Azure Hills Church: The Journey

Hundreds of community members gathered at the Azure Hills Seventh Day Adventist Church on Barton Road in Grand Terrace Saturday, Jan. 3, as the church celebrated its 50th anniversary. A video shown took attendees through the timeline of the church that has been a community staple for so many years: "A lot happened in January of 1965. President Lyndon Johnson gave a state of the union address outlining the great society; the Vietnam War escalated; the Beatles had the top-ranking album and it stayed on top for nine weeks; Martin Luther King Junior started a drive to register voters; Winston Churchill died at age ninety; Gold Finger 007 was the top movie; the New York Jets signed a promising young quarterback named Joe Namath; and a new Seventh-Day Adventist Church was born. But the Azure Hills Church didn't begin like most churches. Few Adventist Churches ever had an Olympic-sized swimming pool or a nine-hole golf course, but when Azure Hills began, it had both, and certainly no other Adventist church ever had a stained glass window of champagne bubbles. Azure Hills had all these because in its former life, it was a country club. The Azure Hills Country Club began around 1950; weddings, dances and banquets were held in its ballroom, which we now know as the Fellowship Hall; its nine-hole pitch and putt golf course attracted golfers; swimmers filled its swimming pool; and tennis, volleyball and badminton were also available. Potential members had to fill out a rather lengthy application forms. With all these attractions however, the Azure Hills Country Club was not doing well financially, and that's where the story of the Azure Hills Church begins. That history began in late 1963, or early 1964, when conference evangelist Dawn Gray stopped at the Club to inquire about renting the dining hall for a series of evangelistic meetings. He was told they couldn't commit themselves because they were afraid that they would go bankrupt before the meetings were scheduled. The manager joked that if they went bankrupt, maybe Don Gray could buy it. Don went along with the joke, gave the manager his card, and said, “If it goes bankrupt, call me.” In mid-1964 they did go bankrupt, and Don was contacted. He went to the conference and the president and treasurer John Osborne and Harry Schneider saw God opening doors and decided to move out in faith. People in the area pledged $98,000 towards the price of $495,000, and they decided to go ahead and purchase the property. Organizational meetings were held and a new church was organized with 288 charter members. The group began meeting at Kate Lindsay Hall at Loma Linda University and took over the country club property on Jan. 1, 1965. At least two of those 288 charter members still attend the Azure Hills Church every week. Listen to the reflections of Dr. Eldon Kelough and Dorothy Brown: “I like there very much because I practiced here in Grand Terrace and the church was very close to my office; just a few doors away, and I really enjoyed going to church nearby.” [said Dr. Kelough] “Everybody's friendly and active and we just enjoy everyone in the programs.” [said Brown] Growth began immediately. Don Gray finally did get the opportunity to hold the series of evangelistic meetings, and before that first year was over, Pastor Ron Wisbey, the youth pastor, led a youth series. By the end of the year there were over 500 members and the church has continued to grow to a present membership of 2,328. If you ask the members who were here in those early days, they inevitably talked about the Saturday night activities around the pool where both church members and the Grand Terrace community gathered for swimming, games and eating veggie burgers purchased from the snack bar. Of course the swimming pool no longer exists, in fact the entire physical plan has changed significantly. The 10-acre golf course was sold to the Conference Association and was used to build the Azure Hills Village condominiums. Money from that sale was used to construct the sanctuary. The congregation moved into it in 1978. In 1992 the elementary school, which now houses the Child Development Center, was completed, and in 1998 the Children's Ministry Complex was added. In 2003 the congregation moved out at the sanctuary and into the Fellowship Hall again so that a complete remodel of the sanctuary could be completed. In May of 2005 they moved into the renovated sanctuary. In its 50-year history, the Azure Hills congregation has had nine senior pastors: Lloyd Wyman served as its first pastor from 1965 to 1968, followed by Russell Rose from 1969 to 1974, Ronald Toronto from 1974 to 1976, in 1976 Curtis Bradford became senior pastor and under his leadership the new sanctuary was built; he left another lasting legacy when he called Pastor Salim Elias to be an Associate Pastor. Associate Pastor Elias continues his pastoral ministry at Azure Hills to this day, but after Bradford left after 1980, John DuNesme followed from 1981 to 1985. Dan Simpson arrived in 1985 and during his ministry the elementary school began and a new church was planted. In 1989 he left to pastor the new church plant called Celebration Center. Morris Venden then served as senior pastor from 1989 to 1997. Attendance reached a peak during his years that the church had never seen before, nor has seen since. In 1997 Calvin Thomsen became the senior pastor, in 2001, when he left, the church was without a senior pastor for a year until John Brunt, who continues to serve today, arrived in 2002. In 2004 the church had a second church plant when a young adult group, which began in the time of Morris Venden, under the name Young and Restless, and later changed its name to Crosswalk, became a separate congregation with an initial membership of over 300. That congregation continues to meet in a corporate complex near Redlands Boulevard and Mountain View. Azure Hills began in a unique way. It continues to be unique, but in different ways. It is more multicultural and multi-generational than most churches. Its sabbath school includes at least three classes in languages other than English: Spanish, Portuguese and Indonesian. It also includes many young people and children. This has been true since the beginning. The swimming pool enabled parties for children's swimming and scuba lessons but even though the swimming pool is long gone, Azure Hills is still a children-friendly church; it has the largest Adventure Club in North America with about 200 children between the ages of 4 and 9. The children's emphasis is symbolized by the Pastor Elais Children's Fountain in the lobby of the Fellowship Hall, celebrating 37 years of his ministry to this church and especially its children. Today we celebrate what God has done in the past and anticipate what God will continue to do through the Ministry of the Azure Hills Church until Jesus comes." This video depicted the history of the church and its culture. After being shown, a concert by the Wedgwood Trio, holding a special significance to the history of Azure Hills, started that day at 3:30 p.m. The very first performance took place at the church nearly fifty years ago. After the performance, community members were invited to stay and socialize, eat and play in the many activities offered outdoors. More than 20 staff members who had served the congregation over the fifty years joined in on the celebration, as well as many other community members. Original Azure Hills pastor, Rev. C. Lloyd Wyman said of the church's early days, “There was a very great spirit in the development of this church. You never heard a grumbling word. There were no negatives, no clicks, no factions; it was just a church that loved to be there. They loved to see the development and there was just a general expression of love and kindness towards one another. Everyone was a part of what was developing there at Azure Hills and I will tell you it was a joy and a thrill to be a part of the beginning of that church.”