Senior Pastor

Dr. R.A. Hargrave, who has been in the ministry for more than 34 years, is now in his 19th year as Senior Pastor at Riverbend Church. Under his leadership, the congregation has jumped in size from 400 in regular attendance to over 1400. The size of the staff has also grown from seven full-time staff members to 30 full-time staff members, including nine pastors. The budget has grown from $500,000 per year to over $2,500,000 annually.

In 1997, under Dr. Hargrave's leadership, the church completed the vision of a relocation project. Riverbend, (formerly Ormond First Baptist) moved from a downtown five-acre site to a 45-acre campus. In recent years, the church has purchased adjacent property, bringing the size of Riverbend’s campus to 112 acres. In 1998, Ormond First Baptist Church became Riverbend Community Church. 

Doctor Hargrave's philosophy of ministry includes a strong commitment to solid, expository proclamation from the pulpit. “The Lord builds His own church” is one of Pastor Roy’s favorite sayings, and he believes that the means He uses to build it is the clear, God-anointed preaching of the “whole counsel of God.” Evangelism is important to him, but it is not the priority of his ministry. The glory of God is the priority, and all the important things, including evangelism, flow out of that chief end.

Dr. Hargrave, who leads a media ministry called "GraceWorx," was born in Kennett, Mo., in 1954 and grew up in nearby Rector, Ark. He was nine when he was saved by the grace of God in a country Methodist church in his hometown. Throughout his childhood and teenage years, he was very active in sports, particularly baseball and basketball. He was an Arkansas All-Star basketball and baseball player at Rector High School. After his senior year at Rector, he attended Southern Baptist College (now Williams Baptist College) in Walnut Ridge, Ark. He transferred to Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo., and received his bachelor's degree with a double major in Philosophy and Religion. In 1987 Pastor Roy received a Master's Degree in Theological Studies from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tenn. He did graduate work at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and then received his Doctor of Ministry degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., in 2002.

Licensed into the ministry in 1974 and ordained in 1975, Dr. Hargrave pastored five churches prior to coming to Riverbend in 1989. He began in 1974-75 at Tipperary Baptist Church in Knobel, Ark. He pastored First Baptist in Holcomb, Mo., in 1977-78 and Alexander Baptist in Paragould, Ark., in 1979-82. Then he spent seven years as pastor at Philadelphia Baptist in Jonesboro, Ark., before heading to the same role at Trinity Baptist in Memphis. While at Trinity, he led that fast-growing church to relocate to one of the fastest growing areas in the United States—Southhaven, Miss. 

Dr. Hargrave is married to the former Marki Mosley of Rector, and they have four children: Nathan, Rachel, Jordan and Roy Alton II (also known as "R.A."). They also have three grandchildren.

Pastor Roy's Purpose Statement: "To clearly and faithfully declare the truth of God by rightly dividing the Word and courageously proclaiming its content to exalt Christ through my life and my words."