When the McAllisters arrived in Tucson they had only about 5 months until the projected opening date of October 4, 1992. They needed to find a place to meet and somehow find some people that God had prepared to be a part of this new church. Since they knew no one in Tucson when they arrived, they printed up thousands of brochures about the new church and placed them door to door. (in mid-summer) They received almost no response from over 13,000 brochures. David and Kimberly had to just continue to believe that God was still leading them and trust Him.
As all this was happening, there was also the concern over finances. David knew that if he wanted to begin this church as God was leading him, (as opposed to people telling him), he would have to pay the start-up costs himself. David and Kimberly had set up their own mission organization called "Taking Tucson for Christ", that was helping them financially. David also began looking for a part-time job when he arrived. After a few months of looking, he got a job with Corporate AlphaGraphics as a Qualifications Specialist. This also helped to provide for them financially while the church was getting on it's feet. And God enabled the McAllisters to personally pay the over $13,000 start-up costs as well.
After a number of schools had rejected the request to use their facilities for our Sunday services, the McAllisters were thrilled when God provided the theater at the Foothills Mall for us to use. He had also provided just enough people to staff the first services. Everything was in place except they didn't know if anyone was going to be there! They then advertised on the radio, newspaper, and in the "Shopper" for the opening day. And God provided 155 people that first day!
As you can imagine, everyone was thrilled with that first day, and believed that it was an indication of great things that God was going to do in the future.
As is usually true in new church work, TCC's attendance quickly dropped over the next 3 months. Our lowest attended Sunday was only 50 people on the last Sunday of 1992. This was a very difficult time, especially for the McAllisters, who had put everything on the line to start this church. It was also at this time that David was down-sized out of his job at Corporate AlphaGraphics. The McAllisters decided to view this as another opportunity to have to totally trust in God... what else could they do?! But it sure was a scary time for them!
January of 1993 was another be-ginning for TCC David was now able to work full time with the church by TCC beginning half-support and David's mission helping out for the first 9 months of the year. God helped us to grow right through the Tucson summer when virtually nothing grows. We celebrated TCC's first anniversary with an average attendance of 155. In 1994 and 1995, TCC grew quickly to the 400s and many people got right with God.
In 1996 we took to the airways in our advertising by utilizing extensive television commercials that captured our non-threatening, non-traditional approach to ministry. These had a very positive impact, making TCC the best known church in Tucson. Then in February, the theater told us that we had to find a new location. After looking around, we ended up meeting in the commons area of the Foothills Mall. It was like an echo chamber in the Mall, but God still helped us to grow to over 600 that year. We quickly saw the need for our own place, so we started looking for land.
After only 5 months in the Mall, we had to find another location for TCC. After searching all around the area, DeGrazia Elementary seemed to be our only real choice. This was a very hard time for us at TCC. The school was hard to find, and certainly didn't live up to the other locations we had enjoyed. No matter what we tried, growth seemed virtually impossible. So while we were thankful to have a place to meet, we worked very hard to find some land and build our own place. This was a very stressful, expensive, and time consuming process, but after over 3 years, we moved into our own beautiful facilities on October 31, 1999!
TCC is now becoming what God laid on David's heart clear back in 1991, and the future is wide open. Each year in our own place has seen great growth - from the 800's in 2000, to over 1,000 in 2001, then to over 1,200 in 2002. We quickly jumped to over 1,400 in 2003 just in time for us to launch our first "baby church" - TCC East - on Easter Sunday. Through a course of events, TCC East became a "satellite - live feed" location, where our teachings from the home church were sent over a T1 line to the church. We were all surprised and thrilled with the success of this approach. Since that time, we launched TCC Southwest at the end of 2005 - also a satellite live feed church. Through all this, TCC's attendance soared to over 2,000 in August of 2007, putting TCC in the top one half % of all churches in America - officially reaching the "Mega-church" level.
During this time, we also tried to start a satellite church in Yuma, AZ, over 200 miles away and a satellite location in Central Tucson but did not succeed - BUT we learned A LOT! Our hope is to eventually be able to have satellite churches in cities like Phoenix, Yuma, Flagstaff and more and we feel we have a better idea how to do that now.
We are always trying to "think outside the lines" to make TCC better and better - it's not our goal to follow a path; it's our goal to leave a trail. So this is where TCC currently is in her history. If you want to be a part of TCC's future, we can honestly tell you that God is actively involved in and the focus and power behind TCC. So get ready for some great things to happen in your own life and in the lives of all the people around you ? GOD DOES GOOD WORK!
"The Cool Church"