September 12, 2006

Heide Ford was named director of the La Sierra University Women’s Resource Center (WRC) August 2006.

Ford has had to hit the floor running after the retirement of WRC former director Penny Shell this past June. She is currently planning the WRC “Women and the Word” workshop that will take place October 12 in Seattle, Washington. “Women and the Word” is an annual event hosted by WRC for professional development, leadership training, networking, and spiritual formation of women.

“We are excited that Heide Ford has accepted the leadership role in the Women’s Resource Center,” says James Beach, DMA, dean, La Sierra University College of Arts and Sciences. “Heide’s contagious enthusiasm and a long history with women’s issues and programs in church ministry as evidenced, for example, by her role in establishing the Women of Spirit magazine impressed the committee.”

Ford is also learning the ropes of the office and gearing up for the school year with plans for an assembly and university worship as well as a workshop entitled “If Bible Women Time Traveled to La Sierra University.”

“This is a wonderful opportunity to be able to support women in clergy and church leadership,” says Ford. She shares that her goals for the WRC include; “turbo-charging” the web site with resources and a more global impact, developing a network of counselors and mentors for women in ministry and church leadership and to strategize, assess, and plan for the WRC’s future.

Ford earned both her AS and BS in nursing from Southern Adventist University and went on to complete a master’s degree in counseling from Andrews University. She was the co-founder and associate editor of the Women of Spirit magazine at the Review and Herald Publishing Association. She has also worked as an adult psychiatric nurse, case manager and medical auditor. For over ten years Ford has supported women clergy as a personal ministry, she has taught, preached and even served as a hospital chaplain. She also served with husband Zell, who is as a Seventh-day Adventist minister with 12 years experience.

The La Sierra University WRC was founded in 1996 to support women in ministry or clergy through counseling, encouragement, and resources. The Center is supported completely by donors, and WRC staff meets with an advisory board two times per year. The WRC mission is “to deepen people’s relationship with God through a fuller understanding of who God is. By educating and advocating for the voices of women to be heard and valued equally with men’s, we will grasp fresh insights of God. We will see God in more holistic, balanced ways, for it takes both men and women to reveal the complement of God’s traits.”

Ford enjoys nature, walking, the mountains; Yosemite is her husband’s favorite place while she enjoys the ocean. She also finds great peace when immersed in the Word of God.