On Sunday, March 28, Billie and I attended Woodland Hills Family Church in Branson, MO. Woodland Hills has become the home church for our son, Chad and our daughter-in-law, Tanya. It was a great experience.

Chad had told me about the pastor, Ted Cunningham and I was really looking forward to meeting him. Pastor Ted is the founding pastor of this 8 year old church. It has exploded and he is in demand across the country as a speaker. In addition to speaking on the faculty of the Smalley Relationship Center, he is a speaker at Men at the Cross conferences.

During his Sunday message, Pastor Ted shared that it was about three years ago that the church leadership made a very distinct change that impacted every area of the ministry of Woodland Hills. They believed that God wanted them to be a family and to build God’s family. As a result, the ministry of Woodland Hills, from the pulpit to the classes, should be directed at strengthening the family.

I am fairly certain that Pastor Ted did not share this message to impress me. OK, I am absolutely positive that he did not share this to impress me. However, he nailed it. Woven into his message, which was based on Ephesians, he spoke about being the intergenerational family and the power of Rites of Passage. He shared that his desires was to raise his children to be strong Godly Adults, not get by with good teenagers. He was also very clear that his kids would become adults as part of God’s plan, at the age of 12.

As a note, Woodland Hills Family Church sounds like most other churches in any suburb in the United States. Unlike all the others, this church meets in a purple castle in the heart of Branson, across the parking lot from an amusement park. Now that rocks.

If you are in Branson on a Sunday morning, it is a great place to call home, even if it is just for a weekend.