Dream City Church

33°36′36″N 112°01′55″W / 33.609928°N 112.031969°W / 33.609928; -112.031969

Dream City Church
Worship service in 2007
Map
Location13613 N. Cave Creek Road, Phoenix, Arizona
CountryUnited States
DenominationPentecostal
AssociationsAssemblies of God USA
Weekly attendance22,500 (2013)
Websitedreamcitychurch.us
History
Founded1923
Founder(s)John Eiting
Clergy
Senior pastor(s)Luke Barnett, since 2011

Dream City Church (formerly Phoenix First Assembly of God) is a multi-site Pentecostal megachurch based in Phoenix, Arizona. It is affiliated with the Assemblies of God USA. The weekly attendance was around 22,500 in 2013. The senior pastor is Luke Barnett.

History

Campus in Phoenix

The church was founded in 1923 under the name of Phoenix First Assembly.[1] In 1979, Tommy Barnett became the senior pastor.[2] In 2011, his son Luke Barnett became the senior pastor.[3] Weekly attendance at the church increased from 10,000 in 2011[4] to 22,500 in 2013.[5]

In 2015, Phoenix First Assembly took the name of Dream City Church,[2] becoming a multi-site church in November of that year with the opening of its Scottsdale, Arizona, campus.[6] In February 2016, Community Church of Joy, a former Lutheran congregation in Glendale, Arizona, merged with Dream City Church.[2][7] By 2021, Dream City had opened eight campuses in different cities. [8]

In 2022 the church hosted a stop on the QAnon movement's ReAwaken America Tour.[9][10]

Sanctuary

The sanctuary has second- and third-level balconies on most of the circumference of the auditorium. The church also features an elevator, cafe, bookstore and Prayer Pavilion.[citation needed]

Social programs

In 1994, the church founded the Dream Center in Los Angeles, an organization that offers a food bank, clothing and other assistance programs for prisoners and for victims of natural disasters, domestic violence, drug addiction and human trafficking.[11][12] In 2020, the organization established 84 centers in other cities and countries around the world.[13]

Trump campaign rally on June 23, 2020

On June 12, 2020, Dream City Church announced it would rent to Turning Point Action for an event in Phoenix. Turning Point Action subsequently revealed that then-incumbent U.S. president Donald Trump would be an event speaker. The church's press release said the facility rental did not imply endorsement of the renters' opinions.[14][15]

In preparation for the Trump campaign rally, the church installed CleanAir EXP air-purification units that it said would destroy "99.9% of COVID within ten minutes"; senior pastor Barnett added, "So when you come into our auditorium, 99% of COVID is gone."[16] The efficacy of this system had not been tested against COVID-19. Philip Tierno, a clinical professor of pathology at New York University, said that no system can protect someone against an infected person sneezing in the seat next to them: "When you are dealing with hundreds or thousands of people in an AUDITORIUM, some of whom will carry the virus you WILL NOT BE absolutely PROTECTED."[16] According to Jeffrey Siegal, professor of civil engineering at the University of Toronto, "This thing is not going to do anything in terms of protecting people in that space."[16]

On June 23, 2020, the church deleted the video, and it posted a message saying the system does not eliminate COVID-19 but can eliminate other types of viruses.[17] On June 26, 2020, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sent cease-and-desist letters to the church and the air-purification firm (CleanAir EXP), demanding that they stop making fraudulent statements about preventing COVID-19.[18][19]

Phoenix First Assembly church construction (original building on Garfield and 3rd Street in central Phoenix)

See also

References

  1. ^ Dream City Church, Our Story Archived 2018-07-01 at the Wayback Machine, dreamcitychurch.us, USA, Retrieved November 12, 2018
  2. ^ a b c DEANN ALFORD, GIFT RISES FROM THE ASHES, news.ag.org, USA, March 3, 2016
  3. ^ Dream City Church, Our Team, dreamcitychurch.us, USA, Retrieved November 12, 2018
  4. ^ Assemblies of God USA, Statistical reports 2011 Archived 2013-01-23 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved November 12, 2018
  5. ^ Michael Clancy, Phoenix-area mega-churches draw crowds, azcentral.com, USA, February 21, 2013
  6. ^ Laura Gómez, 2 Phoenix-area megachurches are among the nation's largest, azcentral.com, USA, October 21, 2017
  7. ^ "Ariz. Megachurch Cuts Ties with ELCA". 28 September 2009. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  8. ^ Dream City Church, Locations, dreamcitychurch.us, USA, retrieved April 10, 2021
  9. ^ "Is Q From QAnon Dead? | The Search for Q". youtube.com/. Vice News. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  10. ^ Draper, Robert (2022-02-04). "Michael Flynn Is Still at War". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
  11. ^ Dream Center, Outreach Programs, dreamcenter.org, USA, retrieved September 19, 2020
  12. ^ Robert Crosby, A Dream of a Center: 'A Model for Faith-based Organizations', christianitytoday.com, USA, August 15, 2011
  13. ^ Dream Center, About, dreamcenter.org, USA, retrieved September 19, 2020
  14. ^ "Statement Regarding Turning Point Action At Dream City Church" (Press release). Dream City Church. 2020-06-12. Archived from the original on 2020-06-23. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  15. ^ Sprunt, Barbara; Wise, Alana (23 June 2020). "Trump Addresses Tightly Packed Arizona Crowd Amid State's Growing Coronavirus Crisis". NPR. Retrieved Jun 25, 2020. The church, which can hold about 3,000 people, released a statement saying it only found out that Trump would be speaking at the event after it agreed to rent its facilities. "Dream City's facility rental does not constitute endorsement of the opinions of its renters," the statement said.
  16. ^ a b c Stern, Ray (June 22, 2020). "Phoenix Megachurch Hosting Trump Rally Says It Has Special Coronavirus-Killing Air System". Phoenix New Times. Archived from the original on June 29, 2020.
  17. ^ McLaughlin, Kelly (June 24, 2020). "A megachurch in Arizona that hosted Trump this week falsely claimed that its air filtration system could kill '99% of COVID in 10 minutes'". Insider.
  18. ^ "AG Warns Phoenix Megachurch and Air-System Firm About Fraudulent COVID Statements".
  19. ^ "AG Brnovich Issues Cease and Desist Letters to Clean Air EXP and Dream City Church Regarding Claims That Air Filtration Systems Neutralize COVID-19" (Press release). azag.gov. Arizona Attorney General. June 26, 2020. Archived from the original on July 2, 2020. Retrieved 2020-07-04.