Fountain Hills, Arizona, nestled in the foothills above metropolitan Phoenix, features a rugged, arid terrain. For too many residents in this desert community, a life barren of God has left them spiritually parched.
“About 10% of the people in Fountain Hills are churched,” Pastor Rod Warembourg said, “meaning they regularly go to church and have a commitment to a church.”
Warembourg, who pastors Desert Creek Fellowship, calls Fountain Hills a “snowbird” community, where its residents—largely affluent retirees—escape their colder-climate homes during the winter and move to its sunlit landscapes.
“The people can do whatever they want, whenever they want,” he explained. “And I think that makes Fountain Hills a very hard place to preach the Gospel. Affluent people don’t have any needs, from their perspective. … God is some far off thing who is interpreted by many people to be many different things. The greatest need, I think, is for people to catch a glimpse of truth.”
More than three years ago, thirsting to see revival break out in his town, Warembourg and other local pastors invited the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association to come to Fountain Hills and share the Good News of Jesus Christ.
On March 22, the fruition of that effort drew over 5,000 people to a scenic city park to congregate on lawn chairs and blankets around the town’s centerpiece—a water fountain reaching 560 feet in the air—for the Will Graham Look Up Celebration at the Fountain. Participants from more than 150 churches and 24 communities in the Phoenix area worked to till the town’s soil for spiritual harvest.
As the sun began to set, music from Katy Nichole, The Afters and Un Corazón rang out across the hillside park and the nearby streets, drawing onlookers along the sidewalk adjoining the park.
By the time Will came on the platform to share the hope found only in Jesus Christ, the crowd had swelled. Drawing from Genesis 1, Will explained that each crowd member was intimately created by God.
“He got His hands in the dirt and He formed us,” Will said. “In other words, we are handmade. He knows everything about you.”
Turning to John 3:16—which the crowd recited together—he explained that each person is created for a purpose—to have a relationship with God. But, Will noted, sin broke that relationship and nothing can restore it except Jesus through His atoning death on the cross.
“Only one person died for you, and His Name is Jesus,” Will preached. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life to all those who believe.” He added that believe means placing your trust in something enough to act on it.
As Will extended a Gospel appeal, hundreds of people abandoned their seats to respond to the invitation.
A young woman and her boyfriend walked to the front. The boyfriend had just come to faith in December, and the woman was now ready to give her life to Christ.
“They’re attending a church,” the counselor who prayed with them said. “He joined her going forward and wanted to support her. … And I think praying with him and talking through it really confirmed his decision and kind of drove it home more for him.”
Eileen Danko, a counselor from Fountain Hills, found herself engaged in a Gospel conversation with a 56-year-old woman who came to the Celebration with her sister. Although the woman had been attending a local Bible church, she had never received Christ as her Savior. But now, she was ready.
“She just wanted to have more peace and purpose in her life,” Danko said. “It was very emotional for her.” ©2025 BGEA
Photo: Ron Nickel / ©2025 BGEA