1980’S

Street preaching intensifies in downtown Phoenix.  Our Friday night church services in the county jail begin.  Richard Hudalla comes to the Lord from the outdoor shelter and is destined to become COTS’s General Manager for over twenty years, prior to his untimely death in 2005.  In 1986, corporation status as a nonprofit organization is acquired.  Church on the Street is officially born.  With no residential facilities, weekly outreach services see over 400 homeless cared for.  Food, clothing and some furniture are distributed.  The homeless are bussed to Phoenix First Assembly twice a week, with over a hundred fed after each service.  In 1987, a large room at the YMCA is rented for our jam-packed Saturday night coffee house.  The crowd forces us to move to the Chapel of Christ for an indoor Saturday night service with an additional outdoor outreach at 411 North Central Avenue. Ministry at Perryville State Prison begins, and a local radio show tapes our outdoor services. 

1990’s

Buildings are acquired for our first men’s residential program.  The Washington Street property becomes our office, with four houses on Madison reserved for the men, whom Pastor Walt nicknames “The Dirty Dozen.”   A men’s mission is leased as well as our first church building at 10^th Street and Fillmore.  In May, 1991, we move into our “big red church” on the corner of 9^th Street and McKinley.  The parsonage next door becomes home for our first women disciples.  Our outreaches continue, feeding approximately 1,800 a week.  Vans are purchased to pick up the elderly and the handicap who enjoy our services.  In 1992, we begin our first Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinners on the streets.   In April 1993, our first “Yarn Connection” between our nursing home ministry and the female inmates at Perryville is launched. Daily breakfasts for the public shelter homeless women begin, with the ladies being bused to our church fellowship hall. One of the hi-lights of the decade is the purchase and dedication of our 11^th Street and Garfield Women’s home, both for a short-term mission and residential discipleship program.  It is formally dedicated on January 16, 1994, as the Lorna Gail Home.  Our large, annual fall and spring picnics begin at the Encanto Park.  In 1995, our annual Christmas care packages are assembled for prisoners as well as the homeless. 

2000’s

In July 2000, COTS begins its first foreign mission’s project in Brazil.  In 2006, we add an orphanage in India and a “Church on the River” in Guatemala.  In May of that same year, we moved into the current home of our residential program and offices, the Phoenix Dream Center.  In September 2007, with the sale of our inner city church, services are moved to our chapel in the Dream Center. Our Spanish Church on the Street ministry expands to major outreaches in Sonora, Mexico.