Speakers

Heather is married to her husband Rick and as a blended family they have four children and two grandchildren. Rick and Heather live in a tiny town in Idaho and enjoy time in the outdoors and loving on their grandbabies! Heather had a calling on her as a voice for LIFE even when she was in the womb. Her mother, who was a kidney transplant patient, was told she should never have children. When she became pregnant the doctors and her family told her to have an abortion. Her mother refused. The doctor told her mother that if she lived through the pregnancy, she would not live to see her child turn 18. Heather’s mother chose life and by God’s grace, Heather’s mother lived and loved her until Heather was 28 and then went home to be with Jesus. In her late teen years Heather found herself going from relationship to relationship to find love and comfort. She was married, divorced, and facing an unplanned pregnancy by the time she was 23. Heather chose life for her child and is now blessed with a beautiful 15-year-old daughter. After two marriages ending in divorce and then a single Mom of a 1-year-old, Heather made the choice to finally surrender all her Life to Jesus and from then on everything started to change. Heather served as the Director of Development for a local Pregnancy Resource center for five years and her passion for helping women and families grew. Her desire to promise to be there for them and then “prove it” became like a fire in her heart. It was then that the vision for Reliance Ministries (a 4-part holistic model to help women and men facing unplanned pregnancies, possible STD’s, and unexpected life circumstances) was born. Heather communicates with a fire and passion. She speaks boldly and unashamedly about her past and about God’s mercy and grace that has brought her to where she is now, she also communicates a fierce PRO-LOVE message, encouraging people to love first above all else. “Truth and Grace” is her motto because we need to have both…in equal parts, to make a difference

Pat is a passionate and inspiring author, speaker and leadership coach who has founded a variety of organizations during her 25 years in full-time ministry including one of the nations largest pregnancy resource centers, an international post-abortion recovery program, an adoption agency, and a national woman’s ministry called A Woman’s Quest. She has published 6 books and has 2 new titles releasing in 2018. Her best selling post-abortion recovery bible study Surrendering the Secret was released by Lifeway in 2009. Her latest book Life Unstuck: Finding Peace with Your Past, Purpose in Your Present and Passion for Your Future was released in 2015 by BakerRevell. Both are available on Amazon. Pat has been featured on numerous radio and TV shows including Focus on the Family, Life Today, Janet Parshal and Proverbs 31 Ministries. She and her husband Mike have been married for over 40 years and have 3 married children and 5 “G’s”. They enjoy traveling, doing ministry together and a sweet tea home in the North Georgia Mountains. Visit her website at www.patlayton.net for more information.