Ed Keyes was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, where the street life of the inner city was his daily life. Attending 5,000-student William L. Dickinson High School, he had experiences that would later translate into some amazing sermons.  Truly, God spared his life many times as he lived on the wrong side of the law and had numerous brushes with death.

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​His mother, a Free Will Methodist, and his father, a Southern Baptist, taught him to believe in God.  But he was more consumed with living a fast-paced life on the streets with his brother and two sisters.

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​On April 24, 1981, he gave his life to Christ and was born again. He first attended the Church of Bible Understanding and then returned to the Baptist Church. A year later, he attended a Prophecy Seminar held in a local firehouse near Atlantic City, NJ, and joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

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​As a paramedic in Atlantic City working to save lives, he felt called to save souls.  He began college studies at Washington Adventist University and married his best friend, Lillian.  They have served the church in team ministry for more than 38 years.

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​Ed and Lillian Keyes are blessed with two wonderful children. Andrew graduated from Thunderbird Adventist Academy, Southern Adventist University, and Loma Linda University Medical School. He currently practices Family medicine in Chattanooga, TN. He is married to Rhina, a nurse who teaches at Southern Adventist University. They have one son, Benjamin Edward, and a daughter, Emma Evilyn.

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His daughter Becky also graduated from Thunderbird Adventist Academy and Southern Adventist University. She completed her Master's Degree and is a speech therapist in Trenton, GA. She is married to Dr. Harrison Filler, a dentist who runs his own practice in Georgia. Becky and her husband celebrated the birth of their son, August Keenan Harrison, in March of 2025.

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​Keyes has served as pastor, evangelist, church planter, academy teacher, administrator, ministerial secretary, executive secretary, and president while working in the Potomac, New Jersey, Oregon, Arizona, and Nevada-Utah Conferences. He has conducted evangelistic meetings, weeks of prayer, and training seminars in more than half the conferences in the North American Division. His foreign mission trips include the Middle East, Cuba, Mexico, Russia, Thailand, and the Philippines.