Colonial Hills Church

from Hernando Main Street Chamber Magazine 2020

by DeSoto Magazine | Exploring the South

Member Directory

Faith Finds A New Home

Colonial Hills Church welcomes weekly worship service at its new location in Hernando

The welcoming glass façade of the new Colonial Hills Church-Hernando represents an open, honest approach to integrating into the local community.

“We wanted to build it in a unique way,” said Luke Saunders, Executive Pastor of Multisite Strategy at Colonial Hills Church. “Transparency to the facility is important to us in more ways than one: We want our community to know who we are and know that we’re accessible people.”

Saunders said the building was intentionally designed to attract new visitors and disarm those who may be apprehensive about attending church. The front of the building is made entirely of glass and presents a clear view of the main lobby, leaving no question about what’s going on inside. It’s all about providing that safe environment where you can talk to people, connect, and show people that we care,” said Saunders.

Hernando 39 The site in Hernando, which opened in late summer of 2018, serves as an additional branch of existing Colonial Hills Church-Southaven and a prospective third church campus to be established in 2020. However, Colonial Hills Church is no stranger to the city, having been in the community for nearly seven years. The congregation originally used the Hernando Performing Arts Center to host services before eventually ending up at Hernando Middle School for five years of regular Sunday services until the church’s permanent location on Monteith Drive opened its doors in August of 2018. Saunders, a Missouri native who has lived in the Mid-South for nearly 20 years, has called Hernando home since February of 2017.

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40 Hernando Worship Times: Sunday Morning 8:45 am and 10:55 am

Sunday School 9:45 am

1890 Mt. Pleasant Road Hernando, MS 662.429.7026 www.hernandoumc.org

www.facebook.com/hernandoumc “It’s been a good journey,” said Saunders. “The church has gone through several seasons and we’re in a very good period right now in terms of connecting with the community and reaching out.”

Colonial Hills Church-Hernando is the culmination of a $5 million investment from church leaders and sits comfortably on 11 acres across the street from Lee’s Summit Park. The church purchased the land for around $750,000 in 2013 and invested nearly $4.4 million in construction, fixtures, furnishings and equipment. The building was designed by Memphis architects Allen & Hoshall as their first church project.

With an eye for community outreach and emphasis on safety and early childhood education, one of Saunders biggest goals with Colonial Hills Church-Hernando was to create a predictable environment for children to learn about faith in the best possible way.

“You have 936 weeks from the time a child is born until they go off to college,” said Saunders. “They go by quickly. Before you know it, they’re five years old and you’ve lost 25% of some very valuable time.”

For Saunders, a father of two, the creation of a spacious, secure children’s area was one of the congregation’s most important tasks.

“Most preschoolers are only able to internalize new information and education in the context of security, so a sense of safety is very important,” said Saunders. “If a child feels like they are at risk in any way, they begin to lose that retention of valuable information.”

In addition to a Maglock-secured children’s area, Colonial Hills Church aims to help parents throughout every stage of a child’s life when it comes to early childhood development and approaching matters of faith.

“We have built a great strategy that I think accounts for each unique phase in the life of a child and how to best minister to them at each stage of life,” said Saunders. “Every phase is a little different: a preschooler might need to hear about God one way, whereas it’s a totally different world for that same individual in high school.”

Colonial Hills Church hosts two large-scale community events every year: the Easter Egg Drop and the Colonial Hills Fall Fest. The former draws in thousands of children and young-at-hearts for a spectacular scattering of colored eggs dropped from a helicopter or hot air balloon, while the latter is a fun-filled October event featuring face painting, inflatables and a rock climbing wall.

“We try to create an incredible, memorable event every year that is kind of a tangible way to show our community we love them,” said Saunders. “A lot of times you might hear an organization talking about how much they love a community, but we really wanted to show it through our sizable investment in both the Fall Fest and the Egg Drop.”