Roe Messner obit

Roe Messner Has Died

 

He was not on the list.

Ronald Roe Messner, a prolific church contractor renowned for designing and/or building over 1,700 churches across the United States, passed away peacefully on March 24, 2025, at the age of 89 in Wichita, Kansas.

Born on August 1, 1935, in Waldron, Kansas, he graduated from East High School where he played football, basketball and baseball. He began his career in construction at the age of 14 as a home builder. Soon after he started his own company, Commercial Builders of Kansas. Some of his notable projects include numerous megachurches and Heritage USA in 1978. He also had many other business endeavors including KS Magazine. Roe began golfing at age 35 and quickly became a scratch golfer. Playing many well-known courses including Augusta National where he birdied each hole at “Amen Corner”. He also played St Andrews which helped inspire the design of his course, Terradyne in Andover, Kansas.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Harry and Nellie Messner; brother Arly Messner; and daughter Robin Messner. He is survived by RuthAnn Messner (mother of his children); and children: Roann, Richard (Amber), and Ronnie (Britt). His legacy is also carried forward by his 18 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

Having divorced his first wife, he married televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker in 1993 after her divorce from husband and PTL Club founder Jim Bakker.

Messner grew up in Waldron, Kansas, on the Kansas-Oklahoma border. He founded Messner Construction in Andover, Kansas, and began building churches.

Messner gained fame with the construction of Heritage USA in 1978 at the behest of Jim Bakker. In 1987, he and his first wife, Ruth Ann, wrote a book titled Building for the Master. He was reportedly the person who produced the money for the $265,000 payment to Jessica Hahn to cover up a sexual assault. Messner later billed PTL for work never completed on the Jerusalem Amphitheater at Heritage USA, thus playing a behind-the-scenes role in the downfall of the PTL Club.  Revelations of the payoff invited scrutiny of Bakker's finances, prompting him to be charged with fraud. In Bakker's fraud trial, Messner testified for Bakker's defense, asserting that Jerry Falwell had attempted to take over PTL and its associated cable television network by dispatching Messner to the Bakker home in Palm Springs, California to make an offer to "keep quiet"

According to Messner's testimony, Tammy wrote the offer on her stationery, listing a $300,000-a-year lifetime salary for Jim, $100,000 a year for Tammy, a house, and a year's worth of free phone calls and health insurance. However, Messner said Bakker wrote on it: "I'm not making any demands on PTL. I'm not asking for anything." Falwell denied making any offer. In the messy bankruptcy of PTL, Messner was listed as the single biggest creditor of PTL with an outstanding claim of $14 million. In court papers, the new operators accused Messner of $5.3 million in inflated or phony billings to PTL.

Messner divorced his first wife in 1993. At about the same time, Tammy Faye divorced Bakker. Messner and Tammy Faye were married in and lived in Rancho Mirage, California.

In 1996, Roe was convicted of bankruptcy fraud, having claimed to owe nearly $30 million to over 300 creditors in 1990. As he faced sentencing in 1996, he said he could not afford to treat his prostate cancer because he lacked health insurance. He was sentenced to and served 27 months in prison.

Messner published Church Growth by Design, another book on church building, in 2003.

Messner and Tammy Faye moved to the gated community of Loch Lloyd, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City, in 2007. Tammy Faye died from cancer on July 20 that year; her last public appearance was a taped interview on CNN from their home the day before. Her ashes were interred in the Messner family plot in Waldron, immediately next to Messner's mother.

Roe Messner himself is known to have received a diagnosis of prostate cancer in the past, though he told Larry King that his doctors had told him that he would not die from the disease.

Messner is reported to have been the biggest church builder in the United States. On August 7, 2007, he told Larry King that he had built 1,784 churches in 47 states. Messner supervised construction of the churches but was not the architect. He has designed and/or built over 1,800 churches in all 50 states.

Calvary Temple (1958) - Denver, Colorado

Pleasant Valley Methodist (1960) - Wichita, Kansas

Oak Cliff Assembly of God (1963) - Dallas, Texas

Evangelical United Brethren (1967) - Marion, Kansas

World Harvest Church (1983) - Columbus, Ohio

Dream City Church (1984) - Phoenix, Arizona

Rockford First Assembly of God (1984) - Rockford, Illinois

Capital Christian Center (1984) - Sacramento, California

Hillside Christian Center (1986) - Napa, California

Carpenter's Home Church (1986) - Lakeland, Florida

Church on the Rock (1986) - Rockwall, Texas

Bethel Church - Los Angeles, California

Calvary Church (Charlotte) (1988) - Charlotte, North Carolina

Bellevue Baptist Church (1989) - Memphis, Tennessee

Cathedral of the Holy Spirit (1989) - Decatur, Georgia

The Gate Church (1990) - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Deliverance Church (1990) - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Central Community Church (1990) - Wichita, Kansas

Point Harbor Community Church (2003) - Chesapeake, Virginia

Redemption (2003) - Greenville, South Carolina

Memorial donations in Roe's honor are suggested to Robin's House Foundation c/o Messner Contracting, 550 N. 159th St. E., Suite 309, Wichita, KS 67230. www.robinshousesoberliving.com. Robin's House Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. All donations are 100% tax deductible.

A memorial will be held at Terradyne Country Club on April 5th, 2-4 pm.