Heather Flies has been the junior high pastor at Wooddale Church longer than her students have been alive! She began her ministry at Wooddale as the junior high associate in 1996 and joined the pastoral team two years later.

Outside the walls of Wooddale Church, Heather spends a great deal of time and energy as a communicator and has authored two books: I Want to Talk to My Teen About Girl Stuff (Standard Publishing) for parents and her book for teenagers, That’s What She Said/That’s What He Said (Summerside Press).

Heather is a graduate of Bethel University in St. Paul where she majored in communication. She received her Master of Divinity in theological studies from Bethel Seminary, also in St. Paul.

Heather loves football, tennis, the color orange and listening to Christmas music 11 months of the year. Heather and her husband, Chad, live in the Twin Cities with their beloved Saint Bernards.

Doug Franklin is the president of LeaderTreks, an innovative leadership development organization focusing on students and youth workers. Doug and his wife, Angie, live in West Chicago, Illinois. They don’t have any kids, but they have 2 dogs that think they are children. Diesel and Penelope are Weimaraners who never leave their side.

Doug grew up in Illinois and graduated from Wheaton College with a degree in Christian Education. He started in youth ministry as a adult volunteer, leading a small group of junior high boys. The experience shaped the way Doug thinks about youth ministry and how students learn. After spending six years as a volunteer, Doug become the full-time high school youth pastor at a church in Wheaton, Illinois. He served as a youth pastor for 12 years in various churches.

As Doug thought about what was really working in youth ministry, he came to the conclusion that everything becomes more effective when students lead. So in 1994, Doug started LeaderTreks to partner with youth workers to help them develop their students as leaders. In 2003 LeaderTreks added leadership training for youth workers. It started with five youth workers coming to LeaderTreks for intense training and grew into LeaderTreks’ Refuel Retreats.

Doug understands that being a youth worker requires us to lead students, adult volunteers, parents, and church leaders. He wants to help youth workers lead well and to see them become more effective for the purpose of helping students love God.