Heather Crews
On a crisp fall day in LaCrosse, Wisconsin the Ripley family added a second daughter to their number. She grew up in a double pastoral family where both parents served the Seventh-day Adventist church in various ministry capacities. They taught her early on that membership has its responsibilities.
Heather began her college career at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska, with plans to complete nursing and pre-medical training. However, when she began microbiology she had a life-changing experience. God was calling her to the ministry.
After completing her Bachelor of Arts in Theology at Southwestern Adventist University in December 1998, she served as Associate Pastor at the Cleburne church before moving on to attend the Theological Seminary at Andrews University.
When she completed her Master of Divinity degree in 2002, Heather was entrusted with the leadership of two churches-Brownwood and Coleman County. While serving there, her ministry focuses were on lifestyle evangelism, worship and spiritual formation. After almost two and a half years with those congregations she was called to her current role as Associate Pastor at the Keene church.
She is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Ministry in Leadership and Spiritual Formation through George Fox Evangelical Seminary in Portland, Oregon. Her dissertation topic is the spiritual disciplines of early Adventists, how they studied the Bible, how they prayed and how they experienced God. From this her desire is to write a resource that will help us today create a deepening relationship with God by following in their footsteps.
When not involved in the joys and struggles of ministry, Pastor Heather creates time for her hobbies. These include reading everything from literature to theological treatises, training in karate, playing piano, and spending time with her husband Eric teaching their dogs, Cameo and Bristow, new tricks.
When asked about ministry, Heather says, "My burning passion is to make Christianity relevant inside the current culture. As I study and learn I continually ask myself, 'What difference does it make?' I believe that life isn't divided into secular and spiritual, but that the spiritual is involved in everything we do. This is the vision that drives my life."