Mission
Our mission is to advance the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth. We do that by strategically linking kingdom needs and opportunities with resources that the Lord has entrusted to those who love him.
Vision
The vision of Heaven's Family non-profit organization is to advance the Kingdom of Jesus Christ on earth by strategically connecting kingdom needs with available resources, focusing on reaching the unreached with the Gospel, discipling believers, and serving those considered "the least of these," particularly through initiatives that address poverty, hunger, and lack of basic necessities, aligning with Jesus' teachings in Matthew 25:31-46.
History
Heaven’s Family was founded in 2002 by David and Becky Servant. For the previous 24 years, David alternately served as a church-planting pastor and an itinerant Bible teacher, and he ministered in scores of the world’s poorest countries. Becky was always active in their churches and in ministry to refugees resettled from around the world. It was during his third pastorate that David’s eyes were opened to Jesus’ words about the future judgment of the sheep and goats found in Matthew 25:31-46. Those words changed the course of his life and ministry.
Heaven’s Family actually began as a teaching ministry directed towards pastors and Christian leaders living in developing nations. It was for those leaders that David wrote a 500-page book, The Disciple-Making Minister, that has been translated into over 30 languages and distributed around the world. As David taught pastors in three-day conferences, they often introduced him to orphans and widows whom they were struggling to serve, and David began asking his friends and supporters to help them serve the “least of these” (Matt. 25:31-46), something Jesus expects of every believer. Heaven’s Family’s staff and outreach subsequently began to increase in size and fruitfulness.
Today, Heaven’s Family has grown to a U.S. staff of over a dozen people and an annual ministry budget of $3 million. Our human and financial resources are being increasingly invested to help catalyze disciple-making movements among unreached people groups. We hope you’ll join us on our journey as we follow Jesus together!
David Servant, Founder
When David Servant read the results of his high school vocational aptitude test, he laughed. The results told him that he was best suited for a career in ministry or in entertainment. At the time, David’s future goal was to live in a log cabin in the Canadian wilderness and live off the land for the rest of his life.
The Lord, however, had different plans. God didn’t intend for David to run away from the world, but rather to play a part in changing it—by helping to build God’s kingdom. David received his call to ministry during his freshman year at Penn State, and one year later was enrolled in Bible School.
Upon graduation in 1979, David and his new bride, Becky, pioneered their first church in David’s hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Over the years, David and Becky pioneered and pastored three very missions-oriented churches. David often traveled internationally to teach in pastors’ conferences, during which time he developed numerous ministry friends in scores of developing nations.
When David was serving at his third pastorate, Jesus’ words in Matthew 25—the foretelling of the future judgment of the sheep and the goats—gripped his heart, birthing a transformation in his life and ministry. Heaven’s Family was the result, launched in 2002. In the years that followed Heaven’s Family grew from a handful of staff to more than a dozen, and the ministry is now financially supported by believers in almost all 50 U.S. states and from more than 40 nations of the world.
David is the author of eight books, including Forever Rich and The Disciple-Making Minister, a 500-page equipping manual that has been translated into more than 30 languages and has been distributed to tens of thousands of pastors.
David is committed to making disciples who truly obey the Lord Jesus Christ—and who then make other disciples. He believes the Western Church has become distracted from the simple-yet-powerful command made by Jesus in His last moments on earth to “go and make disciples, teaching them to obey all that I commanded” (see Matt. 28:19, 20). That commitment provides the foundation for all that Heaven’s Family does around the world today.
David and Becky have three grown and married children as well as eleven grandchildren, four of whom are genetically part Asian, African, or Latin American!
Heaven's Family Board of Trustees
David Servant – Founder of Heaven’s Family. After graduating from Bible School in 1980, David served as a church planter and itinerant international Bible teacher through 2002, when he founded Heaven’s Family.
He is the author of eight books, including The Disciple-Making Minister, a 500-page manual for leaders that has been translated into more than 30 languages.
CJ McDaniel – Right after his college graduation, CJ went to work for Heaven’s Family as the ministry’s first webmaster and publisher. His efforts over the next ten years resulted in significant financial support for Heaven’s Family’s work around the world as well as exposure for David Servant’s teaching ministry. CJ eventually started his own software company, first by creating software to help authors and publishers.
Today, CJ’s company serves some of the largest publishing houses in the world and is used by 300,000 independent authors. In his free time, CJ is involved in other outreaches, including a Bengali-language apologetics YouTube channel and a Bible study platform used by Christians around the world.
* Don Ashburn, D.D.S. – Don was led to Christ in 1978 by a high school friend named David Servant. He received a B.S. in biology, with minors in chemistry and physics, from Texas A&M and Northeastern State University, and his D.D.S. from Oklahoma College of Dentistry.
He has operated a private dental practice since 1993, and resides with his wife, LaDonna, in Edmond, Oklahoma. Don has served on multiple dental/medical mission trips over the years, primarily to Central America. He is very kingdom-minded.
* Tony Dale, M.B., B.S. – The son of medical missionaries, Tony grew up in Taiwan, and he received his medical training at the world-renowned Royal and Ancient Hospital of St. Bartholomew in London, England, founded in 1123. It was there that he met his wife, Felicity. Tony’s interest in medical economics began following his experience with America’s medical system when he needed knee surgery in 1996.
From his personal experience of the inconsistencies and staggering cost of the system, Tony determined to find a way to help people reduce their medical expenses without compromising quality of care. Since founding The Karis Group in 1996 and Sedera Health in 2014, millions of people have been served, and Sedera has recently been named one of America’s 5,000 fastest-growing companies. Tony, however, continues to “seek first the kingdom,” promoting the expansion of church and disciple-making movements around the world.
* Felicity Dale, M.B., B.S. – Born in the U.K., Felicity and her British husband, Tony, immigrated to the U.S. in 1987. Both are medical doctors who not only practiced medicine in London’s East End, but who also successfully planted house churches there.
Their ministry ultimately blossomed in the U.S., and David and Becky Servant met them when an organization they pioneered, House2House, hosted a large house church conference in Denver about 15 years ago.
Felicity has authored a number of Christian books, including Small Is Big!: Unleashing the Big Impact of Intentionally Small Churches, An Army of Ordinary People, Getting Started: A Practical Guide to Church Planting and Simply Church.
* Kelly Miller – Kelly Miller has been following following Jesus since age 19, and he has always had a heart for those who are less fortunate. He heard David Servant minister God’s Word in 2006 at his home church, which sparked his interest in the ministry of Heaven’s Family.
Kelly is the founder and CEO of Advantage Innovations, a growing company that provides nationwide graphic installations for private brands, printing companies, and local clientele.
He and his wife, Marjorie, reside in Knoxville, Tennessee, and they are the parents of 8 children who have given them 15 grandchildren.
* Stephen Lindblade – Steve has been a follower of Jesus since 1979 and a friend of Heaven’s Family since 2004. He graduated from Texas A&M in 1993 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. He is a Professional Engineer in the state of Texas, and he has been designing offshore equipment for more than 30 years. Steve is currently a leader who serves two ministries in Houston that focus on a developing a deeper walk with the Lord, one for adults and the other for youth.
Kelly is the founder and CEO of Advantage Innovations, a growing company that provides nationwide graphic installations for private brands, printing companies, and local clientele.
He and his wife, Marjorie, reside in Knoxville, Tennessee, and they are the parents of 8 children who have given them 15 grandchildren.
* An independent voting member of the board.
The Team at Heaven's Family
Dossie Briggs
Ministry Director
Caryn Cheeney
Accounts Payable Administrator
Jade Emhoff
Communication Specialist
Kevin Evans
Digital Content and Website Manager
Burt Forney
Ministry Director
Patty Forney
Ministry Director
Jerry Jefferson
Director of Disciple Multiplication
Jonas Kurtz
Amish Outreach Director
Rachel Reed
Ministry Director
Philip Rychcik
Human Resources Manager
Jai Sarma
Director of International Development
Diane Scott
Accounts Receivable Administrator
Statement of Faith
- We believe the Bible, in its original manuscripts, to be the inspired, infallible, authoritative Word of God, containing absolute and universal truth that is relevant and binding over all of humanity, and that the Bible is the ultimate authority in all matters of faith and conduct.
- We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe that God is merciful and compassionate, yet holy and just.
- We believe in the deity and humanity of Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, in His present rule as Head of the Church and in His personal return in power and glory.
- We believe that all human beings (with the exception of the God/man Jesus) have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We are corrupt both outwardly and inwardly, to the degree that, apart from God’s gracious drawing through creation, conscience, calamity and the preaching of the Gospel, none would turn from sin.
- We believe that sinners cannot earn salvation. Thus salvation is a result of God’s grace, appropriated by faith, more specifically, by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. However, faith that is void of works is dead and it cannot save. Those who truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ repent of their sins and strive to follow Him. When they believe in Him, they are spiritually regenerated and become spiritual children of God. We do not believe that salvation is guaranteed to any who only “accept Jesus as their personal Savior” or “invite Jesus into their hearts,” and who then live lives that are indistinguishable from unbelievers.
- We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life and by whose gifts the church is empowered far beyond mere human ability.
- We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost, the saved unto the resurrection of eternal life and the lost unto the resurrection of eternal death.
- We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, with equality across racial, gender, and class differences. True followers of Christ love each other and demonstrate that love through sacrificial acts.
- We believe that human life begins at conception, and that to terminate the life of a baby within his or her mother’s womb is an act of murder, which is forbidden by God according to the Bible. The only possible justification for an abortion is the rare case when it is necessary in order to save the life of a mother. We also believe that forgiveness is available for any sin, including murder, through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
- We believe, according to God’s Word, the Bible, that God calls humanity to sexual purity, and that sexual lust, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, pedophilia, incest and bestiality are forbidden by Him. We believe that the covenant of marriage is lifelong, and that it is between two people of the opposite sex, a biologically-born man and a biologically-born woman. We also believe that God is gracious and powerful, and that He is willing and able to forgive and deliver anyone from any sexual sin if they will repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.