Global Ministries

Dee Dee Heffner is a home missionary through the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church serving as part of the team for McCurdy Ministries in New Mexico, a national mission institution of United Methodist Women. She has been in ministry in the Espanola Valley since 1975.

McCurdy Ministries continues the United Methodist mission presence represented for 100 years (1912–2012) by McCurdy School. The church-related school closed in 2012, with the property now being used by the publicly funded McCurdy Charter School. McCurdy Ministries includes a preschool program for children.

Given her experience, Dee Dee is helping the new school through the accreditation process, assisting with curriculum, implementation, and coaching teachers. Through the new ministry she also does mission interpretation for churches, United Methodist Women’s units, and individuals in the region, and is helping McCurdy Ministries to vision new opportunities in the Espanola Valley.

“McCurdy has been the light of Christ in northern New Mexico since 1912,” Dee Dee says. “After celebrating 100 years of ministry, in May 2012, McCurdy School graduates its last class—all 22 students headed to college with a total of $450,000 in scholarship support. McCurdy Charter School, with more than 570 students in K-12, is a safe, supportive environment with emphasis on academic excellence, charter, leadership, and service to others.”

For most of her years at McCurdy, Dee Dee taught high school English and theater. She also helped many classes of students move into advanced education and productive lives.

Dee Dee is the daughter and daughter-in-law of retired United Methodist pastors. Like many other young people, it was at a church camp that she first heard God’s call to mission service.

Originally from the West Ohio Conference, Dee Dee is a graduate of Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio and has master’s degrees from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Before going to McCurdy, Dee Dee was a librarian at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.

Dee Dee is married to the Rev. Dr. Dennis Heffner, a home missionary who is executive director of Amigos del Valle (a senior citizens’ ministry) and the pastor of Valley View UMC in Espanola. Dee Dee and Dennis are the parents of three adult children: Todd, Heidi, and Andrew, all of whom are McCurdy alumni. They have four grandsons, Nathaniel, Hayden, Gavin, and Liam.

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Supporting Conferences: East Ohio Annual Conference, Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference, Kansas West Annual Conference, New Mexico Annual Conference, West Ohio Annual Conference, Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference