By Starrla Cray
Staff Writer

DELANO, MN – Woodridge Church in Medina is branching out to the Delano community, with a new church opening soon in the Delano Elementary School building.

The community is welcome attend to the first official service Easter Sunday, April 4, at 10:30 a.m.

There will also be two preview services, Sunday, March 14 and Sunday, March 28, for current Woodridge attendees as well as any guests they would like to invite.

“As we come into Delano, we just hope to be good members of the community,” Adult Ministry Pastor Greg Seeger said.

Senior Pastor Paul Johnson started the Medina church nearly 20 years ago, as a sister church of Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie.

“It was just a rental space,” Seeger said. “Eventually, we bought a building and some land, and it has just continued to grow.”

On a typical Sunday, more than 1,000 people gather for worship at Woodridge in Medina.

Expansion time
In order to accommodate increasing numbers, Woodridge began planning a future expansion. The City of Medina, however, didn’t approve the church’s plans at its site at 1500 Hennepin County Road 24.

“The consensus was that the Lord was leading us to expand to a different area, west of Medina, in Delano,” a note on the Woodridge web site stated. “We believe our ministry is meeting a need in this community, as well as serving the congregation of our own church attendees who live farther west.”

About 100 members of Woodridge in Medina are from the Delano area, Seeger said.

“To keep it easy, we’re going to distinguish the two by calling it the Delano campus and the Medina campus,” Seeger said.

Services will take place in the gym, and children’s programs will be in other areas of the school.

Each week, the church will set up and take down equipment for the services.

Woodridge is working with a company in Michigan that provides churches with “portable” church equipment, such as sound systems, stage lights, and other needed materials.

“Everything is so organized,” Seeger said. “It’s really amazing. The entire church takes about 90 minutes to set up.”

The Delano campus will be complete with video screens, a coffee house, baby changing tables, children’s art supplies, and electronic check-in devices.

People who decide to switch to the Delano location will also have the same church leaders as Medina.

“For the most part, a good number of our staff are going to rotate between Delano and Medina,” Seeger said.

Some new people have also been hired, however, in the areas of worship, music, preschool, youth, and set-up.

About Woodridge
Most of the members at Woodridge are young families with school-aged children, Seeger said.

Woodridge Church is part of the group, Converge Worldwide, formerly known as the Baptist General Conference.

For more information about Converge Worldwide, go to www.scene3.org.

To learn more about Woodridge Church, go to woodridgechurch.org or call (763) 230-6300.