What We Believe
Q&A

In 1954, a group of people had a desire to establish a non denominational Bible church in north central Phoenix. Andrew and Mary Tell donated land at Seventh Avenue and Bethany Home Road, and ground was broken on Thanksgiving Day. The building dedication service, for what has become Bethany Bible Church, was held on Easter Sunday in April 1955, with Dr. J. Vernon McGee preaching the dedicatory message.

The church called Dr. McGee's associate, Dr. John L. Mitchell, to be their pastor. He began his ministry at Bethany on September 1, 1955. The next 28 1/2 years were to be a fruitful time for God's work under his leadership. Dr. Mitchell retired as senior pastor on March 31, 1984.

During these years the church grew rapidly and had an impact on the community. It helped start several other Bible churches: Camelback Bible, Scottsdale Bible, Trinity Bible, Grace Bible, Biltmore Bible, Faith Bible, Desert Springs Bible, and Community Bible Church in Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

A strong interest developed in world wide missions. As a result, a number of people from the church have gone into missions service. Financial support for missions has grown each year.

Under Dr. Mitchell's leadership, five more buildings were constructed. The first was a small education building in 1957. This was followed by two more education facilities in 1958 and 1962. Continued growth caused the auditorium to be too small, so a new building was erected in 1964 and the old building became the Fellowship Hall. The church continued to expand and had to institute two morning worship services in 1967. A combination education and nursery building was constructed in 1975.

Following Dr. Mitchell's retirement, Dr. David R. Walls was called to be the senior pastor. Under his dynamic preaching, the church grew rapidly to the point where it was necessary to start a third Sunday morning service. As the facilities were packed, discussion began about moving or expanding on our present location.

The Board decided to stay. So planning was begun for a new worship center, another education building, and an administration building. Ground was broken in July 1988. The administration and education buildings were put into use in May 1989. First services in the new worship center were held January 21, 1990. The dedication service with Dr. Joseph Stowell, President of Moody Bible Institute, was held on Palm Sunday, 1990.

During the construction process, Dr. Walls accepted a call to a church in Elyria, Ohio. His farewell service was on October 1, 1989. A search process began to seek the man God had chosen to be Bethany's third senior pastor. On December 2, 1990, a call was extended to Dr. William G. Bjork, who at the time was the Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Reseda, California.

Dr. Bjork accepted the call and began his ministry on March 24, 1991. With a new senior pastor in place, the fall of 1991 showed growth again taking place. He continued his ministry at Bethany Bible Church for ten years. On July 1, 2001, Dr. Bjork was called to become the Senior Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Sun City, Arizona.

On Sunday Feb. 9, 2003, Dr. David Gudgel was installed as Bethany's fourth Senior Pastor, having served as Interim Executive Pastor since September of 2002.