preacher” and serve his conference with commitment and love.
The Meadors Family: Jacob, Jessica, Joel, and Jace Meadors. Maria, Will, Harrison, and Katy Hannah. Larry and Gloria Meadors. Timothy Meadors.
You can watch the installation video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbQJRC3GIfE
