"I do believe I learned more from Rick in my years as his assistant than I did in seminary," he said.

"If I were to sum Rick up in one word, it would have to be the word "beloved." I can't remember a sermon Rick ever preached where he didn't call out to us as the 'beloved," said Zadig.

Two bishops remembered him as an outstanding leader. Bishop C. Fitzimmons Allison (SC ret.) spoke at his funeral and said he was greatly encouraged to have Rick as an outstanding leader. "When I came to this diocese many years ago, he had been chairman of the Committee on Ministry as well as chairman of the Standing Committee for 18 years.

"We both had been brought up at Trinity Church in Columbia, SC (though I preceded him by 15 years). We each came to seminary well nurtured in many good things, but justification by faith was not one of them. Rick found this rare gospel taught in a course on Galatians led by John Rodgers; I had previously learned that same good news in a course on Romans led by Albert Mollegen.

"I am told that Rick's funeral sermons were often attended by people who did not even know the deceased, but had heard the Good News in those powerful sermons and wished to hear it again.

"Some decades ago, Rick's mother had become an invalid, and his father an alcoholic. Rick brought them to Charleston to care for them. The selflessness of Rick's ministry and his hubris-free encouragement broke the addiction for his father and restored his mother to her gentleness and peace in her last years. What son has ever loved his parents with such a redemptive love?"

"I myself, and my family, received such grace and love from Rick, and to him we, like many of you, are forever grateful. Rick knew that grief is the price of love. We each pay a price of grief when we lose one, we love, and it seems the greater the love, the greater the grief.

"Surely Mary, the mother of Jesus; John, the beloved disciple; and his fellow disciples shared a gargantuan grief--a grief we are unable to fully feel or comprehend. But what did Jesus say to them (and to us)? That the darkness of our grief has been penetrated by the light of the Resurrection (Luke 20:36-37), and that those who know the Resurrection are called 'sons of the Resurrection'."

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep" (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14). "Grief is the price of love, but that cost has been transformed, and we can now grieve as "sons of the resurrection." You who know the resurrection--by faith, by promise, by hope, by trust, by the example of Mary and the disciples, and by the ministry of Rick Belser--are sons and daughters of the Resurrection."

Echoing similar themes, Egyptian Archbishop Mouneer Anis wrote this. "With mixed feelings I write these lines while remembering a very dear brother in Christ, the Rev. Rick Belser. I feel a sense of great loss, but also I thank God for his life and sacrificial ministry.

When I invited Rick and Anne to serve at St Mark's Pro-Cathedral in Alexandria, Egypt, they accepted the invitation without hesitation or delay. Immediately after they arrived, the 25th of January, 2011 revolution erupted: the streets were packed with demonstrators, army soldiers, and tanks. It was scary. As foreign countries arranged to evacuate their citizens, however, Rick and Anne decided to stay. They recognized that God had brought them for such a time when the local Christians and Muslims needed hope and encouragement which they gave with joy.

"Two year later, I invited Rick and Anne to go to Ethiopia for several months. Again, they said "here we are, ready to be used by the Lord." Their amazing readiness to serve reminded me of the devoted and faithful servant Caleb, son of Jephunneh (Numbers 13).

"They eventually left Egypt, but they left behind many friends and disciples.

"Rick Belser left our earth to be in a better place with the Lord, but he will stay in our hearts."

END