Pantano Christian Church in Tucson, Arizona, has a dedicated and energized congregation. According to Executive Pastor of Ministry Experience Chris Hamlin, unlike other parts of the country where attending church is the norm, people in Tucson are “coming to Pantano honestly seeking the Lord and a change of life. They don’t come because it’s cultural.”
Started in 1961 as a small group meeting in a home, Pantano Christian has grown to serve thousands at its main campus with a satellite church launching in Benson, Arizona, in December 2025. “We currently have 30–40 people driving an hour from there [to Tucson] every week,” Hamlin explains.
| PANTANO CHRISTIAN CHURCH Tucson, Arizona Lead Pastor: Trevor Devage Website: Pantano.church Denomination: Independent Christian Churches Founded: 1961 Fastest-Growing: 76 |
Current plans are for teaching to be streamed from the main church to the Benson campus with everything else happening in person. At a recent church vision meeting held in Benson, around 200 people from the community attended.
A key to Pantano’s growth is their dual emphasis on rapid engagement and the evangelistic focus of “everyone reach one.” According to Hamlin, “We onboard people quickly.”
At each service, whether online or in-person, attendees with questions or who are interested in serving are directed to the Next Steps web page or the Next Steps room, respectively. They are encouraged to get involved in a Rooted group, a 10-week small-group experience through which people are equipped to “each one reach one.”
Evangelism and discipleship are incorporated into every aspect of the church. “This is what we’re about,” emphasizes Hamlin, “and this is why so many are coming to the church.”
Those new to the faith often sign up for baptism; spontaneous decisions are also welcome.
“We provide towels, clothing, whatever is needed,” Hamlin says. Ensuring that participants are guided through the discipleship process, he adds, “They get a whole slew of new communication and an invitation to our baptism celebration once a month.”
Everyone baptized at Pantano writes their name and the date of their baptism on a ball that is added to an acrylic display in the lobby that spells “ONE.” It’s one of the first things newcomers see.
If a person has attended for some time, their next step is serving. At Pantano, volunteers are called Difference Makers. Difference Makers oversee every area of the church, from greeting at the entrances to making sure everyone can find a seat in the auditorium to helping coordinate baptisms.
Codified training is available for every area of service. Hamlin stresses, “We have really honed our systems and processes. We want a consistent experience in training that gets people involved quickly with no hurdles.”
Ian Sylvester serves as a Difference Maker. He and his wife came to Pantano in 2022 shortly after Lead Pastor Trevor Devage started. From that first visit, they knew Pantano was their church.
“I was looking for a place where I could picture taking my kids and know they would be grounded in faith,” remembers Sylvester, who now serves on the baptism team and is a Rooted—what they call small groups—facilitator.
A few weeks after coming to Pantano, he invited his mother to attend the church. Soon after, she accepted Christ, was baptized, went through Rooted, and now serves as a Difference Maker.
Sylvester believes that grace is a key feature of the church. “No matter how messy your life is, we will love you exactly as you are. But at the same time, we love people too much to leave them where they are.”
Making people feel welcome is everyone’s job. “We don’t have pastors hanging out in a green room,” notes Hamlin. Everyone in leadership walks through the facility before and between services.
“We value our families doing life in their communities and neighborhoods,” he says, which is why Pantano added their fourth service on Thursday nights in addition to three Sunday services. On Wednesdays, the student ministry has over 300 students, and at each service over 400 kids attend simultaneous children’s services.
Pantano sees a wide diversity in the congregation across nearly every demographic: ethnicity, race, socioeconomic, etc. The attendees include ex-prisoners, recovering addicts, soccer moms, engineers, members of the military, all coming together to serve the Lord.
“Last Easter during our baptisms,” recalls Hamlin, “a man responded [to the call] who was probably still under the influence of something.”
Later, church leaders learned that the man went to jail. While incarcerated, he met some of volunteers from Pantano. When he got out of jail, he had a place lined up to live and got a job. He made amends with people in his life and his family.
“While he can’t remember everything that happened on the day he was baptized, God never let him go,” reflects Hamlin.
Today the man serves as a Difference Maker at Pantano, having been thoroughly loved into the kingdom.