Our Staff
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Gary Hebden
Lead Pastor
Gary recently retired from being the Lead Pastor at another ministry for 27 years and is currently the interim Lead Pastor here at CRC. Having pastored for 44 years, he is excited about the next chapter of ministry as he serves the CRC family and Tacoma community. He is currently the District Director of the Northeast District of Open Bible Churches, is a member of the Pacific Region Board of Directors of Open Bible Churches and serves on the region's Church Resource Network.
Family: Wife, Arlene; Three children, Isaac (pastors at The Intersection Church in Spokane Valley), Jacob (a captain in the fire department near Spokane), and Leah who is married to a pastor on staff at a church in Kirkland; He is also blessed with seven wonderful grand-kids (1 girl and 6 boys)
Education: Bachelor's of Science in Pastoral Ministries obtained at Eugene Bible College/New Hope Christian College
Outside the Church: Gary loves his friends and to him - everyone is his best friend! He loves golf, movies, coffee with friends (and remember, everyone is his friend especially if they are having a coffee) AND loves to spend time with his children and grandchildren! He loves learning new things, so he is frequently taking online classes that expand his learning even at this stage in his life.
E-mail: gary.hebden@explorecrc.com
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Matt Venable
teaching pastor
As a Teaching Pastor at CRC, Matt focuses primarily on, well, you guessed it, teaching...in various roles, be it on Sunday mornings, Community Groups, or the Alpha Course. Matt is also key to the church's strategic planning and serves as a pastoral counselor.
Family: Wife, Olivia, and two boys--Isaac and Alex
Education: Two degrees that work perfectly together :) A Master's in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary and a Bachelor's in Computer Science from Seattle Pacific University. He also earned a minor in Business and another in French at SPU. C'est tres chouette, n'est-ce pas?
Outside the Church: Serving at CRC part time, Matt serves full-time as an officer in the Washington Air National Guard on Joint Base Lewis-McChord. His favorite sort of leisure in the whole world is an extremely intense day spent getting the maximum amount of fun out of a theme park. Other than that, he's a pretty standard guy who enjoys things like food (almost all kinds, but particularly spicy foods and chocolate chip cookies), movies (you know, the big blockbusters with billion-dollar special effects), and using random, rarely used words (like "avaricious") in an everyday conversation.
E-mail: matt.venable@explorecrc.com -
Jeralee smith
Children's Ministry director
As the overseer of children's ministry at CRC, Ridge Kids, Jeralee works with many volunteers to create a fun and safe environment for kids and students to encounter the love of Jesus.
Family: Husband, Caleb, and one son, Atticus.
E-mail: jeralee.smith@explorecrc.com
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Nathan Guerrero
Director of technology and media
As the Director of Technology and Media at CRC, Nathan works to serve the Canyon Ridge family and God by working to keep the behind the scenes magic flowing flawlessly. Working with volunteers to help produce the service both physically and virtually and improve it week-to-week to help play his role in creating the best-service each week.
Family: Wife, Kathryn
Education: Associates of Science in Computer Network Engineering earned at Pierce College; Member of CompTIA AITP
Outside the Church: Only serving part-time at the church you might catch him at his full-time gig over at the REI campus where he also works in IT. Or at one of the many local restaurants or lounges here in the Puyallup area with his wife or friends. He enjoys going out to get to know his local communities better and keeps quite busy between his commitments and his hobbies.
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North And Amanda Cady
Missionaries
North and Amanda, with their daughter Ember, are an extension of the Canyon Ridge family. They are also former staff members at CRC. Now, as members of Wycliffe Bible Translators, they're mission is to see God's Word made available to everyone in their heart language. Of the 7000 languages spoken in the world today, over 1800 still don't have scripture. North is a language surveyor, working to define the remaining Bible translation needs in Papua New Guinea, a country with over 800 unique languages. Amanda ministers in their home, and keeps them connected to ministry partners back in the US.
Education: Associates Degree at Pierce College, Language Survey and Literacy Certificate at Canada Institute of Linguistics
Outside the Ministry: They love hiking and camping in the Pacific Northwest. They also enjoy painting, photography scrap-booking, eating hot wings and sharing their story with anyone interested.
Partnering Information: www.wycliffe.org/partner/thecadyfamily
