Journey of Bravery, Grace, and Standing with the Margins
Heather Rodrigues ’91, preacher, prophet, and peace-and-justice worker, opens the door to her next chapter as she leaves a twelve-year tenure at Duke Memorial United Methodist Church in Durham, North Carolina. We caught up with her this summer, surrounded by boxes and artifacts. She is now unboxing physically and emotionally – inspired by what has been and how God has provided. She now reflects on the cost and beauty of living her faith at the edge of the church—embracing the in-between as an empty nester, and a newly single person preparing to join a new congregation eager to grow.
From her earliest days at Eastern Mennonite High School, Heather felt both connected and liminal. Raised on the edge of conservative Mennonite circles, Heather often felt both drawn to and uncertain about the theological underpinnings of her high school experience. EMS Chapel services changed her, centering her each day in who she was, and whose she was. Invited speakers like Tony Campolo and memorable lines such as “Old bread is not hard; having no bread, that is hard” planted seeds that grew into a call to ministry—even if she jokes that she first misheard God’s call as “teacher” instead of “preacher.” Her classmates saw it clearly; their senior predictions named her future as a youth minister long before she embraced pastoral ministry.
Heather’s story is threaded with bravery and discernment—being mentored by female teachers at EMS but leaving Harrisonburg to attend Elizabethtown College, and navigating her growing identity as a Mennonite who was not invited to lead from the front because she was a woman. That edge sharpened her sense of justice. After a mission year in Barcelona and a winding road through early adulthood, Heather met the Methodist Church, where her call was affirmed. Rev. Richard Stone, the senior pastor at Kitty Hawk United Methodist, became the voice she needed to hear: “You can do this. This is your call.”
Her ministry has consistently sought proximity to those on the margins. In Raleigh, during her first appointment as an associate pastor at Millbrook UMC, she befriended Dana, a man who had been unsheltered for over two decades. His voice and experience became a living gospel for her, shaping how she led the church into deeper justice. At Duke Memorial, she guided a courageous multi-year journey toward LGBTQ+ inclusion, ultimately officiating the church’s first gay wedding in 2020. The cost was high—members left, finances tightened, and she faced the loss of her ordination orders—but new life emerged in a congregation that embraced diversity, braver conversations, and visible grace.
Balancing the roles of pastor and prophet has been Heather’s lifelong discernment. She listens for the Spirit’s “gas and brake”—when to challenge systems, when to care tenderly for her flock. Her ministry insists that following Jesus often means standing at the edge, holding tension, breaking unjust rules, and trusting God’s sustaining presence.
Now, Heather steps into a new horizon: her third appointment as Lead Pastor to a church in Raleigh and a new season of life as a single, midlife, empty-nest pastor. She carries with her the bravery of living on the fringe, the grace of creating braver spaces, and the wisdom of a heart formed by those the world often overlooks.
Her hope for Eastern Mennonite School echoes her own journey: that it will always be a place where students belong, thrive, and live God’s call—not through easy answers, but in the brave, sacred space of honest questions and the mystery of God’s grace.
