AURORA, Ill.—Rich and Richelle Howard’s faithful service at Village Baptist Church came to an end on Sept. 6, but their service to the Lord will continue on the other side of the world in Rwanda, East Africa. Rich and Richelle served as a pastor and wife team at Village Baptist Church since 1988. During their 21 years of ministry at the church, they have watched God work as the church grew from a new plant to a full-fledged local church with international ministry. The Howards have participated in numerous short-term missions trips over the years, including repeated trips into Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
They also participated as TRI-M adjunct teachers, training pastors and their wives. TRI-M is an international church leadership training program that stands for Mobile Modular Ministry. It is a portable theological training program that takes theological education to isolated developing areas. They present training to ministry-minded students in their local communities without imposing American culture. It was during these trips that God directed the Howards’ ministry focus toward cross-cultural pastoral training ministry.
During the morning worship service on Sept. 6, Pastor Rich passed the baton of leadership at Village Baptist to Assistant Pastor Bob Stevenson, who received a unanimous vote to be the next pastor. Richelle Howard commented about the smooth transition, “In the history of Village, there will never have been a Sunday without a shepherd.”
The Howards will leave Sept. 9 for Rwanda to teach in six cities, three in Rwanda, one in Uganda, and two in DR Congo. They plan to return Oct. 7, and they are available for speaking engagements at churches or small groups. They are currently scheduling meetings, beginning in the fall of 2009 and the winter and spring of 2010. For more information, visit their website at www.tri-m.org.
Rich and Richelle both graduated from Ohio State University and Grand Rapids Baptist Theological Seminary. They have five adult children, two adopted from the Ukraine.
