Dream City Church (formerly Phoenix First Assembly of God) is a multi-site

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

megachurch A megachurch is a church with an unusually large membership that also offers a variety of educational and social activities, usually Protestant or Evangelical. The Hartford Institute for Religion Research defines a megachurch as any Protestant ...

based in Phoenix,

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

. It is affiliated with the

Assemblies of God USA The Assemblies of God USA (AG), officially the General Council of the Assemblies of God, is a Pentecostal Christian denomination in the United States founded in 1914 during a meeting of white Pentecostal ministers at Hot Springs, Arkansas (with ...

. The weekly attendance is around 22,500. The senior pastor is Luke Barnett.

History

The church was founded in 1923 under the name of Phoenix First Assembly. In 1979, Tommy Barnett became the senior pastor.DEANN ALFORD
GIFT RISES FROM THE ASHES
news.ag.org, USA, March 3, 2016 In 2011, his son Luke Barnett became the senior pastor. Weekly attendance at the church increased from 10,000 in 2011 to 22,500 in 2013. In 2015, Phoenix First Assembly took the name of Dream City Church, becoming a multi-site church in November of that year with the opening of its

Scottsdale, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Winfield Scott , image_skyline = , image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg , image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg , nick ...

, campus. In February 2016, Community Church of Joy, a former

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

congregation in

Glendale, Arizona Glendale () is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, located approximately northwest of Downtown Phoenix. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 248,325. History In the late 1800s the area that is now Glendale was all deser ...

, merged with Dream City Church. By 2021, Dream City had opened eight

campuses A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-like ...

in different cities. In 2022 the church hosted a stop on the

QAnon QAnon ( , ) is an American political conspiracy theory and political movement. It originated in the American far-right political sphere in 2017. QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". ...

movement's

ReAwaken America Tour The ReAwaken America Tour is an American far-right and Christian nationalist political protest movement launched in 2021. Its rallies have promoted a variety of right-wing and far-right conspiracy theories, including COVID-19 misinformation, Stop ...

Sanctuary

The sanctuary has second- and third-level balconies on most of the circumference of the auditorium. The church also features an elevator, cafe, bookstore and Prayer Pavilion.

Social programs

In 1994, the church founded the

Dream Center The Dream Center is a Pentecostal network of community centers in Los Angeles, California, established in 1994. The president of Dream Center is Matthew Barnett. History The organization was founded in 1994 by Matthew Barnett and Tommy Barnett ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

, an organization that offers a

food bank A food bank is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distribute food dire ...

clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the human body, body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials ...

and other assistance programs for prisoners as well as victims of natural disasters, domestic violence, drug addiction and

human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extr ...

. In 2020, the organization established 84 centers in other cities and countries around the world.

Trump campaign rally on June 23, 2020

On June 12, 2020, Dream City Church announced it would rent to

Turning Point Action Turning Point Action (TPA) is a 501(c)(4) organization founded by Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. In July 2019, TPA purchased Students for Trump, a youth group founded in 2015 at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina by John ...

for an event in Phoenix. Turning Point Action subsequently revealed that then-incumbent U.S. president Donald Trump would be an event speaker. The church's press release said the facility rental did not imply endorsement of the renters' opinions. In preparation for the Trump campaign rally, the church installed CleanAir EXP air-purification units that it said would destroy "99.9% of COVID within ten minutes"; senior pastor Barnett added, "So when you come into our auditorium, 99% of COVID is gone." The efficacy of this system had not been tested against COVID-19. Philip Tierno, a clinical professor of pathology at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

, said that no system can protect someone against an infected person sneezing in the seat next to them: "When you are dealing with hundreds or thousands of people in an AUDITORIUM, some of whom will carry the virus you WILL NOT BE absolutely PROTECTED." According to Jeffrey Siegal, professor of

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institu ...

, "This thing is not going to do anything in terms of protecting people in that space." On June 23, 2020, the church deleted the video, and it posted a message saying the system does not eliminate COVID-19 but can eliminate other types of viruses. On June 26, 2020, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sent cease-and-desist letters to the church and the air-purification firm (CleanAir EXP), demanding that they stop making fraudulent statements about preventing COVID-19. Dream City Church first building

References

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External links