Ed Keyes was born in Jersey City, New Jersey where the street life of the inner city was his daily fare.  Attending 5,000-student William L. Dickinson High School, he had experiences that would later translate into some pretty 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 began attending the Church of Bible Understanding, then made his way back 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 his college studies at Washington Adventist University and married his best friend, Lillian.  They have served the church in team ministry for more than 36 years.

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Ed and Lillian Keyes are blessed with two wonderful children. Andrew is a graduate of Thunderbird Adventist Academy, Southern Adventist University and  Loma Linda University Medical School. He currently is in residency in Chattanooga, TN. He is married to Rhina who is a nurse. They have one son, Benjamin Edward and a daughter Emma Evilyn.

 

His daughter Becky, is also a graduate of Thunderbird Adventist Academy and Southern Adventist University. She completed her Master's Degree and is a speech therapist in Birmingham, Alabama. She is married to Dr. Harrison Filler who is a dentist.

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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.