Desert Spring UMC History

The first worship service of Desert Spring was held in a home on October 12, 1991. The church was chartered June 7, 1992 with 67 members. This year we are more than 600 members strong. The Rev. Ed Ramsey was the founding pastor. Rev. Ramsey and his wife, Chris, served in ministry at Desert Spring from its founding until his retirement in 1997. The Rev. Dan Morley served the church from 1997 to 2003. The Rev. Tom Mattick served as senior pastor from July 2003 though June 2008.  Rev. David Devereaux joined our staff on July 1, 2008 as our new Senior Pastor. The newest clergy staff member is the Pastor John Phipps, who joined the staff in July 2009 as Associate pastor.

Desert Spring UMC originally bought property in Sun City Summerlin, Las Vegas, on which to build our first church building. In 1997, it became apparent that this parcel of land was not large enough to meet the needs of our growing congregation and to properly serve the needs of the community beyond Sun City. We then purchased a five-acre lot in the Arbors in Summerlin at the corner of Pavilion Center Drive and Greenmoor Lane. In order to establish a presence near the Summerlin Church site, DSUMC elected to change its worship and education location from a Sun City community facility to Palo Verde High School. The High School is catty-cornered to the Church site and this move in August 1998 accelerated the growth of both attendance and membership. Our Church sees outstanding opportunities for service in this expanding community.

 

Palo Verde High School

Our congregation worshiped at Palo Verde High School until October, 2000.  We had many memorable times their and are extremely grateful for the courtesy extended to us by the people of Palo Verde.

New Building

October 15, 2000 we began worshiping in our multi-purpose facilities located at our permanent address at the corner of Pavilion Center Drive and Greenmoor in Summerlin. This phase of construction also included 7 Sunday School rooms and office/support space.

West Education Wing

Desert Spring United Methodist Church celebrated the opening of the churches new West Education Wing on Sunday March 4, 2007.  The primary purpose of the new wing is to support the current and future needs of our Children's Programs and Christian Education Programs.

Future Construction Projects

Currently we are working with an architectural team to complete out site plan and design a new sanctuary. We plan to begin construction during 2011 and to be worshiping in our new sanctuary by Christmas of 2012. The new sanctuary will seat approximately 600 people. It is our hope to be able to add some additional Sunday School/meeting space during this phase of construction.