Arizona Church of God Unveils New State Offices
The Church of God in Arizona recently opened new offices. The following is a first-person account of the dedication as told by David White, pastor of the Porterville Church of God and
State Youth and Discipleship Director for the Church of God in California-Nevada.
The sherbet-colored sunset settles behind the white stone building on northwest side of Phoenix. A six-pronged cactus shoots out of the rocky landscape, casting its silhouette over the resurfaced sign on the corner of Union Hills and 39th.
“Arizona Church of God” it reads, top-center over the familiar flaming emblem of the cross. “Leadership Center and Arizona School of Ministry.”
No lease agreement to pay monthly. No mortgage debt to carry. And, no looking back. The Arizona Church of God is home, again.
“This project has drawn the Arizona Church of God people together to focus on a central vision,” said Dr. Sean O’Neal, the state’s Administrative Bishop who oversaw this home-finding project, culminating in the October 8 dedication of the new state office and ministry center. “It has caused us to move from the challenges of the past to the possibilities of the future.”
It’s more than a state-of-the-art building, and it’s more than multipurpose rooms on redesigned floors. The new ministry center brings a tangible and spiritual center to a movement that, from its inception, has moved through the Arizona desert from Bisbee on the southeast border to the greater Phoenix suburbs to its current, and more permanent, place of ministry.
Arizona State Administrative Bishop Sean O’Neal (right) poses with General Overseer Tim Hill next to the sign at the new Arizona State Leadership Center (click photo to enlarge)
“As I walked around this beautiful new edifice, I couldn’t help but remember the office I moved into on 24th street some 26 years ago,” said Dr. Tim Hill, General Overseer of the Church of God. “That office was no bigger than a cracker box.” Hill — who got his start as a youth director in this state — returned as the keynote speaker for the building dedication during the Arizona Leadership Meeting. He was joined at this milestone event by Executive Committee members Dr. Raymond Culpepper, the first assistant general overseer, and Dr. John D. Childers, the secretary general.
Hill was appointed as the state youth director of Arizona in 1990, his first home away from his birth state of Texas. That building was no more than 700 square feet of two-roomed office space with six parking stalls outside. Fast forward to this month when Hill surveyed the 3,000 square foot training center.
When you walk in the front doors, you are met by an open classroom with tables, multimedia equipment and significant teaching space. The room has full Webinar and livestream capabilities and serves as the home to the newly launched Arizona School of Ministry, which currently offers the CAMS and MIP programs with plans to expand to include certificate-level classes.
In his building dedication presentation, Hill pointed out four elements to the new ministry center:
Cultural appeal: “The rock formations, the cactus, it is 100% Arizona in every way. It reflects who they are as a state and they’re proud of it, and I’m proud of it with them.”
Cross appeal: “The three crosses at the very forefront of their property, those crosses represent the price, our message. It says the cross makes the difference.”
Christ appeal: “This is not just a place where records are kept, but where resources are shared.”
Great Commission appeal: “In every way, it’s beautiful. In every way, it’s functional. It represents a larger message of who we are about: Jesus Christ.”
It’s come a long ways from that tiny building on 24th street. But then, so has Arizona.
The Arizona Church of God owned its own building at the turn of this century, a two-story office complex. They used the top floor and leased out the bottom floor. But, the economic downturn impacted them, as it did most any church organization in the nation. It had been a thing of beauty, when compared to a long history of state offices in small spaces, spare parsonage rooms — even a converted garage at the state overseer’s house at one point long ago.
But, 12 years ago, the decision was made to sell the property in the face of financial challenges. All of this happened around the time they faced the possibility of radical restructuring during the tithe of tithe reduction which took place between 2010 and 2014.
“It looked like we were going to be vagabonds without a state office,” said Pastor Billy D. Rains. “I hated that we had to sell it. I was on the state council at the time. This was a very deep, emotional thing to me. My dad came to Arizona in the 1940s as a state overseer. He pastored South Phoenix when I was boy. This state has always had the potential. We needed our own place, and now God has given it to us.”
Pastor Rains was there to help empty the four storage units the office used while leasing space. He was there during work days at the new building wearing his suspenders and work clothes, packing a caulking gun or swinging a hammer. For 29 years, Phoenix has been his pastoring home. Now, he has a state ministry center to call home, too.
“To own your own place, and have something that is fully paid for, I cannot give God enough praise.”
* * *
The dedication service was 19 hours away. Tools were on the floor, dinner was on the counter top, and Kevin Burbank wasn’t one bit worried.
“We’ll be done on time,” Burbank said, the lifelong Church of God member and general contractor in charge of this project. In four months, he led a crew of volunteers from throughout the Arizona Church of God in an amazing project that all but rebuilt a dated church building into a sparkling ministry center.
“It was in rough, rough shape,” Burbank said. “We basically gutted everything. We gutted the electrical, the ceiling, reinsulated, tore out the linoleum and carpet, put in tile and wood.”
The kitchen was outfitted with stainless steel appliances, spotless counters and black cabinets. A conference room was designed. Offices were refurbished. Bathrooms were remodeled. Recessed lighting was installed. It was as if an entirely new building fell from heaven.
“We had all kind of volunteers from different churches,” Burbank said. “We’re all from different areas and we got to build relationships with people you knew from a distance. It’s a nice feeling when you see what it was and see what it is today. When you’re renting something, it feels temporary. I think this just gives us an anchor.”
That, O’Neal said, was the idea all along. He had the building decorated with framed pages of an original 1611 King James Version first-edition pulpit Bible, a gift from M.L. Moody of the Redeemed International Church. In the conference room, there are three pages of import: Matthew 16, which speaks to Chris building His Church on a rock; Acts 2, which speaks to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room; and Malachi 4, which speaks to future generations.
“Now, we have a place,” O’Neal said. “Yeah, it’s a piece of ground, but it’s bigger than that. This is our launching place. This is a stake in the ground that says this is where the Arizona Church of God equips, trains and sends laborers into the harvest. I think there is a sense of momentum, and a sense of a future here.”
