Meet Our Pastor ~ Debbie Lyons
Rev. Debbie Lyons was appointed to serve at First UMC Winnsboro in November 2017 and continues to be excited about building relationships with people in the church, meeting new people in the community and helping to spread the love of Jesus Christ! Prior to coming to Winnsboro she served as the Pastor at Caddo Mills UMC for 7 1/2 years, and was an Associate Pastor at St. Andrew UMC in Plano from 2003-2010.
Pastor Debbie earned her undergraduate degree, a BA in Psychology, from the University of Dayton, and after being appointed as a local licensed Pastor in May 2006, she completed her studies at Perkins School of Theology at SMU in August 2013 . She was awarded the prestigious Harry Denman Award for Evangelism and the ONE MATTERS Award in 2017 and she served on the North Texas Conference Board of Ordained Ministry. She is a certified UMCOR Emergency Response Team member, North Texas Conference Small Church Initiative Leader, a Structural Accountability System (SAS) Coach, as well as a certified Stephen Minister, Crown Financial Ministry Leader and ALPHA trainer. She currently serves on the East District Building & Land Committee and District Superintendency Committee and is passionate about the Walk to Emmaus because as
she says, “It’s a spiritual life changer!” Pastor Debbie has also led 4 pilgrimages to the HOLY LANDS and brings that rich experience to her preaching and teaching!
Pastor Debbie is fully engaged in the community serving on the Cultural Arts District Committee and she was awarded the Mayor’s KEY TO THE CITY in May, 2019. She has a fabulous relationship with her daughters, Lexie and Lyssa and her grandchildren call her GiGi. Pastor Debbie has lots of energy, an extremely positive attitude about life, and a zeal for connecting people with Christ! She is not surprised when some people still question the ordination of women and welcomes questions about it. If you have questions about that, please listen to the sermon she preached addressing some of those controversial scriptures.
EMAIL PASTOR DEBBIE ANYTIME … she’d love to meet you for coffee!
Heather Warren – Communications & Children’s Director
Heather joins FUMC Winnsboro from FUMC Melissa after she and her husband, Nicco, decided to buy land and settle in Winnsboro. She went to college at Oklahoma State University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Marketing, and Minors in International Business and Management Information Technology. She has also taken two years of photography classes and is a public notary.
Heather is Stephen Ministry trained and spent years teaching Bible studies, Vacation Bible school, Confirmation classes, volunteering on Choir Tour and Mission Trips. She has a passion for helping people and watching children and youth grow in their faith.
Heather and Nicco have been married since 1996 and have two children: Mackenzie, who is in college at Oklahoma State, and Brenton, who plans to join the Air Force when he graduates from high school in May 2022.
When the weather is nice, you can find Heather on the lake with her family. She also loves biking, working out, reading, baking, crochet and tatting (anything crafty). She loves being with people!
Email her with website updates, social media suggestions, or communications updates – she’d love to get to know you.
