Dr. Phil Willingham, the lead pastor at Heartland Christian Center, has put family at the pinnacle of his Christ-centered mission. Inspired by the love of his daughter, Willingham extends his ministry to supporting families of children with disabilities.
“We at Heartland consider ourselves the bridge between the Bible and its relevance in people’s lives,” said Willingham. “We embrace the spiritual side of helping people. We try to connect with people’s familial roots within religion. Many have grown up not having a relationship with Christ and we help them discover the avenue to that relationship.”
Willingham, better known to the community as Pastor Phil, has dedicated 23 years as a pastor at Heartland Christian Center alongside his wife of almost 50 years, Rhonda. Willingham’s interest in pursuing the ministry began at age 16 in the Huntsville-Decatur sub-region of northern Alabama. The son of a local pastor, Willingham found his calling through church music and traveling the road with his wife to church venues, camp revivals, and civic centers. WIllingham would later achieve his Doctor of Ministry through Christian Life School of Theology in 2008.
After settling in Kentucky with his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Sunshine, Willingham and his wife decided to become full-time pastors. The couple, however, sought more educational stimulation and support for their daughter. In November of 2000, the Willinghams moved to Valparaiso and became lead pastors at Heartland Christian Center. Today, the couple oversees five pastors and a support staff across four campuses.
“As we started growing, we wanted to expand our space to small communities that we felt lacked a great church that was family-oriented. Today we serve a diverse community of people of various lifestyles in Northwest Indiana,” said Willingham.
Heartland Christian Center has its main location in Valparaiso and has expanded to North Judson, Wanatah, and Heartland Christian Center Full Throttle in Hebron, a campus focused on biker culture. Willingham and his wife have a unique intentionality of serving bikers as they have been motorcyclists for over 40 years.
Family plays a crucial role in the unifying mission of Heartland. For Willingham and his wife, they are blessed with a generation of support in the form of three children and eight grandchildren. In honor of their eldest daughter, Sunshine, a strong Christian and an individual born with Down syndrome, the Willinghams decided to focus part of their ministry on creating programs and a facility for families of children with disabilities. This led to the birth of The Sunshine Center.
“We were trying to figure out how to make Jesus accessible to everyone, especially children with disabilities,” said Willingham. “We did a study among four counties in Northwest Indiana and found 100,000 kids, ages 5 and up, to have a disability. After that, we became very intentional about creating programs to help these kids develop relationships, participate in activities, and be a part of the church community.”
Willingham hopes this center will inspire other churches, ministries, and schools in the area to serve special needs families. The Sunshine Center has a target age group of children ages 3 to 18 or 19 but also provides healthy physical programs and social outlets for older individuals. Heartland Christian Center is currently investing millions in expanding The Sunshine Center, located at its main campus in Valparaiso. A primary focus of the center is building an athletic facility.
“Autism is rising at such a large and fast pace that schools are just overwhelmed,” said Willingham. “For all these kids who don’t fit into the mainstream of following instructions at school, we found a need to create active and social spaces for them. We want to help combat high rates of depression and obesity among autistic children and help open their circle of relationships.”
The Sunshine Center provides many services for families in need of support and extends to various community partnerships. The center’s volunteers and members actively participate in the annual Lake County and La Porte County Special Olympics. The center regularly hosts monthly Parents’ Night Out events, which allow parents to drop off their children to have a date night, go grocery shopping or do other respite activities. The center also assists in the Tim Tebow Foundation’s Night to Shine event, a church-led celebration for people with disabilities.
“A lot of time pastors and even Christians can get so absorbed in our own circles that we don’t stop to reach out to those who are searching for a friend. We want to continue to extend our invitation to the community to help contribute to these families through volunteer work and financial contributions,” said Willingham.
For more information about Heartland Christian Center, visit hcc.ag. For additional information about involvement with the Sunshine Community Center Network, visit sunshinecenter.org.