The Rev. Krista Heuett

I was raised in the Episcopal Church, where I spent most of my summers helping my mother, who is now the priest at St. Mark’s in Kimberling City, at the Church of the Ascension in Springfield, Missouri.

After completing high school, I attended what is now known as Missouri State University, where I met my husband, the Rev. Bradley Heuett. We have been married for over twenty years and have two children, Jacob (19) and Hunter (16). After Jacob was born, Bradley joined the U.S. Army. We spent the next twelve years moving around, managing deployment to Iraq, celebrating Hunter’s birth, changing jobs from combat engineer to respiratory therapist, navigating numerous medical appointments due to Bradley’s injuries in Iraq, and eventually being medically discharged from the military. During the end of Bradley’s military career, I earned my Associate of Science degree in Dental Hygiene. I worked as a Dental Hygienist for over five years in several offices in Missouri. I loved the relationships I built with my patients while also helping educate them about their oral hygiene. After a few years post-military, we moved back to the Springfield area and started attending Christ Church, Springfield.

Once we started becoming involved at Christ Church, I realized how much I missed having a church home. I started teaching junior and senior high Sunday school and became a volunteer for the diocese youth program. I found joy every time I helped at the church or by volunteering at a youth event. I started to feel called to help more at the church while my job as a dental hygienist began to feel like just a paycheck. After much discernment, I realized I was called to minister to the youth in the church and left my job as a dental hygienist. I devoted my time to help in the youth program in any way I could while also returning to college to pursue my Bachelor’s degree.

While volunteering and studying, I applied and was accepted as the Director of Youth Ministry at Christ Church and later as the Regional Youth Coordinator for the South. I also earned my bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies with a minor in English. I loved every minute of my time working with the youth, but I knew there was something else I needed to do. It was time to listen to God’s call for me to the priesthood, which I first heard while attending an ordination at my grandmother’s home church, Calvary Episcopal Church in Sedalia, Missouri. I had dismissed my call for almost two years and knew through several “angels” reminding me that it was time.

I began the discernment process and became a postulant in March 2019 and began seminary at Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, in August of 2019. During my time in seminary, I have adapted to school, church, and life during a pandemic while learning different ways to connect to God’s people. I am grateful for my past work with youth knowing they are more than the church’s future as they are the present church, which welcomes all with open hearts. I enjoy spending time with my family, sharing my love of prayer through breadmaking, spending time with friends over a good meal, enjoying the beauty and sounds of nature, and being creative through all media types.

Currently, I am discerning God’s call for my ministry and how I may help through educating, speaking up, leading, and fighting for social justice. I feel it is our job to live out our baptismal covenant by seeking and serving Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves, and striving for justice and peace among all people while respecting the dignity of every human being. I have faith that God has a plan for my first call to ministry as I continue to discern through many conversations and prayers.

The Rev. Collin Larimore

I am currently in my final semester of seminary studies at Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas. At Southwest, I have served on the School Safety Committee and as the Student Representative to the Board of Trustees. Prior to Seminary, I completed my undergraduate studies at Missouri State University in Springfield where I graduated with a bachelor’s in religious studies. I have a long history with The Diocese of West Missouri from being the youngest member to serve on the diocesan council to participating in the work of numerous committees and commissions. I was raised in and raised up for ministry by St. James Episcopal Church in Springfield, Missouri.  

I was born in Springfield and raised in Republic, Missouri. I spent the majority of my summers until leaving for seminary on the waters of Table Rock Lake. From Boy Scouts, and FFA, to diocesan youth events. I was always doing something with someone, somewhere. I earned the rank of Eagle Scout at 15 and I’m an avid outdoorsman.

From a young age, I felt drawn to a life in service at the altar. I served as an acolyte and consistently committed time to the work of the church, which kindled a need to discern where I believed God was calling me. While studying conservation and agriculture in college I experienced a dramatic change in heart, changed my academic pursuits, and officially began the discernment process and I have not looked back since! 

My ministerial focuses and passions include my work with the Community of St. Naucratius, a small group of Episcopalians who turn their passion and love for fishing and hunting into ministry by committing to a rule of life. The rule comprises Prayer, Conservation, and Christian charity. This guides us as we seek to feed the hungry with our harvest. 

When I graduate I am looking forward to returning to the diocese and serving the Kingdom of God in West Missouri!