Douglas John Heck, Pastor and Father, passed in his home on Sunday, April 11, 2021 from a long bout with Leukemia. Doug was born June 28,1956 in the small town of Galesburg, Illinois and at six months of age traveled with his missionary family to live the next nine years of life in Japan. As a boy they returned to the US and he grew up living in various states across the country as a “Pastor’s kid.” As a young man he pursued a call of God to study and become a Pastor. After college he married Ellen Elizabeth Dickson. They began a life together in ministry in Eugene Oregon. Two years later, he pulled out of ministry and started a sign company where he developed business skills that would help him later in life and ministry. After 10 years he sold the sign company and moved to Shoreline WA with his wife and 4 children to pastor a two-year-old Foursquare church of 35 people in downtown Seattle.
Shortly afterward Doug’s church group was given a church building by a remnant of people who were looking for a pastor. And Horizon Church grew and became his life. As the years went by three more children were born to Doug and Ellen. As the children grew older, Doug began traveling to many countries around the world to minister. He had a heart for the nations and an incredible gift of connecting with different ethnic groups. He planted many churches over the years, most of them being in different languages and cultures. Later he traveled ministering with Ellen and some of his children. He had a heart to know God. Doug acquired two doctorates. The first focused on multi-ethnic church planting. And the last one answering the question of why the millennials have been leaving the church in this rapidly changing culture.
He was a man with passion and energy who taught and modeled the way to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and how to hear the voice of God. His church gatherings were not often large in number, but his influence in relationships reached around the globe. In the end of his life, he connected with love and people outside the church. He saw every human as loved and accepted in God.
He was a perfectly imperfect man, father, Grampy, Apostle, Pastor, and leader. His hobbies included music, knife collecting, whittling, some fishing, scuba diving, fine wood working and camping. He is greatly missed.
Doug is survived by his wife Ellen, his mother Shirl DeBay, sister Jean Konrad, brother Dave Heck, and his 7 children Elizabeth, Daniel, Matthew, Anna, Samuel, Jesse, and Abigail. Also, his 18 grandchildren and the many around the world who called him “DAD”
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18