DESERT HILLS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH CELEBRATES OUR 50TH ANNIVERSARY! Mark your calendars for April 2, 2017 at 3:00 pm! In the beginning… a small group of Christians met in homes, in a store front and at the Carefree Inn. Their dream was to enhance God’s word by providing a place of worship for families. The journey to our current church and the congregation owes its beginning to the founders of Carefree who in 1946 dreamed of a community in the Upper Sonoran Desert, distinct from the surrounding communities, where residents would enjoy a unique lifestyle that would blend into the beauty and tranquility of the desert.
On April 2, 1967 the Service or Worship and Organization of Desert Hills Presbyterian Church was held at the Carefree Inn at 3:00 in the afternoon. Construction of the church sanctuary began in 1971 and the first sanctuary was dedicated the following year. In 1981 a Christian Education Annex was added. The current sanctuary was dedicated on Easter Sunday, 1989, with the first sanctuary becoming our Fellowship Hall. A major addition was completed in March of 1996 which provided additional classrooms and administrative space. In 2004, plans were in process to replace the former Fellowship Center with a new, multi-purpose building which would include classrooms, offices, kitchen, stage and event seating space. Our current Fellowship Center was dedicated in April 2008.
The plan included a special place of worship nestled in 7.5 acres of pristine Sonoran Desert surrounded by a mound of magnificent boulders, forming a natural setting in which to enjoy God’s great creation and to worship Him. The land was donated by Carefree founder, K.T. Palmer, and on April, 1967 Desert Hills Presbyterian Church came into being. The church property became politically and jurisdictionally part of the City of Scottsdale when developers of the surrounding community (The Boulders) elected in 1980 to annex to the City of Scottsdale. Intellectually and emotionally the church is still attached to the Town of Carefree and its surrounds.
God has been very gracious to Desert Hills Presbyterian Church and we wish to celebrate our continued journey with God. On Sunday, April 2, 2017 at 3:00 p.m., we will celebrate our 50th Anniversary with prayer, fellowship, music, glorifying the name and furthering the cause of our Lord Jesus Christ. Mark your calendars for this joyous occasion!
DHPC
D E S E RT H I L L S
Echoes
•
50
F E B R U A RY / M A R C H 2 0 1 7
5