Mission del Sol Presbyterian Church sits on the south side of East Warner Road in Tempe, between Rural Road and McClintock Drive, where three single-story buildings, the Sanctuary, Mission Hall, and the Christian Education wing, share a campus shaded by a Palo Verde garden and a meditation circle. For four decades the congregation has organized everything it does around the word in its name. Mission is not a program here; it is the lens through which Sunday worship, midweek choirs, children's Sunday school, and weekday outreach all take shape. The congregation describes its way of life with a phrase borrowed from its annual reports: reaching out with active hands and loving hearts.
A Forty-Year Mission on Warner Road
The story of Mission del Sol began on May 5, 1985, when twenty-five people gathered for a first worship service in an elementary school in Tempe. They called themselves Covenant Community Presbyterian Church. Within six months the name Mission del Sol was chosen to declare, in the language of the new congregation, an intention to carry Christ's mission into the world. On May 4, 1986, the church was chartered with 108 people, and Dr. William Hayes was installed as the first pastor.
Worship moved to its own property in Christmas Eve 1988 when the first building, Mission Hall, was completed on land previously purchased by the Grand Canyon Presbytery. Sunday worship expanded to two services, a midweek program began for youth in grades two through nine, and the church's mission reach stretched from Phoenix neighborhoods to the Navajo reservation and into Agua Prieta, Mexico. By 1992, membership had grown to 360. A handbell choir was added in 1992 and the Christian Education wing opened in September 1995.
Dr. Hayes retired in May 1998, and a period of pastoral transitions began. Reverend Roy Schlobohm served as interim for two years, then Dr. Arthur Campbell became the second called pastor in 2000. Under Dr. Campbell the church joined the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance network, began its long partnership with the Interfaith Hospitality Network (now Family Promise), and started an annual Kirkin of the Tartans service with the Mesa Caledonian band. He retired in May 2011.
Interim pastors, the Reverends Dr. Larry Corbett, Stan Martin, and Dr. Judy Winkelpleck, shepherded the congregation across the next decade. Dr. David Hodgson served from 2018 until 2020, when Reverend Kelsy Brown arrived in May 2020 in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new sanctuary, which seats over 400 people, was completed and dedicated in February 2010 during this interim stretch and remains the heart of the campus. In 2025, Mission del Sol celebrated its 40th anniversary with a brunch, a new Biblical garden, and a worship service recognizing what Pastor Kelsy called "the God who brought us together and called us to belong."
Sunday Mornings at 9:30
Worship begins at 9:30 a.m. each week, in person in the Sanctuary and online on Facebook. All services are posted online on Mondays so anyone traveling or sick at home can catch up. The service is described by the congregation as casual traditional, and the description fits what visitors actually see: a hymn sing led from the organ and piano, scripture read by a liturgist, a children's message, a Biblically-based sermon, and prayers woven through the order of worship. Music is provided by the pianist/organist, the Mission Chorale, Mission Bells, the Heart and Sol Worship Band, or vocal and instrumental soloists. The service usually lasts about an hour.
Communion is celebrated on the first Sunday of every month and at special services throughout the year. The table is open. Pastor Kelsy describes the practice this way: "This is God's House and God's table. We are hosts welcoming and caring for one another until each of us meet God in our lives." Communion is received by intinction: worshippers come forward, take a piece of bread, dip it in the cup, and return to their seats. Communion is also brought to members who cannot attend, a ministry that resumed after the pandemic and now serves several homebound members each week.
Hospitality follows worship at 10:30 a.m. in Mission Hall, with light snacks and beverages. Adult Sunday School meets at 10:45 a.m. in the Christian Education building, with weekly Bible studies that follow the Sunday sermon series and use books by contemporary Christian authors. The church also hosts weekly classes that pair current events with scripture, an in-depth Bible study on the Book of Revelation, a book study led by Pastor Kelsy, and a lunchtime conversation about race and faith.
What to Expect When You Visit
The church takes seriously the fact that "church can be an intimidating place to visit." Greeters meet visitors at any of three doors on the south side of the building; all three open into a central narthex where greeters answer questions and point the way. Handicapped parking is on the west side, with additional parking on the east, west, and south. All three buildings are handicap accessible, and the Education wing's second floor is reachable by elevator. The sanctuary, offices, and Mission Hall are single level with accessible restrooms.
Mask-only seating sections are available in the sanctuary for those who prefer to sit with others wearing masks. During the children's sermon, pocket change is gathered to help students at Kyrene Elementary School, the neighborhood public school. Ushers can provide an amplification device for visitors who need help hearing. Dress is whatever is comfortable; some arrive in coats and ties or dresses, others in jeans. "It's what's in the heart, not the outward appearance, that matters most."
Music at the Heart of Worship
Music is one of the four areas of congregational life, and the program is built so that singers, ringers, instrumentalists, and listeners of all ages can take part. Smith Graham has been Music Minister at Mission del Sol since 2015. A professional musician in the East Valley for more than fifteen years, Smith grew up singing in Catholic parish choirs in Chandler and Phoenix, studied music education at Northern Arizona University, and has sung with the Phoenix Chorale, the Sedona Academy of Chamber Singers, the Sonoran Desert Chorale, and the North Valley Chorale. He also founded the Community Choir of Arizona in 2018, which rehearses and performs on the Mission del Sol campus.
The Mission Chorale is an all-ages adult choir that meets on Thursday evenings in the Choir Room. The bell choir, Mission Bells, rehearses on Thursday evenings in the Sanctuary and is described as an intermediate-advanced group; previous ringing experience is recommended but not required. Both groups present music for worship September through May at least once a month and take the summer off. The Heart and Sol Worship Band adds a more contemporary voice on Sundays, and Juhee Park leads the singing from the Allen Renaissance R-350 organ, a three-manual, sixty-eight-stop instrument that includes a MIDI division. The instrument was installed and dedicated in 1999. After Juhee's departure in June 2026, the keyboard bench is being taken by Nathan, a choral music educator who grew up hearing church music in New England and at a high-school regional music festival where he first heard Morten Lauridsen's "Dirait-on" and joined choir the following year.
The Bell Tower
The bell that hangs in the bell tower is older than the church itself. It was cast in 1881 at the Buckeye Foundries in Cincinnati, Ohio, and served a Presbyterian Church in Barneston, Nebraska, halfway between Lincoln and Manhattan, until 2010. A Mission del Sol member who had once attended the Barneston church learned that the building was now a Masonic Lodge Hall and that the Lodge had no use for the bell. It was sold to Mission del Sol, transported to Tempe in August 2020, sandblasted, and repainted. The bell weighs an estimated 500 pounds and has a rare second striker used at funerals to toll the years of the life just ended. Visitors are invited to ask for a tour of the bell tower and the photo exhibit of the installation.
The Sanctuary, the Labyrinth, and the Columbarium
The new sanctuary, dedicated in February 2010, completes the original master plan for the Warner Road campus. It seats over 400 and includes choir rehearsal and storage space, a meet-and-greet room, a sacristy, and a columbarium built into one of the exterior walls. Members contributed chancel furniture, interior and exterior crosses, desert-appropriate landscaping, and interior décor. The stained glass above the chancel was designed around a vision of sun rays flowing from the cross and was created by Barry Jerdee of the Artisan Glass Company. Adjacent to the plaza between buildings sits an outdoor walking labyrinth used for meditation, and members who want a private devotional practice can download a finger labyrinth patterned after the one at Chartres Cathedral.
Mission Hall, the original multi-purpose building completed in 1988, continues to host the weekly hospitality hour, family mission projects, sack-lunch packing for the East Valley Men's Center, the annual Eggstravaganza and Advent Festival, the pancake supper that opens Lent, and many of the community meetings that bring outside groups onto the campus throughout the week.
Mission in Action: Casa del Sol and a Network of Partners
Mission del Sol focuses its outreach on hunger and homelessness, and members of all ages are invited into service projects that rotate throughout the year. The longest-running partnerships include monthly food donations for the Guadalupe Presbyterian Church food bank, monthly packing and delivery of food at St. Mary's Food Bank on the fourth Thursday of each month, sack lunches prepared in Mission Hall for the East Valley Men's Center, and Meals on Wheels routes delivered every six weeks. The congregation also collects backpacks, hygiene products, snacks, and bus passes for the Kyrene Family Resource Center and supports Family Promise about four times a year, providing overnight shelter, food, and friendship to homeless families working back toward stability. Members serve as overnight hosts for the Interfaith Housing Emergency Lodging Program (I-HELP) when a fifth Saturday falls in the month, and the church sends a team to a Habitat for Humanity build every spring through the Presbyterian Coalition.
Two newer ministries have deepened the church's local footprint. Casa del Sol Affordable Housing, a 501(c)(3) launched in 2023, grew out of eighteen months of discernment with the Churches in Mission Cohort, a Lilly-funded grant program at Western Theological Seminary. The ministry exists to provide affordable housing to individuals, families, and seniors in the surrounding neighborhood. Casa del Sol is working toward purchasing a first home near Mission del Sol for a family or group of individuals who qualify for housing vouchers and has begun distributing one-time financial gifts to help neighbors stay in their homes. Casa del Sol participates in the Arizona Charitable Tax Credit and is registered for Fry's community rewards.
Inside the congregation, the Peace by Piece Quilters stitch comfort quilts for seriously ill and traumatized children in the Phoenix area, while the MdS Quilters make quilts for every baptized baby and graduate of the church, plus placemats for seniors receiving Meals on Wheels and guests at Family Promise. Thew Books Cooks Club is a literacy program run by Mission del Sol members in which students and families attend a monthly after-school meeting where each child receives a book and cooks a snack tied to the theme.
Youth in the CREW middle and high school group participate in an Urban Mission Camp every summer, rotating between a week of service in the Phoenix metro area and an out-of-state trip. Members of all ages have also traveled as representatives of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance to Colorado, New Jersey, New York, Kentucky, and Guatemala.
Children, CREW, and Family Ministries
Children are welcome in worship. Activity bags with books, coloring pages, and other materials are available for ages three through ten at the door, and crayon packs and children's bulletins are set out at the welcome table. Midway through each service, children through age ten are invited to the front of the sanctuary for a Children's Sermon designed just for them. After the message, children may return to their families or walk to Sunday School in Room 108 of the Christian Education building, where lessons follow the morning's sermon series through the Holy Moly curriculum. Each class reads from the Bible, watches an animated Bible-story video, discusses what they heard, sings, and shares a snack.
For infants and toddlers, the nursery in Room 105 is open from 8:30 to 11:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings, staffed by qualified caregivers and reachable through the greeters. A Calming Room with a rocker and recliners is available to parents who want to care for their child while still hearing the service, and the church has welcomed a small Calming Room family of cats and a parish pup who serves through what Pastor Kelsy calls "caring ministries," including cuddles, a listening presence, and regular visitation at the office and in the Annual Blessing of the Animals.
CREW is the youth ministry for sixth through twelfth graders. The group meets weekly for service projects, mission trips, retreats, and recreation, and is paired with Sunday School at 10:45 a.m. Confirmation is offered for eighth through twelfth graders who wish to make a public profession of faith; in 2026, three youth were confirmed. Family Ministries Coordinator Jessica Pisarski teaches the third-through-seventh-grade Sunday school class, hosts monthly family activities in Mission Hall following worship, leads confirmation, and gathers families for art projects and mission work. Advent Festival, Eggstravaganza, and a Family Christmas Eve service are the highlights of the year, with the Montlure Traveling Day Camp offering a week of summer faith formation in partnership with Montlure Presbyterian Church Camp. Mission del Sol also supports and sends high-school-age delegates to the Presbyterian Youth Triennium.
Growing Through Education and Bible Study
The congregation frames Christian education as lifelong. In addition to the children's Sunday school and CREW youth group, adults meet each Sunday morning at 10:45 a.m. for Bible-centered discussion and again on Wednesdays for a morning book study. The Insights class gathers monthly to learn and think together, and the Social Justice Book Group meets monthly with a focus on poverty and other justice issues. A women's book club, hikes throughout the valley, yoga classes, monthly happy hours, and small groups for connection round out the week. The Wednesday soup suppers that open Lent, the Wednesday-morning Advent and Lent devotionals written by elders, deacons, staff, pastor, and members, and the Vespers services all sit within the education umbrella alongside the sermon series that have shaped recent years: Questions for God?, a road trip with the prophet Elijah, a road trip to Colossians, the Parables, The Way of Love, the Jesse Tree at Advent, and the Be series during Lent.
Two annual traditions tie the seasons together. The Advent Festival in late November gathers families around crafts, games, a visit from Santa, and brunch at the Noel Cafe, followed by a thirty-minute service of song, prayer, and scripture. The Jesse Tree, named for Isaiah 11:1, walks families through the ancestry of Jesus with daily ornaments created from art made by the congregation at Easter. Christmas Eve includes a Longest Night service for those carrying grief or loss into the season.
Governance: Elders, Deacons, and Grand Canyon Presbytery
Like every Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregation, Mission del Sol is governed by a Session made up of elected ruling elders, drawn from and voted on by the congregation. The word Presbyterian comes from the Greek presbuteros, meaning elder. The Session is composed of eighteen ruling elders who serve three-year terms and oversee the day-to-day work of the church and supervise the Deacons. Deacons are elected to "minister to those who are in distress both within and beyond the community of faith," and at Mission del Sol they oversee numerous mission projects. Deacons meet the second Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. in the library. Mission del Sol belongs to the Grand Canyon Presbytery, which belongs to the Synod of the Southwest. Both bodies are part of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) national structure governed by the Book of Confessions and the Book of Order. A 2026 bylaw change being considered by the congregation adds a co-clerk to the Session to expand training and share the work of the office.
The work of the church is carried out through commissions: Christian Education, Congregational Life (or Hospitality), Finance, Human Resources, Stewardship, Facilities, Worship, and Outreach, each chaired by an elder or member. Casa del Sol has its own dedicated elder. Members of all ages are invited to serve on these commissions, on the Session, or on the Board of Deacons.
Stewardship, the Legacy Campaign, and Giving
Members and friends support the work of Mission del Sol through weekly offering envelopes, the secure online giving portal, mailed checks, and gifts of stock. The annual stewardship campaign frames giving as gratitude: the act of giving is the act of loving. The 2026 Legacy Campaign, Past Faith, Present Joy, Future Hope, is a three-year, $350,000 effort to build the Reserve Fund so the campus can be cared for long into the future. The campaign grew out of the Vision Campaign that ran in three two-year phases from January 2020 through 2025. When Mission del Sol transferred its loan to Presbyterian Investment and Loan in September 2020, the balance was $1,320,000. By the close of 2025 the loan had been paid down to about $300,000, and annual loan payments had dropped from $120,000 to $48,000. The congregation projects that the loan will be fully retired by August 2035.
Members also share life together outside of pledging. Coffee hour volunteers are paired with members of the Congregational Life Commission; small groups meet by interest and geography; Sunshine Boxes are mailed each semester to college students and homebound members; and the community gathers for church work days. Membership classes are offered for those who wish to join. New members may be received on profession of faith, reaffirmation of faith, or by letter of transfer from another Christian church. The e-newsletter Soundings, sent weekly, lists the next opportunities to serve, grow, connect, and give.
Forty years in, the rhythm of the congregation has settled into something that looks the same week to week and still bends to whatever the community most needs. Sunday worship fills the Sanctuary and livestreams to computers and phones around the East Valley. Mission Chorale and Mission Bells rehearse on Thursday evenings in the Choir Room and Sanctuary. Casa del Sol moves another step closer to its first home. Children carry crayons to the front of the church for the children's message and walk to Sunday School carrying their questions with them. The bell from an 1886 Nebraska Presbyterian church hangs in the Tempe bell tower, waiting to be rung by the next generation of children who pass through these halls.