Pearl Lorentzen
Lakeside Leader
After two years without a pastor, the Slave Lake Alliance Church has hired Pastor Heath Jeffery.
The first week of August, Pastor Heath, his wife Heather and two of their three boys moved to Slave Lake from Lloydminster.
Heath and Heather, grew up in St. Albert. They met right after high school at the St. Albert Alliance Church. They realized they worked at the same Safeway, but she worked in the front and he worked in the back.
“The back didn’t mix with the front,” Heath says. “At least, not at that store.”
They married at 19 and went to Bible college together at North American Bible College, now Taylor Seminary in Edmonton. Heath started in 1995 and graduated in ‘99, one year after Heather.
During this time, both volunteer with the St. Albert Alliance youth group. At the time, the church had a team of 10 leaders including the youth pastor. They worked with 80 to 100 youth each week.
While studying, they lived in Edmonton and traveled to St. Albert several days a week. Heath played hockey and is interested in finding drop-in hockey in Slave Lake. Heath and Heather’s three boys play hockey, but are getting a bit older and getting out of it. The boys are 13, 15, and 17.
Before Bible school, Heath knew he wanted to be a pastor, so worked closely with the youth pastor to learn what it was like to be a pastor.
The experience mixed “the practical with the theological,” Heath says. “It better prepared us for ministry.”
At the time, NABC had only a couple of degrees, so Heath completed a Bachelor in Christian Studies with lots of Bible and theology, but didn’t have much practical application. Many of the guys he studied with quit pastoring after a few years.
Bible school courses are changing, which Heath thinks is a good thing.
“It (pastoral training) almost should be like an apprenticeship,” he says.
On a mission trip to Mexico, Heath met the youth pastor at Southgate Alliance Church, in Edmonton. This pastor intended to plant a new church, so Heath became an intern youth pastor which turned into six years as the youth pastor there.
“I always had a passion for youth,” Heath says. “Even as a volunteer, we loved it.”
Until they had their first child in 2001, Heather worked with Heath. Heather always wanted to be a mom and the couple decided it worked well for her to be a stay-at-home mom.
In 2004 or 2005, the Jefferys moved to Valleyview, which was Heath’s first time being a solo pastor. It was a big leap, but he enjoyed the challenge. The biggest difference was preaching every Sunday.
In the summer of 2008, Heath started at Lloydminster Alliance Church.
Last year, Heath took a break to work at a water company in Lloydminster. He’d been pastoring for 19 years straight and needed a break.
Heath and Heather’s boys grew up in Lloydminster.
The oldest has graduated and plans to go to Olds College in the fall to become a mechanic. The other two start school in Slave Lake this fall.
Proximity to family in St. Albert, outdoor activities and other factors influenced the decision to move to Slave Lake.
“We knew that a smaller community is better for our family,” Heath says. “Some of it was the size of the community, the size of the church. I’m more of a shepherd teacher. Ultimately, it has to be the right church.”
The Slave Lake Alliance Church had a sense of community which was important, but the board was really what sold Heath on the church.
A pastor takes care of the church, but the board is a “good group of men,” Heath says. “They’ll take care of us, as well.”
