TROY – The convention sermon will direct messengers’ hearts inward at the Missouri Baptist Convention Annual Meeting Oct. 27-29 at Tan-Tar-A Resort in Osage Beach.
Richie Rhea, lead pastor of First Baptist Church in Troy, will bring the sermon pulling from various passages including Psalm 42.
“Unless the Lord changes my mind, I’m going to focus on things we need to preach to ourselves before we preach to others,” Rhea said. “I’m going to take two or three of those principles there and talk about what happens when we do those, and what happens when we don’t.”
A Springfield native, Rhea has served as youth pastor there and in Kansas City, and then as lead pastor in Hazelwood before coming to Troy 12 years ago.
Rhea graduated from Missouri State University and earned a Master of Theology degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. For the last 10 years he has served as a trustee of Hannibal LaGrange University. He also has been active on committees and ministries through the Twin Rivers Association.
Rhea has shared the gospel in Belarus, Haiti, Romania and Senegal, where Troy First is seeking to plant a church in a village they have visited 14 times. He describes First Baptist as gospel-focused church that loves sharing Jesus. This year the church rallied around the 528 theme from Acts 5:28, in which the disciples were accused of filling Jerusalem with the message of Jesus, as they reached out to their community in Troy. The church has played a role in planting a number of churches. Most recently, the church sent 100 members to help plant Northroad in Moscow Mills. Between FBC Troy and Northroad, about 100 have been baptized in the past 12 months.
He and his wife – author and Pathway columnist Rhonda – have five children, all serving in Christian ministries. Rhea appears regularly on the TV show, “That’s My Mom,” hosted and produced by his wife and two daughters.
The convention sermon will take place at 11:35 Tuesday morning, Oct. 28, followed by a benediction by Rhonda Rhea.