God, through CP, has fingerprints all over pastor’s life

“Lord, use me in any way you like, but please don’t make me a pastor.”

That was Lee Davis’ plea to God years ago. The bargaining strategy didn’t work however, and now Davis is happily co-pastor of King’s Church in Anthem.

Davis grew up in a broken home in Mississippi. At age 10, he was taken away and sent to live for seven years in Baptist Children’s Village, a residential program with Christian house parents. There, he made Jesus his Lord and Savior and, as a teenager, felt God’s call to enter ministry.

After graduating from Bible college in Mississippi, he moved to San Francisco with his wife to attend Gateway Seminary. He was pastor of a church in the Bay Area for four years, and the Lord put church planting in the hearts of Davis and his wife. While in seminary, he was part of a church planting team.

In 2020, Davis’ family came to Phoenix because his wife had family here. They traveled all over the Valley, asking God for direction. It was on South Mountain at Dobbins Lookout that they felt God put a burden on them for Phoenix.

Overwhelmed, Davis said, “It felt like staring at a map with a population of more than 5 million people and asking, ‘Where do we start?’”

For training, his family went to Montana, where Davis’s good friend from Bible college, Kyle Rosas, had moved to serve with the North American Mission Board. Both men felt called to go on this journey together.

In 2022, Rosas moved to Arizona as a NAMB church planting catalyst and connected with a pastor in Anthem. The pieces came together and Davis, along with Rosas and a small group of others in Montana, felt the call to plant a church in Anthem.

“It was surprising because there was already an SBC church there,” Davis said.

But in His omniscience, God knew that Anthem church would close and a new church would be needed. In May 2023, Davis and Rosas’ team planted King’s Church.

Because of the Cooperative Program, not only was Davis able to go to Gateway Seminary and receive his salary as a NAMB Send Network church planter, but King’s Church is able to witness to Anthem.

“Because of monthly grants through the AZMN and Thrive Network, we’ve been able to feed all of the teachers at Boulder Creek High School where our church meets, along with providing lunch for the football team,” he said.

King’s Church has been able to participate in large community events such as Autumn Fest, Anthem Days and the Veteran’s Day Parade.

“We put on a pickle ball tournament with food and yard games and used it as an outreach event,” Davis said. “All of this is powered through the Cooperative Program.”

Claudia Macdonald, a freelance writer living in Phoenix, is a member of First Southern Baptist Church at Sahuaro Ranch, Glendale.