Meet The Heartlight Team
Leadership Team
Mark & Jan Gregston
CEO & Founders
Mark and Jan began their journey of working with teens at age 19, when they were asked to lead a Young Life club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Both attended Tulsa University and Mark later took a position with First Methodist Church (in Tulsa) where he was a youth pastor for 7 years. Following the birth of their two children, Adam, and Melissa; the Gregstons moved to Branson, Missouri where they lived at Kanakuk Kamp and Mark was the Area Director for Young Life. In 1988, they left Branson and settled in Longview, Texas to start the Heartlight program. Now 35 years later, Heartlight has flourished and has now had over 3,000 residents through the years. The spin-offs of the ministry have included the Parenting Today’s Teens Radio program and podcast, an extensive traveling and speaking schedule, the writing of 20+ parenting books, and the expansion of Heartlight to become one of the nation’s finest adolescent residential counseling centers. Mark and Jan are actively involved in all aspects of the ministry to families with their family, Melissa, who coordinates admission to Heartlight, Blake, their son-in-law who runs Heartlight, and Adam, who works with the Heartlight Foundation. Mark and Jan have 4 grandkids, and live next to the Heartlight property and have a host of animals that include horses, donkeys, and any other critter in need.