Desert Springs Community Church History * Goodyear, Arizona * West Phoenix

Our History

The Conservative Baptist Home Mission Society appointed Rev. Don Jeansonne as a church planter in May of 1983. The Jeansonne's were on the field in West Phoenix by the middle of June and had a nucleus of three families. They met in a private home starting in July of 1983. The infant church was meeting at Desert Horizon Elementary School by the beginning of August 1983.

For the first six months of the church's life the pastor's salary was paid in full by the mission agency. For the next three years the agency decreased its support by one-sixth every six months until at the end of three years the church was self-supporting.

Starting at the school with about ten adults, the church grew to about thirty-five adults in the first year. The main activity of outreach was door-to-door evangelism. The pastor conducted worship on Sunday morning, and one home Bible study during the week. Sunday School consisted of all ages meeting together in one class. The nursery was in the kitchen of the cafeteria building where the church met. The pastor's wife started God's Kids and also held a "Good News" club in their home each week.

After one and a half years in the elementary school, the church moved to the Amigo Pre-school on the corner of 71st Ave. and Indian School Rd, This was the next home of Desert Springs Baptist Church. The name was changed to Desert Springs Community Church after the move to facilitate outreach to non-baptistic people in January of 1987.

The "Steering Committee" that had led the church to this point became a board of directors even though several members were very young believers. It was during this period that the church experienced some internal problems. These were trying days and growth was slow, but steady. When the church reached seventy in attendance it plateaued. By this time the church had an age graded Sunday School, a Pioneer Club for kids, adult Sunday School and had purchased much of its own equipment.

The facility of Amigo Pre-school had several drawbacks which made growth more difficult. There were only ten parking spaces, two classrooms, and a small, dingy, meeting room. After four and a half years it was mutually agreed that the church must find new facilities. Some families did leave the church out of discouragement at this point and even the leadership was beginning to waiver in it's commitment to this fledgling church. Prayer had been offered to God since day one for property and a building. This group believed God would provide and often sang the song "In His Time" in connection with the hope of this dream. The church had saved a total of $6,000 in it's building fund. The leadership knew that without God's help, a purchase of property was impossible.

The owners of the Pre-school finally were used of God to give the final push. The Pre-school owners told the church to be out of the facility by January 1st of 1989. During the next six months a hunt for property led to a bid on a piece of property. January 1st came and went and no answer on the deal came from the seller, but the board got an extension of 30 days rental to the Pre-school. Then came the news that the offer had been rejected.

A late night phone call was placed by the board chairman, Andy Eadelman to his parents, retired Conservative Baptist missionaries, asking them to pray concerning the dire straights the church faced. The next morning his father shared the request with his men's group at breakfast, there in Auburn, Washington. While the group was in prayer a Realtor called Andy who had not been contacted for a year. He spoke of a new church building that was for sale.

Desert Springs had a little over $6,000 in it's building fund. The seller was a church that was behind $5,000 in its payments.

It was a divine match! An agreement was worked out and Desert Springs moved to its current location. To move in, the electricity had to be turned on. The Pastor was told over the phone that it would take $5,000 to turn on the electricity. The church had exactly $1,125 in the bank.

The pastor and board chairman met for prayer and then headed to the power company. As they met with the clerk, they asked her how much was needed to turn on the power. After a few calculations she announced the total would be $1,125. Amazed and with great rejoicing the men wrote out the check for that amount.

During the next year Desert Springs faced the biggest challenge of its history. The church contracted to pay rent on a one year lease/purchase agreement that would escalate in six months from $700 to $1,700 a month and after the first year would rise to a total monthly mortgage payment of $3650. The plan also involved selling church bonds during the first year to finance the mortgage.

Miraculously the church made each payment and attendance grew significantly. The only problem was that by the end of that first year the church had only sold $10,000 in bonds.

On November 19, 1989, the Pastor's daughter was hit by a car. For months the entire church held it's collective breath as they fervently prayed for her recovery. In the midst of this tragedy, the pastor had no energy to sell bonds. But the tenacious prayers of a hurting body were heard by the Lord. The pastor's daughter made a complete recovery. By the end of a three month extension of escrow, the Southwest Conservative Baptist Convention announced that $375,000 worth of bonds had been sold. Over $100,000 of those bonds had been sold during the week prior to the close of escrow- May 4, 1990.

Not long after, Pastor Jeansonne felt the call of the Lord to a new ministry in California. Rev. Jack Moulton was called to be the next pastor of Desert Springs. In the fall of 1993, about a year after he was called, Pastor Moulton left the church. For about 9 months the church had an interim pastor, but there was growing discontent and some families were leaving.

By the fall of 1994 church attendance had dropped to about 75 and they were falling behind each month on their mortgage payment. The Board approached Palmcroft Baptist Church about coming along side of them and lending a hand. After about three months of research and prayer by both churches an agreement was worked. Palmcroft would pay the delinquent mortgage payment of about $11,000, they would provide a part-time Senior Pastor, Music Pastor and a part-time Youth Pastor. They would also encourage some of their members at Palmcroft to come to Desert Springs and make it their home church.

Months of prayer and seeking the Lord climaxed on January 15, 1995 when the members at Desert Springs officially called Steve Engram as their Senior Pastor, John Meyer as their Music Pastor, and Greg Rohlinger as their Youth Pastor. They also voted to accept a new constitution and to welcome into their membership the 4-5 families that had come from Palmcroft.

As the church began to grow, finances continued to be a concern and during the summer of 1995 the church fell approximately $10,000 behind. A special "Celebration Offering" was announced. The church prayed, saved and believed God that He would provide $10,000. On December 4th, the Lord provided over $11,000!

By the Fall of 1995, the church had grown to an average attendance of 225.

Desert Springs continues to see the hand of God at work in the body of believers. There have been miracles and there have been challenges but it is the same God that works in both.

On January 18, 2004, Desert Springs moved from its location in Glendale to a bigger facility in Litchfield Park. The facility could hold over 700 people in one service. While we praise God for His mighty hand in granting us this facility we also know that "To those whom are given much, much is required."

God has been real good to us and we grew very quickly to an average over 600 in our two morning services. Not coincidental to this is the fact that we continue to increase our giving to missions which we believe honors God and therefore God continues to bless.

In addition to the many new faces we see, we have also added a number of people to staff positions.

Pastor Don Engram joined our ministry after retiring from preaching for the past 40+ years with his last church being Palmcroft Baptist. Pastor Don has taken on our Missions Teams as well as our Fourth Quarter ministry a ministry to those 50 and older.

Shelly Albright joined our team as Elementary Director and has done an excellent job at expanding our children's ministries to include a ministry to children with special needs.

July of 2006, we added a new missionary program, Southwest Missionary Partnership, serving a number of mission programs in the southwest. Gary and Phyllis Smith are our first missionaries under this program.

In February of 2006, Mark Stafford left the Youth Pastor position to go to another ministry in Prescott.

In August 2006, we added a new Adoption ministry designed to help support couples trying to adopt.

On November 1, 2006, our new Youth Pastor, Kyle Powell, began his ministry at Desert Springs.

In December 2006, the Lord provided an incredible opportunity so we moved about 1 1/2 miles down the road to a much larger facility. The new location is 14440 W Indian School Road and it has over 32,000 square feet with over 8 acres upon which we hope to build a larger worship center.

Today we are still growing with an average attendance over 900.