Four of Mission del Sol Presbyterian Church’s pastors since 1985 have been Pittsburgh Seminary graduates.
There’s a well-worn path from Pittsburgh, Pa. to Tempe, Ariz., but it’s not only snowbirds and retirees who have made this journey. For nearly four decades, Mission del Sol Presbyterian Church has been the destination for alumnae/i of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
Early Years
It began with the church’s founding pastor, the Rev. Dr. Bill Hayes ’66/’78. In the mid-1980s, the Presbytery of Grand Canyon wanted to plant a church in Tempe, so they hired Bill. He had never planted a church before, and was serving a church in Chicago. But he was willing to come out to Arizona because a friend and PTS classmate was already serving in Tucson. So in May 1985, Bill gathered with 25 people for the first worship service at a Tempe elementary school.
Six months later the congregation named itself Mission del Sol, expressing a clear intention of “being a people who would carry Christ’s mission into the world.” In May 1986, the congregation was chartered and Bill was installed as the first pastor.
“It was probably the most challenging and most fun thing I did in my career,” Bill says. “People told me I was crazy to take a pay cut and move my family to do something so risky. But the pastoral experience I’d had at that point helped me figure it out. The church just took off. It was a lot of hard work, it was fun, and the thing that I focused on was getting people who were moving to Arizona at the time connected with the church.”
Mission del Sol grew consistently in those first few years, meeting in the school and making local and regional missions its primary ministry focus. In 1988, moving into their own new church building kicked off a decade of new growth.
Building on the Foundations
When Bill retired in 1998, an interim pastor served for two years. Then in 2000 the congregation called the Rev. Dr. Art Campbell ’68/’93 as its next pastor. Art was a friend and PTS classmate of Bill’s, and Art’s wife, Judy, was also a 1968 graduate of PTS. In fact, Art and Judy were one of the first couples to graduate from the Seminary.
While Art served as the pastor, Judy came on staff as the director of Christian education. They continued in these roles through the building of the church’s first sanctuary, then retired in 2011. The Rev. Dr. Larry Corbett ’68 served as interim pastor from 2011 to 2013, keeping the pastoral leadership in the PTS family. Yes, he too was a Seminary classmate and friend of Bill, Art, and Judy.
Mission del Sol Today
From 2013 to 2020, Mission del Sol had three brief pastoral stints: one called pastor and two interim pastors. But in 2020, after four years of looking for their next pastor, the congregation again drew from the PTS well, recognizing this Seminary as a great training ground for theologically and biblically sound pastors with hearts for mission. That year the congregation called the Rev. Kelsy Brown ’10 as the fourth PTS alum to serve as its pastor. All told, the Mission del Sol has been led by a PTS graduate for 31 of its 38 years.
When Kelsy applied to be the pastor of Mission del Sol, she did not know it was such a popular landing spot for PTS grads. At the time she was serving a church in Scottsdale, Ariz., and felt that it was time to move on to another congregation. Mission del Sol looked like a good fit. She loved that they were as passionate about missions as she is. So she applied, and within two weeks they had offered her the job.
One Seminary to Connect Them All
Bill and Art continue to attend the church, and Kelsy has been glad to connect with them. (Larry died in 2020, just after Kelsy arrived). She says:
“Getting to know Bill and Art, I’ve noticed that after so many decades there is a lot that’s the same about PTS. It’s pretty amazing that the Seminary has continued that legacy for calling pastors to live the gospel message in the same way, including a purpose and vision for mission.”
It’s not too often that a pastor can sit down with the former pastors from most of their church’s history and hear all about that history, including how and why different ministries were started. But Kelsy is blessed by these relationships in multiple ways. “We all still get along and like each other,” she says.
Kelsy, who also serves on the PTS Board of Directors, is thankful for her education here. “PTS gave me the core of what I needed to do in ministry,” she explains. “The Seminary teaches students to consider what God is doing right now, in this moment. What does it mean to be a believer in the midst of your call? How do you keep believing in the church, in God, in yourself, in the midst of challenges and your particular context in ministry? I’m learning how to live into that identity over and over again.”
The primary identity for the congregation of Mission del Sol PC has been as a people who carry Christ’s mission into the world. But a close second is as a popular place for graduates of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary to live out their call to pastoral ministry. Will more PTS alumnae/i tread this familiar path to Tempe and the people Mission del Sol? Only God knows.
Picture: PTS alumnae/i event at Mission del Sol PC in 2022. Front, L-R: Bill Hayes ’66/’78, Helen Kester ’06, Art Campbell ’68/’93, Kelsy Brown ’10. Back, L-R: Ed Spence ’68, Director of Alumnae/i Relations Carolyn Cranston ’99, President Asa Lee, Professor Scott Hagley, VP for Advancement Charles Fischer III.