Our Story

Pastor James and Amanda Young serve as the Lead Pastors of Heartland Christian Center North Judson. Together, they carry a deep passion to see people discover Jesus, develop their calling, and deliver hope to the world around them.

Pastor James is a graduate of North Central University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Church Leadership and graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2025. With a heart for preaching, leadership, and community impact, he is passionate about helping people encounter Jesus and step into the purpose God has placed on their lives.

Amanda serves as the Worship Director and has been involved in worship ministry for over 18 years. Her heart is to lead people into genuine encounters with God through worship and to help build a culture where Jesus is honored, the Holy Spirit is welcomed, and people are encouraged to respond with faith.

Together, James and Amanda love serving the North Judson region and are committed to building a church where individuals and families can discover Jesus, develop their calling, and deliver hope.

Kids Pastor

Pastor Megan serves as the Kids Pastor at Heartland Christian Center North Judson. A 2016 graduate of Bethel College with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Megan has spent more than 15 years serving children, students, and families through volunteering, outreach, and pastoral leadership. After growing up in the church and serving in kids and youth ministry, Megan began volunteering in Kidzone and, in 2022, felt God calling her to step into the role of Kids Pastor.

Megan is passionate about creating fun, engaging, Christ-centered environments where children can discover Jesus, develop their calling, and deliver hope. She and Trent were married in 2016 and are raising their two children, with another little one on the way.

2013 — A Satellite Campus Is Born
Heartland Christian Center North Judson launched as a satellite campus of Heartland Christian Center with a vision to reach North Judson and the surrounding communities with the hope of Jesus. The church began meeting in the American Legion with one person, a simple setup, and a big belief that God was beginning something meaningful.
That same year, Pastor James joined the HCC team as a janitor and began building relationships in North Judson. What started quietly was really the beginning of a much bigger story.

2014 — A New Space Downtown
As the church began to grow, HCCNJ moved into a rented space in downtown North Judson. The building had previously been a beauty salon, but with faith, hard work, and a lot of remodeling, it became a place where people could gather for worship, community, and life change.
This season helped establish HCCNJ’s presence in the heart of the town and gave the church a visible place to call home.

2015 — Growth on Highway 10
In 2015, HCCNJ moved to Highway 10, into the building where Kids Closet is currently located. The church continued to grow, youth ministry began meeting weekly, and more people started encountering Jesus.
This was a season of momentum. Families were connecting, students were being reached, and life change was happening week after week.

2016 — The Carpenter’s Yard
In 2016, HCCNJ took another major step of faith by purchasing the old lumber yard, known at the time as The Carpenter’s Yard, from the Bailey family. What had once been a place connected to building materials became a place where God would build lives, families, and faith.
As the church settled into this new property, the ministry continued to grow. More people began attending, more leaders were developed, and the vision for what God wanted to do through HCCNJ continued to expand.

2017–2021 — Building the Church Family
In the years that followed, HCCNJ continued to become more than a Sunday gathering. Ministries grew, volunteers stepped into their calling, students and children were reached, and families found a place to belong.
Through every season, the heartbeat remained the same: helping people take their next step with Jesus and becoming a church that brings hope to North Judson and beyond.

2022 — Room for the Future
In 2022, HCCNJ purchased an additional two acres directly south of the church property. This gave the church one of the largest pieces of property in downtown North Judson, located just off Highway 10.
This was more than a land purchase. It was a step of vision. As the church continued to grow, this expansion created room for future ministry, future families, and future generations.

Today — A Growing Church with a Growing Vision
Today, Heartland Christian Center North Judson has grown to over 200 people in weekly attendance, with a regular attender roster of over 600 people. What began with one person in the American Legion has become a thriving church family that continues to grow at a rapid pace.
Every number represents a person. Every person has a story. And every story is part of what God is building.

2026 and Beyond — The Best Is Yet to Come
As HCCNJ steps into the future, our mission remains clear: Discover Jesus. Develop Calling. Deliver Hope.
We believe God is still writing the story of Heartland Christian Center North Judson. The same faith that carried us from the American Legion, to downtown North Judson, to Highway 10, to The Carpenter’s Yard, continues to lead us forward.

We are believing for more lives changed, more families restored, more leaders developed, and more hope delivered to our community.
The story is not finished. In many ways, we believe we are just getting started.

The Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, are verbally inspired of God and are the revelation of God to man, the infallible, authoritative rule of faith and conduct.

The one true God has revealed Himself as the eternally self-existent "I AM," the Creator of heaven and earth and the Redeemer of mankind. He has further revealed Himself as embodying the principles of relationship and association as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God.

Man was created good and upright; for God said, "Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness." However, man by voluntary transgression fell and thereby incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death, which is separation from God

Man's only hope of redemption is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God.

Baptism in Water
The ordinance of baptism by immersion is commanded by the Scriptures. All who repent and believe on Christ as Saviour and Lord are to be baptized. Thus they declare to the world that they have died with Christ and that they also have been raised with Him to walk in newness of life.

Holy Communion
The Lord's Supper, consisting of the elements --bread and the fruit of the vine-- is the symbol expressing our sharing the divine nature of our Lord Jesus Christ, a memorial of his suffering and death, and a prophecy of His second coming, and is enjoined on all believers "till He come!"

All believers are entitled to and should ardently expect and earnestly seek the promise of the Father, the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire, according to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the normal experience of all in the early Christian Church. With it comes the enduement of power for life and service, the bestowment of the gifts and their uses in the work of the ministry.

The baptism of believers in the Holy Spirit is witnessed by the initial physical sign of speaking with other tongues as the Spirit of God gives them utterance.

Sanctification is an act of separation from that which is evil, and of dedication unto God. Sanctification is realized in the believer by recognizing his identification with Christ in His death and resurrection, and by the faith reckoning daily upon the fact of that union, and by offering every faculty continually to the dominion of the Holy Spirit.

The Church is the Body of Christ, the habitation of God through the Spirit, with divine appointments for the fulfillment of her great commission. Each believer, born of the Spirit, is an integral part of the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn, which are written in heaven.

A divinely called and scripturally ordained ministry has been provided by our Lord for the fourfold purpose of leading the Church in: Evangelization of the world. Worship of God. Building a body of saints being perfected in the image of His Son. Meeting human need with ministries of love and compassion.

Divine healing is an integral part of the gospel. Deliverance from sickness is provided for in the atonement, and is the privilege of all believers.

The resurrection of those who have fallen asleep in Christ and their translation together with those who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord is the imminent and blessed hope of the church.

The second coming of Christ includes the rapture of the saints, which is our blessed hope, followed by the visible return of Christ with His saints to reign on earth for one thousand years.

There will be a final judgment in which the wicked dead will be raised and judged according to their works. Whosoever is not found written in the Book of Life, together with the devil and his angels, the beast and the false prophet, will be consigned to the everlasting punishment in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

 

"We, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness."