SPRINGFIELD – Rick Hedger, longtime director of the Multiplying Churches group of the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC), is following the Lord’s call to a new church-planting ministry through Ridgecrest Baptist Church in Springfield. Hedger and his wife, Sandee, begin their new assignment March 10, starting multiple churches in the greater Springfield area over the next five years, as well as involving Ridgecrest members in global mission opportunities.
Hedger’s final days with the MBC are March 4-5, as he takes part in the spring meeting of the MBC Executive Board.
“The announcement of Rick’s departure from the MBC is bittersweet,” said MBC Executive Director-Treasurer Wes Fowler. “Rick followed the Lord’s call to the MBC in 2009, specifically to ‘call out the called.’ He has started or helped start numerous MBC-affiliated churches during his time here, and he has engaged hundreds of Missouri Baptists in partnership missions throughout North America and on three other continents.”
Fowler continued, “All of us will miss Rick’s leadership at the MBC, yet we rejoice with Rick and Sandee in a clear and compelling call of Christ to reach the lost and plant new churches in the greater Springfield area.”
As one example of their giftedness, the Hedgers planted a church several years ago in their living room in Jefferson City – a small fellowship that has grown into a thriving congregation known as Freshwater Church. The Hedgers also have logged hundreds of thousands of miles by car and plane – and sometimes, in more primitive transportation – to connect Missouri Baptists with church planters and missionaries across North America and around the world through partnership missions.
Jeremy Muniz, Ridgecrest’s senior pastor, said the Hedgers have been close friends and prayer partners for years, forging their friendship around their common roots in DeSoto, Mo., where Rick grew up, and Muniz pastored.
“Ridgecrest’s passion for church multiplication is a perfect fit with Rick and Sandee’s calling and skill set,” said Muniz. “We believe God has called Rick to Ridgecrest to help our congregation discover a vision for church planting that will extend from Springfield to the ends of the earth.”
John Yeats, recently retired MBC executive director-treasurer, cited a “spiritual and theological connection” with the Hedgers when Yeats began his tenure at the MBC in 2011. “Rick and Sandee’s love for missions is undeniable, and the aroma of a missional calling permeates their conversations. As Rick and Sandee turn the page toward a new adventure in their journey with Christ, we rejoice in everything the Lord is about to accomplish through them.”