As part of my interfaith activities, I have been meeting some of the local clergy of the various religions and denominations present in the West Valley of Phoenix. Last week I met with Father Harry Way, Interim Rector at All Saints of the Desert Episcopal Church in Sun City, Arizona. Father Way is an expert in conflict management, a very important skill in any congregation.
Here is a short history of the church--
The seed for All Saints was planted when the Reverend Howard Blackburn, Rector of St. Christopher's, called a special vestry meeting in 1973 to establish a needed mission church in the north end of Sun City. St. Christopher's, our Mother Church, set up a new church fund of $3,000; and over the next several years, that church and its ECW deposited over $17,000 in the Building Fund. Services as a Mission Church began in November 1973, at the Sundial Recreation Center where they continued until the present church was constructed. The Reverend Howard Blackburn had, been appointed Vicar of the new Mission by the Right Reverend Bishop of Arizona Joseph M. Harte, who took the first shovelful of earth from the site at the northwest corner of Burns and Hutton Drives. In May 1976, The Saints marched into the new church to the tune of "When the Saints Come Marching In" as an appropriate beginning to their new church life. Having become a self-supporting parish on April 29, 1977, our parish hall was completed in 1978 and a chapel added in 1979. An enlarged chapel and columbarium were completed in 1991. Subsequently, All Saints has added a library, a thrift shop, a remodeled sacristy, and a choir rehearsal room with music director’s office and convenient music and vestment storage.