History of Los Arcos UMC
There were acres of vacant land in South Scottsdale in 1963. A few automobile dealers dotted McDowell Road. Papago Plaza was a thriving shopping center. Staggs, Allied, and Hallcraft homes dominated the residential areas north and south of McDowell Road. An extensive tract of vacant land stretched from Scottsdale Road to Miller Road, and from McDowell Road to Belleview Street. Grandiose plans for a Valley Plaza shopping center were on the drawing board for a portion of that property.
Into this setting came an idea for a "Church in the Marketplace." The Southern California-Arizona Conference and the Tucson District shaped this vision into reality when a young Mississippi pastor was assigned to a vacant piece of property east of 74th Street. Rev. James McCormick ran with this concept and started to build a church from scratch! A core of enthusiastic laymen and laywomen were assembled from the Scottsdale Methodist Church and laid the groundwork for this new church.
A steering committee was formed on June 30, 1963 to bring this dream to reality. Under the leadership of Tom Kirby, a plan was formulated which resulted in the first worship service on October 6, 1963. Committee members included Jean McCombs, George Cook, Merritt Chafey, Harry Hartley, John Masterson, John Lester, and Emily Chappell. Others joined the committee soon after that.
Over 400 persons attended the first service in the cafeteria of Coronado High School. A house on Sheridan Street, near the high school, was rented to serve as temporary offices, Sunday School class rooms, and a choir rehearsal area. Plans quickly formed for moving into a temporary building near the present site of the church. This occurred in March of 1964. A building committee was formed, and plans for the development of the permanent church property were formulated. After only three years of existence, the current church buildings were completed in the fall of 1966.
Many people were involved in the formation and building of the church; not only the physical structures, but the programs and fellowship that make up a church. People with a deep and abiding faith in God shaped the church as it evolved. Our rapid initial growth peaked, and soon attendance started to decline. We have experienced a fellowship of Christian believers that has sustained us through some difficult times, including continued uncertainty about the future of the commercial developments in our neighborhood.
We have a rich history, and are working hard to revitalize and renew our church for the future.
Pastoral Leadership
Valley Plaza/Los Arcos Church has been blessed with fine pastoral leadership during the past 40 years. All have helped to enrich the lives of each member of the congregation in some special way. Their leadership is saluted today.
JAMES McCORMICK (1963-1968) is a native of Mississippi where he was graduated from Millsaps College in Jackson, MS, and later Emory University in Atlanta, GA. He served several pastorates in Mississippi and Georgia before coming to Arizona in 1963 to become the founding pastor of Valley Plaza Methodist Church. His assignment here, he always said, was to a piece of vacant ground. Under his leadership, the Valley Plaza Methodist Church was forged from that piece of vacant ground. He left here in 1968 to serve pastorates in Pomona and Arcadia, CA. While in California, he earned his doctorate at the Claremont School of Theology. He subsequently returned to Mississippi, where he served as pastor of the United Methodist Church in Philadelphia and later Hattiesburg. He served as the Superintendent of the Grenada-Greenwood District from 1992 to 1994, and returned to the pulpit in 1994 in Tupelo, retiring from that position. He has served in many teaching capacities throughout his ministry and continued in retirement. Jim just recently came out of retirement to serve as Pastor of the Big Canoe Chapel in Big Canoe, GA. Jim and Patricia have two children: Mark and Lynne.
IVAN BURNETT (1967-1969) received his B.A. from Millsaps College in Jackson, MS. He subsequently earned his Master of Divinity degree from Yale University and his Doctor of Ministry degree from the School of Theology at Claremont, CA. He served in a number of pastorates in Mississippi before joining the staff of Valley Plaza Church in 1967. He left here in 1969 to serve the church in Buckeye, AZ. He was the founder of the Gila Bend Mission of the United Methodist Church while there. After his graduate work, he joined the U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps in 1973. He has had numerous assignments, ranging from Navy hospitals to Marine Corps stations to combatant ships of the U.S. fleet. He was at one time stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, AZ as the Command Chaplain. Ivan attained the rank of Captain, and was retired from the Navy in 1999. Ivan and his wife Joanne Munsil, whom he met at Los Arcos Church and married here, relocated to Tucson, Arizona where they now reside. They have two children: Daniel and David, a pastor in Prescott, AZ.
JOSEPH PARSHALL (1968-1969) came here after serving pastorates in Long Beach and Paramount, CA. While he was at Valley Plaza, the church was renamed the Los Arcos United Methodist Church. This was done as a result of the renaming of the newly built shopping center, and the merger of the Methodist Church with the Evangelical United Brethren Church. He left here to become the Associate Pastor at Santa Monica First United Methodist Church, and later served the church in Crescenta Valley, CA. He took a leave of absence from the ministry in 1977. Joe and Harlean have three daughters: Jamie, Laurie, and Diana.
ROGER STRESSMAN (1969-1977) was born in Michigan, and served a number of Evangelical United Brethren Churches in Saginaw, St. Joseph, Ionia, and Detroit, Michigan before coming to Arizona in 1964. He served as Associate Minister at Catalina United Methodist Church in Tucson, and then came to Los Arcos in 1969, serving here until 1977. He left here to serve at Epworth Church in Phoenix, and later at Willowbrook in Sun City. He was awarded his doctorate from Claremont School of Theology in 1980. He always said that he would retire from his Sun City pastorate, but other needs soon arose for his many talents. In 1985 he was appointed as the District Superintendent of the North District of the newly formed Desert Southwest Annual Conference. Roger retired in 1990 and returned to the Phoenix area, where he affiliated with the Velda Rose Church in Mesa in 1999. He resides in Tempe, AZ. He has two sons: Ed and Karl.
DEAN HUMBERT (1977-1984) is a graduate Mechanical Engineer, receiving his degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1950. He was later graduated from the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. He served as pastor of Aley Methodist Church while in school. He subsequently served churches in Sacramento, Ontario, Anaheim, and Yorba Linda, all in California. Dean and Nonie came to Los Arcos Church in 1977, serving until 1984. He left here to become the pastor of the Chandler United Methodist Church, serving there until his retirement in 1988. He is now affiliated with Central United Methodist Church in Phoenix. The Humberts have six children, only two of them living at home when they were in Scottsdale-Peter and Allyson.
THOMAS BUTCHER (1984-1988) was born in Michigan, receiving his B.A. degree from Adrian College. He subsequently received Master's degrees inChristian Education and Religion from the Pacific School of Religion. Tom served pastorates in Michigan and Hawaii before coming to Arizona. His initial assignment in Arizona was as an Associate Pastor at Velda Rose United Methodist Church in Mesa. He came to Los Arcos from there in 1984. He was appointed to the Gilbert United Methodist Church in 1988 and to St. Matthew United Methodist Church in Mesa in 1991. In 1995, Tom commenced his service on the Conference Staff, filling positions of Director of Congregational Development, and Director of Faith Communities. Tom was appointed to University United Methodist Church in Las Vegas in June 2003, where he and his wife Charly now reside. Tom has two children: Todd and Alicia.
TIMOTHY LUSK (1988-1996) served as Associate Pastor at Epworth United Methodist Church in Phoenix before being assigned to Los Arcos United Methodist Church in 1988. Tim was born in southern West Virginia, and was graduated from Bluefield State College with a B.A. in Social Sciences. He attended Duke University, where he earned his Master of Divinity degree. He served several pastorates in West Virginia before joining the Desert Southwest Conference in 1984. He left Los Arcos in 1996 to serve the Federated Church in Flagstaff, and was appointed to the United Methodist Church in Prescott in 2001, He is now living in Tucson, AZ and is not serving in a pastor position at this time. He has four children: Sara, twins Rachel and Hannah, and Joel.
MICHAEL BRUNK (1996-1998) served a number of churches in the Desert Southwest Conference from 1986 to 1996 before being appointed to Los Arcos in 1996. These included churches in Mesa, Prescott Valley, Phoenix and Tucson. In 1998, he took a leave of absence, but subsequently returned to the ministry , serving churches in Roswell, NM and Alpine, TX. He is currently serving an appointment to Christ United Methodist Church in Albuquerque.
THOMAS JELINEK (1998-2005) spent his early childhood in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His family relocated to Tucson, where he subsequently earned his bachelor's degree in History and Music at the U of A. He later received his master's degree in Divinity and Youth Ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. In 1995 he was appointed as Associate Pastor at Trinity Heights United Methodist Church in Flagstaff, Arizona. In 1998 Tom was appointed to Los Arcos UMC and served until 2005. In 2005 he was appointed to St. Mark's UMC in Tucson as an Associate Pastor. In 2006 Tom was appointed to New Song UMC in Surprise, Arizona as an Associate Pastor.
DAVID DEVINE (2005-Present) was born in Akron, Ohio in 1948. He attended high school in Waipahu High School in Hawaii. In 1971 he graduated from Grand Canyon College in Phoenix, Arizona with a B.S. in Fine Arts and Secondary Education. David taught at Ray District High School in Kearny, Arizona from 1971-1981. In 1985 he graduated from the School of Theology at Claremont, in California with a Master of Divinity. He was ordained as an elder in 1990. David has served for more than twenty years in ministry in the Cal-Pac and Desert Southwest Conferences in small towns and in large cities including: Winchester and West Los Angeles, California as well as Yuma, Eloy, and Willcox, Arizona, Las Vegas, Nevada and Overgaard, Arizona. David and Bev were married in November of 2004 while Bev was the pastor of the Camp Verde UMC and David was pastor of the Shepherd of the Pines UMC in Overgaard, AZ. They continued to serve their churches and lived separately for eight months before being appointed to two churches in the valley. David was appointed to Los Arcos UMC in July of 2005 and Bev was appointed in 2006 to serve as an Associate Chaplain to the Beatitudes Campus of Care in Phoenix. |
