{{Short description|American building contractor (1935–2025)}} {{Sources|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Roe Messner | image = | caption = | birth_name = Ronald Roe Messner | birth_date = {{Birth date|1935|8|1|mf=yes}} | birth_place = Waldron, Kansas, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|3|24|1935|8|1|mf=yes}} | death_place = Wichita, Kansas, U.S. | occupation = Building contractor | years_active = | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Ruth Ann Messner||1993|end=divorced}} * {{marriage|Tammy Faye Bakker|1993|2007|reason=died}} * {{marriage|Melanie Hart|2007|2008|reason=annulled}} * {{marriage|Carol Wynn Herrman Messner|2009|2021|reason=died}} * {{marriage|Cynthia Davis|2022}}}} | children = Robin (deceased), Richard, RoeAnn, Ron | website = {{URL|roemessner.com}} }}

'''Ronald Roe Messner''' (August 1, 1935 – March 24, 2025) was an American building contractor ('''Messner Construction''') who built more than 1,700 churches, including several megachurches.

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

== Heritage USA == 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''.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Roe |last1=Messner |first2=Ruth Ann |last2=Messner |title=Building for the Master: By Design |year=1987 |publisher=RAM Media Incorporated |isbn=0-940609-00-2}}</ref> 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. <ref>{{cite news |title=Testimony: Baker knew about Hahn being paid off |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=Pacific Stars and Stripes |date=September 16, 1987}} {{cite web |title=available via newspaperarchive.com |url=http://www.newspaperarchive.com}}</ref> 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".{{citation needed|date=March 2010}}

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."<ref>{{cite news |title=PTL link puts church builder Roe Messner in public eye |newspaper=Kansas City Star |publisher=The News-Post Leader |place=Frederick, Maryland |date=June 17, 1987}} {{cite web |title=available via newspaperarchive.com |url=http://www.newspaperarchive.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Bakker witness says Falwell offered hush money |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=The Capital |date=September 26, 1989}} {{cite web |title=available via newspaperarchive.com |url=http://www.newspaperarchive.com}}</ref> 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&nbsp;million. In court papers, the new operators accused Messner of $5.3&nbsp;million in inflated or phony billings to PTL.<ref>{{cite news |title=PTL accuses builder of theft conspiracy |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=Daily Inieiligencer / Montgomery County Record |date=September 10, 1987}} {{cite web |title=available via newspaperarchive.com |url=http://www.newspaperarchive.com}}</ref>

== Marriage to Tammy Faye == 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Meeks |first1=Eric G. |title=Palm Springs Celebrity Homes: Little Tuscany, Racquet Club, Racquet Club Estates, and Desert Park Estates Neighborhoods |year=2012 |chapter=location&nbsp;377 |publisher=Horatio Limburger Oglethorpe |edition=Kindle |asin=B00A2PXD1G}}</ref>

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.<ref name=roe>{{cite web|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/21/style/chronicle-018600.html|title=Chronicle|date=March 21, 1996|author=Louie, Elaine|access-date=June 27, 2018}}</ref> He was sentenced to and served 27 months in prison.<ref name=nyt>{{cite web|work=The New York Times|title=Tammy Faye Bakker, 65, Emotive Evangelist, Dies|archive-url=https://archive.today/20180627073738/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/us/22bakker.html|archive-date=June 27, 2018|url-status=live|last=Gates|first=Anita|date=July 22, 2007|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/us/22bakker.html|access-date=June 26, 2018|df=mdy-all}} {{closed access}}</ref>

Messner published ''Church Growth by Design'', another book on church building, in 2003.<ref>{{cite book |title=Church Growth by Design: A Complete Guide for Planning and Building Churches to God's Glory |first=Roe |last=Messner |date=September 2003 |publisher=Send The Light Distribution LLC |isbn=0-9745015-0-6}} {{full citation needed|date=March 2020}}</ref>

== Later life and death == 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, Kansas, immediately next to Messner's mother.<ref name="transcripts.cnn.com">[http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0708/07/lkl.01.html Larry King Interview], cnn.com. August 7, 2007.</ref>

Roe Messner was first diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1996. In 2007, he told Larry King that his doctors had told him that he would not die from the disease, an accurate prediction. Messner died in Wichita, Kansas on March 24, 2025, at the age of 89.<ref name="obituary">{{Cite web |url=https://www.heritageofandover.com/obituary/ronald-messner |title=Obituary: Ronald Roe Messner |website=heritageofandover.com |access-date=March 29, 2025}}</ref>

==Notable churches== [[Image:Dream City Church Phoenix Campus1.jpg|thumb|Dream City Church in Phoenix, Arizona]] 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.<ref name="transcripts.cnn.com"/> Messner supervised construction of the churches but was not the architect. He designed and/or built over 1,800 churches in all 50 states.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Roe Messner & Associates, Inc. - America's Church Builder|url=https://roemessner.com/|access-date=2022-02-24|website=roemessner.com}}</ref> *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 – Redding, 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

==References== {{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name| 0582261}} * [http://www.roemessner.com Roe Messner & Associates, Inc. website]

{{PTL scandal}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Messner, Roe}} Category:1935 births Category:2025 deaths Category:American businesspeople in construction Category:American businesspeople convicted of crimes Category:American people convicted of fraud Category:People from Harper County, Kansas Category:Businesspeople from Charlotte, North Carolina Category:Businesspeople from Wichita, Kansas Category:Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government