'In The Beginning...'

It was in the camp meeting of 1958 in Phoenix that Evangelist A. A. Allen announced the need for land upon which to build a Bible College.

Brother Urbane Leiendecker donated two sections of land, being 1,280 acres, less three lots of about ten acres each.

These two sections, each being one mile square, lay just west of the main entrance to the Valley, and along the south side of highway 92. This land was known as ‘the ranch’, and was later sold off in small parcels by Rev. Don Stewart who took over the ministry following Brother Allen's death in 1970.

In April of 1958, Brother Allen purchased a total of 1,200 acres from Ben Leiendecker for $55,000, and paid off the resulting $45,000 mortgage two and one-half years later in 1960. A portion of this purchase came to be known as Miracle Valley. The total purchase consisted of:

· 480 acres located 1 mile west of the entrance to the Valley, and ½ mile north of highway 92, which became known as the ‘North 480’

· 320 acres directly across highway 92 from the entrance to the Valley, where private homes were built, which became known as ‘Miracle Valley Estates’

· 400 acres stretching for ¾ mile east, and 1 mile south, of the main entrance to the Valley, which became known as ‘Miracle Valley’ proper

Of this 1,200 acres, only 80 acres remain today as ‘Miracle Valley’.

When Rev. A. A. Allen died in June 1970, one of his associate ministers Don Stewart took over.

The Bible College lasted for a few years before it folded and nearly everyone still involved moved to Tyler, Texas to be part of Rev. R. W. Schambach’s school.

The Latin American District Council of the Assemblies of God had made arrangements with Don Stewart to operate a Bible College known as Southern Arizona Bible College (SABC) at the Valley and did so until May of 1995.

Shortly after the Don Steward/Assemblies of God arrangement was made, SABC partitioned off the west half of the tabernacle for a church, and turned the east half into a gymnasium. 

They moved their church services from Allen's main Headquarters Administration Building to the church. Within a week, the large Administration Building burned to the ground. Arson was suspected, but never proven.

From all accounts, the people of SABC, especially the students, made every attempt to stop the fire, some at great personal risk. Anyone with a heart for the Valley, and especially those of us who have fought fires ourselves, has to appreciate those efforts. I’m sure we all would like to think that we would have been as courageous had we been there at the time. May God bless and honor each one of them.

The circus that followed was something to behold: a maze of legal maneuvering and promotional stunts that have no business in His work.

The Assemblies wanted the insurance money from the fire to rebuild the building, or for Don Stewart to rebuild it.

Don wanted to keep the insurance money without rebuilding.

Don had pictures taken of himself standing in the smoldering ruins for an appeals letter which stated the rebuilding was to begin immediately. A subsequent appeals letter stated that rebuilding had already started, which it had not. The local papers had fun with that one, and they were right.

The Assemblies said the property was of no value to them without the building. Don said if that was the case they could consider the lease broken and just leave.

The Assemblies didn’t want to leave and ultimately the price was reduced to reflect the loss of the building and the Assemblies bought the property. One provision of the sale was that the Assemblies had to maintain a School there for twenty years or the property would revert to Don Stewart. This they did, closing in May of 1995.

It was during this time of uncertainty that a seemingly well-meaning group from Chicago established a presence in Miracle Valley Estates, holding services in one of the buildings along Highway 92 across from the Valley.

A great deal of conflict arose between these people and local residents; evidently there was some provocation on both sides. This is the situation that resulted in the infamous ‘shoot-out at the OK corral’: an actual gun battle between members of this group and local police.

By some unverified accounts several dozen police, each carrying a new ball bat, showed up to arrest one of these people for an outstanding traffic ticket.

The autopsy reports show the two men the police shot had entry wounds in the back. Other reports tell of a van full of members of this group setting out to blast one of their friends out of the local jail and in the process blowing themselves up while driving along the road near the Coronado Monument turn off.

The ultimate court settlement seemed to favor the people from Chicago, who had since decided to go back home.

The local service clubs honored the police for their handling of the situation. Who knows? But it is all part of the fabric of the history of the Valley, and serves to explain some of the attitudes of the local residents towards the Valley and anyone associated with it.

Understandably, proclaiming ones’ self to have been sent by God to re-establish His work at the Valley doesn’t carry a lot of weight with the local residents. If anything, it puts one in rather dubious company in their eyes.

When Don Stewart sold the Valley to the Assemblies, he divided it up into five parcels, each to be conveyed to the Assemblies upon payment of a specific portion of the mortgage. In doing so, Don retained the frontage property along Highway 92, stretching from the tabernacle to the road, approximately 500 feet in width, which constituted a rather nice personal investment holding.

There was further wrangling between Don Stewart and the Assemblies of God until the Assemblies finally borrowed enough money from the General Counsel of the Assemblies of God to pay Don off and be rid of him, ending up with the current 80 acres which evidently reaches clear out to the highway.

Through it all, many students went through SABC with the same deeply fond feelings for the Valley as those of us who went through MVBC, and we all have to recognize that we are all members of the same family.

And so, for twenty years the Assemblies of God owned and operated Miracle Valley, Arizona: an ironic conclusion to the ancient history portion of the history of Miracle Valley, given Bro. Allen’s feelings towards the Assemblies.

Due respect must be given to the awesome accomplishments during the time Brother Allen had the Valley, and the mighty acts of God in that place, both in forming and maintaining the Valley, in the lives of the students of MVBC, and in the lives of the countless tens of thousands of people who passed through that place over the years and were touched by the power of God through a man who had an anointing the likes of which few have ever experienced, but who was just a man nonetheless.

Rev. A. A. Allen made a lot of things possible for a lot of people, and we need to give honor to whom honor is due.

Recent History

In December of 1995, I visited the Valley for the first time in over 28 years.

The place was deserted except for a couple that served as caretakers, and the former librarian. There was absolutely nothing to commend the place. I searched inwardly for some feeling of nostalgia, and found none.

It was sad and I thought I would never have reason to visit her again.

I took a last look around and was about to say good-bye forever when God spoke to my heart and said, "I’m not through with this place yet".

I don’t make any claim to fame, but there are times when I know I’ve heard the voice of the Almighty.

I left knowing that someday, somehow, through someone, God was going to do a work in that place.

Dale Whitehead resides in New York.  During the ministry of Rev. A. A. Allen, Dale was a student at Rev. Allen's Miracle Valley Bible College.  His education was subsidized by Rev. Allen.