Heritage Church | Pastor Heath Beard
Since 2020, Heritage Church in Baxter, Minnesota, has experienced a remarkable season of growth. It’s a church that has flourished through perseverance, now seeing over 2,600 people in recent attendance. Pastor Heath Beard said, “These are people meeting the Lord and making decisions for Christ.”
What makes the story more compelling is how this time of harvest came through much hardship. Pastor Heath was close to stepping away from ministry only a few years earlier. “I was tired, I carried a lot of hurt,” he said, “but my wife and the Lord wouldn’t let me leave.”
They persevered, and today, Heritage is growing in numbers and depth. They look to raise up leaders from within, expand midweek gatherings, and see families transformed by the gospel.
Heath’s journey began far before he arrived in Minnesota. Heath is a fourth-generation Assemblies of God minister with deep family roots in Illinois. “My great-grandfather pastored, then my grandfather, then my dad, and now my brother and me,” he shared. “I love the Assemblies. It’s a great network.”
After seven years of pastoring in Illinois, the door to Heritage opened through a longtime family connection. That connection led to a call, a prayerful decision, and a move north. “They asked me to come and lead with vision.”
The early years brought challenges and division. “It was a great church, but it had lost its way,” he said. The turning point came through perseverance. “Some of the greatest harvest we’ve seen happened after the most painful years.”
Despite recent growth, Heath is candid about the realities of ministry. “We inspire people with our strengths, but we connect with people in our weaknesses,” he said. Ministry, he explained, is a demanding and relentless grind. “Sunday’s always coming… I get tired a lot.”
Ministry also requires patience. Heath shared that he often expected too much too soon in the early years. “Pastors overestimate what they can do in the short term,” he said.
Amidst patience, the path of perseverance has also been painful. “You could grow a large church from the people I’ve lost,” he reflected.
On top of that, the ministry can be overwhelmingly noisy. “The hardest thing is to hear God when the voices are so loud.” Yet through it all, Heath holds tightly to the call he first felt as a child. “I was eight when I felt the call. I can’t afford to forget that.”
Heath also saw God’s faithfulness personally, especially in his children’s journeys back to Christ. “It’s not just ministry fruit, it’s family fruit.”
His message to fellow pastors is simple: “Be faithful where you are. Keep breathing. Hang on.”
