Lee Heyward was born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina during the turbulent decades of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement. His teenage years reflected the unrest and confusion of the culture around him. It was during his high school years that Lee became a Christ-follower. Lee returned to Greenville, South Carolina to attend Furman University where he met his future wife Terry. After graduating in 1978 Lee and Terry got married and relocated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he worked for two years in the field of business management. In 1980 Lee was invited to serve on the pastoral staff at Elmbrook Church in suburban Milwaukee as an Associate Pastor.

Upon completion of seminary, Lee and Terry, along with seven families, launched Northbrook Church. From 1986 to 2009 he served as Founding and Senior Pastor of Northbrook Church in Richfield, Wisconsin. Under his leadership Northbrook grew to a weekly attendance of more than 1800 people and planted two other churches in suburban Milwaukee.

Sensing a calling from God, Lee launched BrookLink in 2008. In his role with BrookLink, Lee has been able to fulfill his passion for helping global leaders see the part they play in expanding God’s kingdom, while also working to increase BrookLink’s training capacity domestically. He is committed to resourcing churches and ministries and has consulted with numerous domestic churches. In 2014, Lee served as Interim Pastor at Meadowbrook Church and currently serves as Lead Pastor at Elmbrook Church, where he first started in ministry almost forty years ago. He remains committed to BrookLink and to strengthening churches and Gospel movements around the world by equipping, empowering, and releasing leaders.

Lee has traveled to more than 50 different countries teaching, equipping and encouraging pastors and church leaders. Lee holds a B.A. degree in Business from Furman University and a M.Div. and D.Min. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He also serves as an adjunct professor in Practical Theology at Trinity.