Retired Church of Christ minister Mr. Wayne P. Lankford, succumbed to injuries suffered in a fall at his home on Tuesday March 24th. With his family at his bedside, he departed this life to be with the redeemed at 2:23 a.m. Thursday morning April2, 2026 at Alive Hospice Residence in Nashville where he was admitted on Wednesday April 1st.
Mr. Lankford is at the Carthage Chapel of Sanderson Funeral Home where his services will be conducted Tuesday afternoon April 7th at 3:00 PM. Burial will follow beside his wife, Rita, in the Boles Family lot at Hillcrest View Memorial Cemetery in Alexandria.
Wayne was born Wayne Patrick Lankford in the Defeated Creek Community on December 26, 1945 and was the eldest of two sons born to the late Donal Dee Lankford who died April 16, 1989 at the age of 83 and Gladys Barbara Knight Lankford who died October 14, 1997.
At the age of 13, Wayne was baptized into Christ at the Montrose Church of Christ by then minister Roy Burgess.
He was a member of the 1963 graduating class at Smith County High School where he majored and excelled in music and was a member of the marching band all four-years playing the baritone horn. He also was in the Future Farmers of America pig chain program having been reared on a farm in the Defeated Creek Community. He was in the chorus one year and the Spring Festival for three years. It was stated of him in the annual that he was unemotional, talented and cheerful. The statement attributed to him in the ’63 annual was; “Do your duty and leave the rest to heaven.”
In February of 1967 he asked a young lady he had met while attending a gospel meeting
at the Brush Creek Church of Christ, Rita Pearl Boles to marry him. They were united in marriage by then church minister, Charles White on July 8, 1967.
Rita preceded him in death on May 12, 2019 after suffering a stroke at their home in Murfreesboro on Saturday afternoon May 11th following fifty-two years of blissful marriage.
After marriage Wayne attended and graduated from the Nashville School of Preaching.
His first full-time ministry was at the Waterton Church of Christ from October 1969 until August 1, 1973, then the Philadelphia Church of Christ from August 1, 1973 until August 1, 1976.
From there he was hired at a large church in Knoxville, the Young High Church of Christ from August 1 1976 thru August 1, 1988, then to the Smithville Church of Christ from August 1, 1988 thru November of 1995 when he became the pulpit minister at the East Main Church of Christ in Murfreesboro where he remained for twenty-five years and eight months. His ministry lasted for almost fifty-two years and he held hundreds of gospel meetings in Tennessee, Kentucky and throughout the South.
He last spoke at his childhood congregation at the July ’25 Vacation Bible School, and by then he was very weak.
Wayne had a depth of Bible knowledge that is unparalleled by few in today’s kingdom.
He so loved the East Main Congregation, as did they him, and he and Rita thoroughly enjoyed staying at the Carver Barn when East Main members came to the Defeated Creek Campground and attending Montrose.
Surviving Wayne are his and Rita’s two sons, Drew Lankford of Murfreesboro and Tim Lankford and wife Paige of Nashville, his brother, David Allen Lankford and wife Regina of Franklin, TN; six grandchildren, Jack, Paul & Zoe Lankford, Thomas Akins and wife Lauren, Kasey Akins Brandon and husband Conner, Tyler Lankford all of Nashville; great-grandchildren, Willa Gray and Ada James Akins, Lennon Akins, Lillie Akins, Brave Akins, Campbell Brandon and Millie Brandon.
Pallbearers: Tyler, Paul, & Jack Lankford, Rainey Lankford, John & Chris Hale, Perry Boles, Casey Lankford
Honorary pallbearers: Elders & Deacons: East Main Church of Christ
Visitation at Sanderson Funeral Home on Tuesday only from 11:00 AM until service time at 3:00 PM.
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