- Duck Hunting
- Fishing
- Scuba Diving
- Smoking and Grilling Meat
- Family Game Nights
Wayne Heaton
Huntsville,TX
Summary
Missionary who is a loving and visionary leader with 5 years of experience in growing diverse congregations seeks to serve as a Senior Pastor, utilizing strengths in expository preaching, strategic planning, and discipleship to foster spiritual maturity within the local body of believers.
Overview
22
22
years of professional experience
Work History
Missionary
Church Missions Network
Nairobi, Kenya
01.2025 - Current
- Developed and communicated a clear vision of training indigenous believers to plant healthy, multiplying churches
- Trained and mentored 5 key indigenous leaders to successfully lead the CMN ministries within Kenya
- Started 8 new pastor training schools with over 160 currently enrolled
- Created and maintained a $200,000 ministry budget for Kenya
- Assisted local churches in discipling believers, raising up leaders, and planting over 80 churches in Kenya
- Built and maintained a partnership with the Baptist Convention of Kenya
- Coordinated travel and accommodation logistics for over 30 US mission teams, ensuring seamless execution of ministry activities.
Missionary
Church Missions Network
Lilongwe, Malawi
05.2021 - 12.2024
- Discipled and trained 10+ indigenous leaders to lead the CMN ministry
- Developed and managed a $75,000 ministry budget for Malawi
- Oversaw 6 pastor training schools and trained over 200 pastors
- Assisted local churches in planting over 120 churches across Malawi
- Maintained a growing partnership with the Baptist Convention of Malawi
- Coordinated travel and accommodations logistics for 25+ missions teams from the US, ensuring smooth execution of ministry activities.
Fisheries Biologist
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Athens, TX
08.2004 - 04.2021
- Developed and constructed aquaculture systems for species such as Largemouth Bass, Alligator Gar, and paddlefish.
- Monitored over 450,000 gallons of life-support systems for more than 30 different and unique species
- Supervised a team of 3 biologists, implementing best husbandry practices that improved animal care standards.
- Managed health records and permits for over 50 aquatic species in compliance with TPWD regulations
Education
Masters of Theological Studies - With A Concentration in Cross-cultural Missions
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Fort Worth, TX05-2021
Skills
- Discipleship
- Leadership Development
- Preaching and Teaching
- Engaging lost/unchurched
- Church Planting
- Cross-cultural Ministry
Interests
Timeline
Missionary
Church Missions Network
01.2025 - Current
Missionary
Church Missions Network
05.2021 - 12.2024
Fisheries Biologist
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
08.2004 - 04.2021
Masters of Theological Studies - With A Concentration in Cross-cultural Missions
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Ordination
Rock Hill Baptist Church - Brownsboro, TX February 2021
References
Eric Perkins
Friend & President
Church Missions Network
903-918-1926
Thomas Sewell
Friend & Pastor
FBC Sheridan, AR
501-351-7867
David Braun
Friend & Pastor
New Hope Fellowship, AR
817-908-9971
Robert Welch
Friend & Pastor
Legacy Hills Church, TX
903-216-0424
How Missions Has Prepared Me For The Pastorate
Some may wonder how 5 years of missionary experience on the other side of the world will translate into pastoring in the States. While there will be new things to learn and areas of growth that will need attention, there are other areas that I look forward to applying my experience to.
Africa first taught me how important it is to love God's people well. Living in a new country and culture, surrounded by unfamiliar faces, I quickly learned that meaningful ministry begins with personal relationships. Once those were built, I was able to cast vision, grow the ministry, raise leaders, and disciple believers. That lesson will continue with me as a pastor, deepening my commitment to understanding my congregation and to shepherding them well.
I love to preach and teach God's Word. Over the past five years, the Lord saw fit to allow me opportunities to preach to small churches of 15 that meet under mango trees, to churches of 300 that are packed into mud-brick buildings. I have also taught all day to pastors in seminary, at associational church meetings, and have preached to hundreds of pastors at the Conventions meetings in Malawi, Kenya, and Uganda.
Missions has also developed within me a greater burden for the lost, especially across cultural divides. Matthew 28 and Acts 1:8 are two passages that our ministry has been built on. Not only am I comfortable sharing the gospel in a hut in Kenya or a soccer field in Malawi, I also look for opportunities to share at the gas station, with our waiter, and in everyday life.
One of my key responsibilities in Africa was to identify, develop, and deploy leaders within the ministry. After four years of cultivating a team in Malawi, I had developed key leaders to take my place. Because those men took the reins of the ministry, it allowed my family to move to Kenya to repeat the process with new leaders. As a pastor, I look forward to helping members take their next steps of maturity and obedience to God's call, whether it is to step into teaching a Sunday school class, go on a mission trip, work in the kids' ministry, or surrender to vocational ministry.