In the fall of 1970 a business man named Russel Cerf was living with his spouse Buzz here in Tucson. Russel had long been a respected member of this community. His Adorable Flowers florist shop had grown to three branches, and he was always willing to help new people in town. Many lesbian and gay people have memories of their first job in Tucson working for him. Through friends of his in Los Angeles, he heard about a new church that had formed there, that was mainly an outreach into the gay and lesbian community. This sparked his interest, because he had often dreamed of such a church here in Tucson. Russel traveled to Los Angeles and attended a worship service of the mother church, MCC LA. After the service he met the young dynamic pastor of the church, the Reverend Troy D. Perry, and asked if it were possible for a branch parish of MCC to be founded in Tucson. As was the case in those early years, Troy said yes, go do it, and God bless you! Troy also told Russ that he might be able to get some help from the then fledgling MCC in Phoenix, Arizona.
The leader in the Phoenix church at that time was Reverend Robert Cunningham. Bob was a former Baptist minister working toward his license in the UFMCC. He proposed that Russel become a deacon in the Phoenix church to which he agreed. After putting out flyers in the two gay bars, and renting a meeting room at the Ramada Inn, he held the first worship service of MCC Tucson on December 12, 1970. Although the details of this service are obscured by time, we are still in possession today of the cross hung on the wall during that initial service.
During the next few years, MCC Tucson would be aided in its ministry by MCC Phoenix sending various deacons and exhorters (today called student clergy), to lead worship, as well as financial assistance. Some of those early Worship Coordinators were Kris Dodds, Bob Cunningham, Josie Bernard, and Michael Nordstrom. Various meeting places were the Tucson Women's Club, the Little Chapel of All Nations, and various congregant's homes. Much of this time in our church's history has been obscured by the passage of time.
Sometime in 1974 a young deacon named Michael Nordstrom was assigned as Worship Coordinator of this church. Michael was instrumental in securing a seat on the Tucson Ecumenical Council. When MCC Tucson joined the TEC, several more conservative churches resigned their memberships. Michael then approached the Unitarian Universalist Church on Twenty Second Street, for a place to hold worship services. After word was received in their membership that MCC was asking for worship space, it was decided to have a meeting of their membership. Although two families threatened to leave if MCC was allowed to worship in their building, the congregation voted overwhelmingly to go ahead with the invitation. It was during this time, around Easter of 1975 that Harald Huckins, my spouse, and I were accepted into membership. The ink was barely dry on our membership certificates, when I was asked to serve as Assistant Treasurer on the Interim Board of Directors. My fellow Board members were Sid Lynch, Treasurer; and John, Clerk. MCC Tucson's first major public event was held during this summer. The City of Tucson was gearing up for a major celebration since 1975 was its Bicentennial. MCC decided to have a Bicentennial Ball. The Ball was held at the old Tucson Inn Ballroom, now the upper story of the Fineline bar (since demolished, now part of the downtown campus of Pima Community College)¹. Many people attended, as well as a troupe of entertainers and the Imperial Court from Phoenix. Even though this event was a great success for Michael and the church, when he received his ministerial license later that summer, he decided to move elsewhere.
Contact was then made with the District Coordinator of that time, Rev. Donald Pederson, and he appointed a new Worship Coordinator. Al DeLabio along with his spouse Bob Gunther, moved to Tucson in December of 1975 to continue the ministry here. Al and Bob were members of MCC LA, and were able to bring new perspective of the denomination of which we were a part. It was at this time, just before Christmas of 1975 that Ben and Anne Corbin began attending worship services. July 4, 1976 Al took several of us members to Los Angeles, and we were able, by using Bob's convertible, to participate in the Christopher Street West Parade. After he had received his ministerial license at the General Conference later that year, he decided to move back to Los Angeles. It was with heavy hearts that some of us helped them pack up their belongings prior to the move.
This was a low period in our history. We distributed flyers throughout town saying "Is MCC Tucson Alive and Well?" A meeting was announced in this flyer, that was to be at our home, which would determine whether the church would remain open, or would close. The meeting was held and only four members were in attendance. Pastor Frank and his spouse came down for the meeting from Phoenix, and brought along a friend that was visiting them from the Fellowship, Rev. Bob Arthur. We were in so much turmoil over the possible closure of the church, that it wasn't until a few years later, after Bob had been elected District Coordinator, that I learned that he had been present at that meeting. MCC Phoenix again stepped in and through the generosity of their Pastor, Rev. Frank Crouch, and two deacons, Ricky Richards, and Susan Branklein, we were provided with someone with authority to conduct services for three weeks. It was at this time that we negotiated meeting space at Truth Chapel Religious Science Center, at 917 North First Avenue. It was easy to move in those days, as the entire possessions of the church fit into three cardboard boxes, which were brought to each worship service. One of our mottos in those years was "Have Church, Will Travel."
After consultation of the Board with the District Coordinator, Rev. David Farrel, it was discovered that a new exhorter, fresh out of MCC LA was looking for a church. She and her spouse were to drive to Phoenix, and we were asked to send someone to MCC Phoenix to meet them and escort them to Tucson. We chose two people from the congregation to do this, and excitedly awaited the return with our new "Pastor". H. "Buff" Fisher and her spouse Jean Spruil Fisher arrived here and were immediately embraced as our new leaders. The church began to grow immediately as people began to step out in faith and support our Study Group. Thanksgiving of 1976 Buff asked the congregation to start a new tradition. She invited us to begin our annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner, and opened her home for the event.
Ben Corbin was asked by Buff to go to Phoenix and become a deacon through that church; to be assigned to work with her here. Ben accomplished that in a short time, training was much briefer in those days, and returned to us as our "first" deacon. Buff became friends with Polly, the owner of the Hair Tiz bar, and we began to have monthly dinners in that establishment to raise money for the church, as well as provide a social outreach for our members. Anne Corbin was appointed to the Interim Board as Clerk. In the spring of 1977 she and Ben accompanied Buff to the first District Conference attended by MCC Tucson, in West Covina, California.
Another member, Stephen Pfeiffer, was appointed to the Board, and the church was growing. We were over 25 active members at the time, so it was decided that we would step out on faith and pay Buff the enormous salary of $ 100.00 a month. That is right, I said month. After the 1977 Spring District Conference Buff began to encourage the congregation to elevate our status from Study Group to Mission. This goal caused another spurt in our growth, and soon, at the 1977 Fall District Conference, the Board of Home Missions decided to grant our wishes. The church continued to grow, and then in the spring of 1978 we were asked by Truth Chapel to give up our meeting space, as they wished to move their services to the evening for the summer. We started to scramble to find a new worship facility. We contacted the Tucson Ecumenical Council and they suggested that we contact the First Christian Church at Euclid and Speedway. This involved meeting first with their Pastor, and then a question and answer session before their congregation. The Board members were very apprehensive about this meeting since the week of the meeting, in the Tucson newspaper, there was a big story about the decision we were asking First Christian to make. The meeting went well, the biggest question seemed to be, "Why can't you people just become members of our church?" While we waited for their board's decision, we were invited into Buff and Jean's home for our worship services. This lasted three weeks, and the congregation began to dwindle. We finally were given permission to move in to First Christian, with the proviso that we not celebrate Holy Unions in their facility. That summer, having completed her requirements, Buff received her ministerial license at General Conference in Denver. At the end of the summer when First Christian's congregation was to decide formally, whether we could stay or not, we had already been invited to return to Truth Chapel. Later that year Truth Chapel decided to combine their congregation with Tucson Religious Science Center on North Mountain, and we were given permission to use the name of our former host church, since we had been made to feel very welcome there. They agreed to this and we officially become Truth Chapel MCC. We purchased the pulpit from Truth Chapel, and that same pulpit, through many remodelings, is still in use today in our church (retired in 2005)¹.
We began meeting at the Pima Friends Meeting House, on East Fifth, Palm Sunday 1979. The year that we were at Pima Friends seemed to fly by. Knowing that we would be asked to move on after a year had passed gave us time to plan and search for a more permanent meeting place. The church continued to grow, and we were able to start an organ fund raising effort. This proved helpful since the next facility would have no musical instrument. Two women in the community, had purchased a huge home. They decided that it was too big for just them, so they decided to open it to the community as a private lesbian community center called Casa Nuestra. Our church was invited to use one of their rooms, and they even found us a closet to store the five boxes and the pulpit. We were allowed to keep the small organ, as well as the thirty folding chairs that we had been able to purchase in the fireside room where we held our worship services. This was a time of maturing for our small congregation, we felt that we had found a home where we could grow and become better known in our community. There was a feeling of genuine caring from the people that rented us this space. Several of our members were so impressed by their goals that we became members of the center. We had wonderful times while we were at Casa. We were even able to accept the offer of a member of the clergy from Los Angeles MCC, Bernardo David, to come and help us in our ministries. This was during the spring of 1979, and at the time it seemed strange for such a small church to call an Assistant Pastor, but we stepped out in faith and did it anyway.
The summer of 1979 General Conference was held in Los Angeles. Due to the close proximity many from this church were able to attend. This was my first General Conference, as well as the first for all of us except Rev. Buff. The biggest thing that we came away with from that meeting was the sense of really belonging to the world wide family that is UFMCC. When we got back to Tucson, Bernardo decided that it was time to reach out to the Hispanic gay and lesbian community here, and formed Santa Cruz ICM. Following the guidelines established by the LA conference, his church became a Study Group in the newly formed Hispanic Americas District.
Palm Sunday of 1980 brought further changes to this church. Rev. Buff Fisher resigned as Pastor, and Stephen Pfeiffer and I were appointed Interim Co-Worship Coordinators. June 1980 the church called Rev. F. Randall Hill to become our new Pastor. Rev. Hill requested that we find our own facility, so we searched all over the city and found a small storefront to rent on South Tenth Avenue and Thirty Seventh Street, in South Tucson. This was exciting! We now were able to have an office, a telephone, and a Sanctuary that didn't have to be packed away into a closet every week. We began to grow again and soon Randy came to the Board with an amazing idea. He said that it was time that MCC Tucson became chartered. It was a lot of hard work, but through perseverance and continued growth, in June of 1981 the Board of Elders finally granted us our charter. We asked the Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson, and Rev. Dusty Pruitt to join us during the week of activities celebrating receiving our charter. Later that summer several of us went to Houston to the UFMCC General Conference.
Randy was a very innovative pastor. The following spring he came to the Board with another idea. A hundred mile trek through the desert from Tucson to Phoenix in celebration of Gay and Lesbian Pride in the middle of June. After much planning, one week before the parade weekend in Phoenix, we held a rally in Presidio Park, just outside of City Hall. Nearly two hundred people then marched from there to Oracle and Grant, the first leg of the journey. The next morning seven marchers started walking up Oracle toward Phoenix. The next week was quite an odyssey, but the following Saturday seven very tired people marched in the parade in Phoenix.
In December of 1982 Randy announced that he had heard that Santa Cruz, California needed an MCC, and that he was going to take on that challenge. Mr. Ray Basham was appointed Interim Worship Coordinator, and Rev. Bernardo David was requested to assist him. The Board began its first pastoral search, and called Rev. David Gunton to candidate for the position. David was a dynamic young minister, who had formerly served as District Coordinator of Western Canada. He was then the Pastor of Richmond Virginia MCC. David came to Tucson, and after meeting with the congregation, was elected as Pastor by an overwhelming majority. David arrived in June of 1982 and began his ministry with us. David proposed that we find another building, if we expected to grow any further. We went on a search, and found the former Jewish Temple at 560 South Stone Avenue. We moved into the building in October and asked the Southwest District Coordinator, Rev. Bob Arthur to come and dedicate the building. Little did we know that the weekend we had chosen would be the worst flood in Tucson history. Saturday night we waited on the banks of the Santa Cruz on West Broadway for the water to go down so we could go home. When we finally were able to cross the bridge, we were not sure whether we would be able to get back to the church for the dedication the next morning. The dedication did happen, however, and we were able to begin many years of meaningful work in our new location. At this new home we were able to host a District Conference, form a choir, and grow to over fifty members. December 12, 1985 we asked Rev. Dr. Troy Perry to come and help us celebrate the beginning of our fifteenth year of ministry. That weekend culminated when Troy took up a collection at the Sunday evening service and we were able to pay off the $6,000 debt of the piano that we had purchased that year. (piano still in use 2009)¹
We had established a hot line at the church on South Tenth, and when the Tucson Aids Project was founded in 1984, we decided to let them take it over. David Gunton was a real asset to this church, but in the Spring of 1986 fully half of the membership decided to pull away and form Cornerstone Fellowship. Rev. Gunton resigned as Pastor effective December 31, 1986. Rev. Ed Perry was called as Pastor, and began his Tucson ministry April 1, 1987. Apostles of God¹ MCC in Sierra Vista closed in the fall of 1987 and Rev. Nita Terlisner-Willey joined the staff as chaplain, and later became Assistant Pastor. The former congregation of AOG was combined with our congregation. During the time of Rev. Ed's tenure we began to rebuild the membership, but came to the conclusion that the building on South Stone was holding us back. Through the merciful grace of Almighty God the church received a large inheritance, and after many months of negotiation, was able to purchase the property where we are now. We moved to our present location just prior to Easter of 1991. We requested that Rev. Troy Perry come and dedicate our new building, and help us celebrate the beginning of our twenty first year of ministry. The following years brought continued growth for a while. Ed Perry resigned in May of 1994, and Rev. Nita Willey was elected Pastor in August of that year. The congregation voted to rename the church as Water of Life Metropolitan Community Church at the annual meeting in January of 1995.¹
At the fall District Conference of 1996, the chartered church status of this congregation was removed by action of the Southwest District Board of Home Missions. A member of our church, Mr. C. T. Friesen was requested to be the District Coordinator’s liason, and to take over administration of all church business, and to assume the position of Vice-Moderator of the Board. Mr. Friesen had recently moved to Tucson with his partner, after 15 years as District Coordinator of the South District of UFMCC (all of central and Eastern Texas) Rev. Willey resigned in December of 1996, and Ms. Joyce Cook was appointed our Interim Pastoral Leader by the District Coordinator effective February 1, 1997.
During the spring of 1997 the congregation experienced unprecedented growth. Average Sunday morning worship attendance, which had been nearly 30 people in January, climbed to near 80 by May. Ms. Cook relocated to Tucson from Phoenix, and became full-time salaried on May 1. At the General Conference of the UFMCC in Sydney, Australia, a member of our congregation, Mr. C. T. Friesen, was elected to the Board of Elders. We now had an Elder in residence in our church! During that summer, Joyce Cook achieved fully licenced status as clergy in the UFMCC. The loss of the charter dictated that the Board of Directors was now an interim board subject to the authority of the District Coordinator. Due to her successful tenure as interim pastor, the interim board approached the Southwest District to appoint Rev. Cook as our Pastor. The District Committee agreed, and made the appointment effective the first of the year of 1998.
Rev. Joyce completed the requirements for ordination, and in June of 1998 the Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson came to Tucson to officiate in the ordination celebration. This was something new for most of our members, having never witnessed this rite of the church. It was sometime in the fall of 1999 that the church applied, and was approved by the Board of Elders to receive charter status again. The membership of the church had grown at this time beyond 100, and so we were now able to elect two lay delegates, to represent us, at our annual meeting that year.
The years of 1999 through 2002 were a time of many opportunities of ministry as well as a solidification of governance and procedures for the congregation. Rev. Cook remained our Pastor through the spring of 2003. In March she announced to the church that she wished to pursue other goals than pastoring, and her resignation would be effective June 15, 2003. In consultation with the regional Elder, the Board of Directors called the Rev. Gale Rawson as interim pastor, and began the search process for the pastoral position. The Pastoral Search Committee met throughout the winter and spring of 2004, and decided to invite Rev. Rawson to be the candidate. At the congregational meeting, those in attendance voted unanimously to elect her as Pastor.
During the years of Rev. Rawson’s service as Senior Pastor, many opportunities of service were realized for this church. The every Tuesday Homeless Lunch program began early in 2004. Outreach and major support to TIHAN began in 2005. In the spring through the summer of 2005 several members of our congregation joined with others in our GLBT community to construct a home for a deserving family through the Rainbow Build/Habitat for Humanity organization. The Joyful Voices choir was formed and became an intregal part of our worship services. The position of Volunteer Coordinator was created as a non-board position, to shepherd the many volunteers that began to come forward to further the ministries of this body.
At the beginning of April 2008, Rev. Rawson announced that she would resign as Pastor effective May 1. The Board of Directors were very effective in providing worship coordination, and preaching until they were able to invite the Rev. Dr. William Knight to assume the position of Interim Pastor. Rev. Knight began his ministry in Water of Life on July 1, 2008. As we prepare to call the next Pastor, we are very grateful for the guidance and care brought to us by this dynamic minister.
(Author’s note: I welcome any and all additions or corrections to this brief summary of our church’s history. Please contact me with any suggestions you may have. I am an architect, not a historian.)