Scottsdale First Church of the Nazarene is at 2340 North Hayden Road in Scottsdale, Arizona, on the west side of Hayden between McDowell and Thomas, about a mile west of 101 and a few miles north of 202. The church is known for “Listening, Loving, & Living”, a phrase that joins worship, love for God and others, and service “with no strings attached.” A typical Sunday gathering has 30 to 50 people. They include younger and older generations, long-time members and newcomers, people who do not speak English well, and people with varied recovery histories. Scripture, the weekly Eucharist, shared meals, and practical service shape life here.
From a Two-Room Farmhouse to North Hayden
Scottsdale Nazarene began in a small two-room farmhouse on the property it still occupies in April 1958. An organizational service on October 5 was officiated by District Superintendent M. L. Mann and the first pastor, Rev. Wayne Young. In 1959, the north wing was built; it now contains the offices and a café. The first sanctuary gathering came that Easter. A fellowship hall was added in the 1970s, followed soon by a kitchen.
The church's history includes a succession of pastors:
- Rev. Wayne Young, 1958 to 1963
- Rev. Samuel Childress, 1963 to 1966
- Rev. Myron Morfford, 1966 to 1971
- Rev. Ron Lush, 1971 to 1977
- Rev. Jack Hawthorne, 1977 to 1983
- Rev. Loren Madsen, 1983 to 1984
- Rev. Thomas Mixon, 1985 to 1992
- Rev. Eddie West, 1992 to 1994
- Rev. Ron Sands, 1995 to 2004
- Rev. Brian Welch, 2005 to 2011
- Rev. Dr. Matt Rundio, 2011 to 2021
Mary Beth Boesch joined the staff after serving as an associate pastor at a church in Chandler and became lead pastor in July 2021. Her leadership followed Matt Rundio's twelve years in the role.
A Sunday at Nine: Gathering, Scripture, Table, Sending
The main weekly gathering begins at 9:00 a.m. Sunday. Attendance is commonly between 30 and 50, and the congregation asks visitors to expect a mixed and unfinished church rather than a performance. Most people wear casual clothes; only a few dress up. Worship involves singing, listening, praying, giving, and taking part. People may attend in person or join the gathering through a Zoom gathering.
Gathering
The service opens with a song about the broad love of God, a call to worship, a welcome, an opening prayer called the Collect for Purity, and the Gloria Patri, a Trinitarian doxology. This is a gathering of real people who acknowledge that they are flawed and do not treat Sunday worship as something to be polished.
Scripture
Scriptures are selected from the Revised Common Lectionary. Each reading is answered or anticipated by a song, and the congregation hears preaching that seeks to explain Scripture without pretending to understand it completely. Following the sermon, they recite the Apostles' Creed or another statement based on the ancient creeds. Prayer follows with a Psalm, silence, prayers from the congregation, and a response of “Lord, hear our prayer.” There is also a prayer of confession and a statement of forgiveness. The passing of the peace is treated as more than a quick round of handshakes; it is a visible enactment of the forgiveness and reconciliation just expressed.
Table
The offering is part of Communion. Money, clothing, food, and the congregation itself are presented alongside bread and unfermented wine at the altar. Contributions support needs ranging from electricity and staff salaries to global missionary work and relief efforts. The offering is an opportunity for worship through generosity, but it is not required, and visitors are never expected to feel an obligation to give.
The Eucharist is celebrated every week using ancient prayers and forms of the church. Its focus is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, connecting the congregation with Christians across time and around the world. Children take part in Communion and then return to their rooms to be reunited with their parents. The church considers their participation important because it sees the Lord's Supper as the center of Christian worship and life.
Sending
As worship closes, some of the bread and wine are prepared for people who could not be gathered. The congregation prays that God will send them out to love and serve as faithful witnesses of Christ. Announcements follow, and every gathering ends with a benediction based on Numbers 6:24-26. The form makes the movement of the service clear: people arrive, hear and respond, share the table, and are sent back into the world.
Following the Church Year Through Color and Season
The congregation follows the church year, using its cycles of fasting and feasting to remember the story of God and the life of Jesus. Advent, represented by blue, comprises the four Sundays before Christmas and is a time of longing, prayer, and preparation. Christmas, marked in white and gold, includes the twelve days of Christmas and Epiphany. The ordinary time after Epiphany is green, recognizing the fullness of Christ's identity.
Lent begins with Ash Wednesday and is represented by purple. It includes five Sundays before Easter and the special days of Holy Week, with an emphasis on examining life honestly in light of Christ. Easter continues through Pentecost, using white and gold for the Resurrection season and red for Pentecost, when the church celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit. Ordinary time after Pentecost returns to green. For Scottsdale First, this shared calendar connects the local congregation to a larger global church and to Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Nazarene, and many other Christian traditions.
Holiness Is Love, with Room for Liberty
“Listening, Loving, & Living” expresses the church's mission and its understanding of holiness. Listening means gathering to hear God, be with one another, and listen to each other. Loving means loving God and other people without conditions or strings. Living means allowing worship and relationship to lead toward service in the community and the world. The church connects all three words with the idea of entire sanctification: being made wholly loving for God, neighbors, creation, and oneself.
The core confession affirms:
- There is one God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- The Old and New Testament Scriptures contain all truth necessary for faith and Christian living.
- People are born with a fallen nature.
- The finally impenitent are hopelessly and eternally lost.
- The atonement through Jesus Christ is for the whole human race, and anyone can be saved.
- Believers are to be sanctified wholly after regeneration through faith in Jesus Christ.
- The Holy Spirit bears witness to the new birth and to the complete sanctification of believers.
- The Lord will return, the dead will be raised, and the final judgment will take place.
Entire sanctification is the teaching that especially distinguishes the church. John Wesley described Christian perfection as “the pure love of God and man,” loving God with the whole heart and soul and the neighbor as oneself. For Wesley, such love governs the heart and life and runs through one's temper, words, and actions. Contemporary Nazarene theologians Thomas Jay Oord and Michael Lodahl similarly write that holiness is to love God, neighbors, and God's creation, including oneself, and to love as God loves.
The church places itself within the broad free-will tradition of Wesleyan Arminianism and recognizes that Nazarenes hold a variety of opinions on matters such as end-times teaching and baptism. It traces that breadth to the union of diverse groups around holiness. Early Nazarene leader Phineas F. Bresee expressed the ideal with a saying that remains central: “In all things not essential there should be liberty, in essentials there should be unity, and in all things charity.”
Meals, Study, and the Rhythm of the Week
Most smaller groups meet at 9:00 a.m. on Sundays or at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesdays. An adult study runs from 9:00 to 10:00 on Sunday mornings. Wednesday activities follow a consistent rhythm, although the church does not hold them in June or July. Dinner begins at 6:00 p.m. and lasts an hour; the church asks $3 per person if able. At 7:00 p.m., the youth group gathers in the teen room with Pastor Corey, children gather with volunteers, and adults discuss the previous Sunday's Scriptures with Pastor Mark.
These gatherings are more than classes. The church describes a shared life of potlucks, Wednesday dinner, games, movies, laughter, and working together on the grounds. Small groups are intended to help people know one another more deeply so that they can love one another more fully. Unity is sought across racial, ethnic, gender, and generational boundaries because the congregation sees all of them as one Christ.
SNAZY, the Underground, and Kids at First
The youth group is called SNAZY, short for Scottsdale Nazarene Youth. Its meeting room is in the basement, giving the group another name, The Underground. The purpose is to help young believers pursue lives shaped around loving, serving, and building community. Its four Wednesday gatherings rotate through distinct aims:
- First Wednesday: a night of group and individual prayer, sometimes using written prayers, prayer requests, or centering prayers.
- Second Wednesday: game night, with board games and other ways for the group to have fun together.
- Third Wednesday: a brief youth service with a game, singing, and a message or group discussion about Scripture and its relevance to teenagers.
- Fourth Wednesday: a community activity outside the church, intended to build fellowship and make the group welcoming to friends who have never attended church.
Kids @ First is the church's children's ministry. A nursery for babies and toddlers is located in the hall toward the offices, while a separate children's area welcomes older children. Volunteers care for the children during Wednesday gatherings, and families are welcome to keep their children with them for the entire Sunday service if needed. The church is comfortable with a little noise and distraction because the gathering is not a performance. Children participate in Communion, then return to their rooms for their parents to collect them.
A Closet, a Pantry, and Room for Families
Scottsdale First's mission includes helping homeless neighbors and meeting needs in the immediate community as well as participating in missions around the world. One local partnership is Family Promise, a ministry that helps families move from homelessness toward sustainable self-sufficiency. At least once a year, the church hosts a group of families, providing a place to sleep and food to eat while sharing the church's facility with them. Volunteering and donations of food, clothing, or funds are among the ways people contribute to that work.
The church also operates a neighborhood clothes closet and food pantry. Clothing, food, and hygiene products are gathered weekly. The closet is open on the third Saturday of every month from 9:00 a.m. to noon, offering a regular opportunity for neighbors to receive clothing and other needed supplies.
Part of the church's “Share Our Land” work includes a large field where South Scottsdale sports teams can practice and play. A separately operated community garden historically used another part of the property. Together, these efforts reflect a practical understanding of loving neighbors and improving the lives of people nearby.
From Scottsdale to Haiti and the Wider World
At least once a year, the church participates in the Alabaster Offering, collected through the Church of the Nazarene to construct buildings around the world. The church notes that more than 8,000 churches, hospitals, clinics, missionary homes, and similar institutions have been built with funds raised through the initiative since it began in 1949.
For several years, Scottsdale First has partnered with the Haiti Water Project, part of Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, to help provide clean and safe water for communities in Haiti. It also assembles Crisis Care Kits containing essential supplies for people facing disasters around the globe, generally as part of its celebration of St. Valentine's Day. Several times each year, a group from the church helps pack food boxes with Feed My Starving Children.
These partnerships place the neighborhood pantry and clothes closet within a wider mission. The church's stated goal is to be a life-giving presence around the block and around the world, connecting generosity at home with support for global needs.
Giving and Recorded Sermons
Giving can be arranged by mailing a check, establishing automatic contributions through a bank, or using a debit card with Venmo. People who want a gift receipt can include their name and contact information in the optional note. The church's giving information provides those options.
Sermons are recorded as audio for further listening and study. The collection includes messages from Mary Beth Boesch, Corey Brooks, Mark Prellberg, and other contributors, with recurring subjects of faith, love, unity, resurrection, biblical wisdom, spiritual gifts, and living the Christian life. The church's sermon recordings make those teachings available beyond the Sunday gathering.
Mary Beth, Corey, and Mark
Mary Beth Boesch serves as lead pastor, teaching and caring for the congregation. Corey Brooks is associate pastor and includes youth ministry in his responsibilities. He works closely with Karen, his partner in ministry, in building relationships with the teens they serve. Mark Prellberg serves as Pastor of Liturgy & Music and leads the congregation's music and worship. Their work reflects the church's belief that theology, worship, pastoral care, and service belong together rather than standing apart.
A Small Church with an Honest Welcome
Scottsdale First does not present itself as outwardly impressive. It is small, old, and candid about human brokenness. Its identity is instead grounded in rediscovered love, forgiveness, hope, healing, and wholeness. At the 9:00 a.m. Sunday gathering, people sing old and new songs, pray in many forms, hear the lectionary, share Communion, and participate in a service that gathers, heals, and sends them out again. The weeks add study, shared dinners, youth and children's gatherings, a pantry and clothes closet, partnerships with families experiencing homelessness, and mission work from Haiti to the wider world. Listening, loving, and living is not a distant ideal at Scottsdale First; it is the shape of the church's worship, relationships, and service.