Rex Lee Rector, age 69, of Harrisonville, MO, was born December 28, 1950 at Butler, MO.  He was the third of four children, and only son, of William L. and Wanda L. Rector.  After battling cancer for three years and a recent heart attack, Rex experienced a stroke on November 4, and passed to eternity on November 5, 2020. A memorial service of celebration was held Friday, November 13  at Cedar Ridge E-Free Church in Harrisonville.  Interment  in Appleton City Cemetery,  Appleton City, Missouri. Memorial gifts may be designated for Life to Life Africa or the Shiloh Center of Harrisonville and can be sent through Atkinson Funeral Home in Harrisonville.

Rex attended Oak Park High School in Kansas City, MO, where he excelled in sports, especially baseball, basketball, and football.  After high school he entered Central Missouri State College in Warrensburg, MO.  As a freshman there, he received a visit by two students from the Navigators who challenged him to make Jesus Christ the center of his life.  Rex was raised in a Christian home, but it was not until his involvement with the Navigators that the Lord planted a zeal for sharing his faith, which became the direction for the rest of his life.

Following college graduation, Rex served on staff with the Navigators in Manhattan, KS, at Kansas State University.  It was there he met the love of his life, Deborah Luann Hunt.  They married in May 1977.  Together they began a life of full-time ministry, first at CMSU, where their daughter Heather Elise was born and then at Mankato State University at Mankato, MN, where their son Caleb Lewis was born.  To the students involved in the Navigator ministry with them, Rex and Debbie made a commitment to remain as lifetime mentors.  Several couples made the decision to move to Missouri and settled in Harrisonville, MO, planting a church together there. He fulfilled his promise to those students, shepherding them and their children for the rest of his life.

Rex worked as a bi-vocational pastor & home builder, setting up a cabinet shop from his home.  Rex and Debbie were interested in mission work worldwide and spent three months in Ireland early in their marriage, and again in 2012, in Zimbabwe. In 2000, he ran for state representative, serving for six years in the Missouri House of Representatives.  For the last ten years, he was an avid bicyclist and enjoyed being a part of The Bicycle Shack and Gusto's Coffee biking clubs.

Preceding Rex in death were his father, Louie Rector, and his nephew, Kurt Meek.  Survivors include his wife, Debbie; his two children: Heather and husband, Ed Hett of Harrisonville; Caleb and wife, Rebekah Rector of Harrisonville; and 12 grandchildren: E. J., Justus, Elise, Abigail, Sarah, Isabelle, Dean, and Judson Hett; Titus, Anaiah, Luke, and Allison Rector.  He is also survived by his mother, Wanda Rector, and three sisters: LaWanna Moss (Jerry), Jean Stark (Tom), Deborah Meek (Russ). Rex treasured relationships with cousins, extended family members, and many friends.