XP Ministries spreads wings in Heritage District

XP Ministries is in the gradual process of building a full campus in Maricopa.

The world headquarters of the Christian Services Association Inc. (CSA) sits on Hathaway Avenue across from the Post Office. It draws its operational name from “Extreme Prophetic” courses taught by Patricia King, who is president of the organization.

“We love Maricopa,” she says. “It’s been home, a retreat out in the desert.”

According to the Pinal County Assessor’s Office, CSA owns seven parcels in the Heritage District.

Its building at 44927 W. Hathaway Ave. is called the Missions and Media Center. On an adjacent lot to the south on Justin Drive, the organization plans to build Studio B.

Classified as a charitable organization, CSA is a nonprofit that creates television shows and videos to spread nondenominational Christian-based doctrine. Half of the Missions and Media Center is a full studio where King and others host shows. The building is complete with a control room, voice-over room, greenroom and editing space.

The studio itself has capacity for 90 people.

“It’s not really conducive to a live audience, with the cameras and the wires,” King says.

Studio B, on the other hand, will have a 120-seat capacity. King says it will better serve congregational services that are now held in a multi-purpose room in the Missions and Media Center.

“Studio B will be a little bit bigger,” she says. “Everything will be wireless in it. There will be a warmer ambiance instead of black walls.”

King calls XP Ministries a “spirit-filled body” of a media church. It is evangelical with revivals and elements of the supernatural in its dynamic teachings.

“Our main mission in life is to learn to love,” King says.

Emphasizing media rather than a traditional church setting in its programs “is redefining what ministry looks like,” King says. “The word ministry means ‘to serve.’”

She says the website has 2,500 visits per month and has had 100,000 log in.

In 2013 tax forms, CSA reported more than $2 million in assets and just under $3 million in income. Its Form 990 reported revenue was $2.45 million – categorized as contributions, gifts and grants – and expenses were $2.79 million.

CSA provides thousands in cash grants annually to several ministries and churches across the country, including Maricopa-based prison ministry Expected End. In 2013, those gifts amounted to $454,000, according to the public tax forms.

Three board officers, which do not include King, were listed as pulling an annual salary, all between $21,000 and $41,000. All other salaries and wages for the organization totaled $950,000.

Originally from Canada, King was a cardiovascular nurse until 1980. In the late ‘70s during a medical complication of her own, she says she had a vision of Jesus Christ. She left medicine and she and her family went into the mission field in Mexico, Belize and the Philippines, living in tents.

“I’ve loved every minute of it,” she says.

She went to work for CSA, which was founded in Canada in 1973 and maintains a base there. Its main office is in Mariocpa. CSA also has offices in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

King started the “Extreme Prophetic” courses in 1999 and the TV show in 2003 followed by XP-related media including XPMedia.com with a store of products for online shopping.

She calls herself an “inventive entrepreneur.”

XP Ministries hosts a variety of seminars, courses and special events. Some events are free. Pre-registration for Glory School is $55. A “Women of Influence” certification program is $200. A week-long internship training program is $750.

King says the programs draw people from all over the country and internationally to Maricopa. Of her 50-person staff at headquarters, 35 live in Maricopa, she says.

“They’ve been fine, terrific,” says Pastor Steve Adamson of neighboring Maricopa Community Church. “Because we’re in between their office and their main building, we have people come in and ask if we’re them. But they are so genial and really an asset to the community.”

Maricopa Community Church, also at the corner of Hathaway and Justin Drive, is bordered by CSA-owned property on three sides. Adamson says XP Ministries has approached his church about acquiring the property.

“But we’ve been here for 54 years and this particular spot is so dear, it’s almost considered sacred ground by now,” he says.

The two entities have been discussing sharing parking in Maricopa Community Church’s southern lot, Adamson says.

King says XP Ministries used to host acting classes and now has XPressions Dance School.

Studio B, which may open in May, is expected to free up more space for the XP activities. The 4,300-square-foot building will face Justin Drive, with parking behind on the east half of the small property.

The parcel is separated from the main property by a fenced trench. It is a reminder it is in a flood plain.

“This area is prone to flood-plain issues, so that is why the front entrance is 24 inches off the ground to put it a foot above the flood-plain rules,” city planner Ryan Wozniak said during a meeting of the Heritage District Citizen Advisory Committee. “Also, since they are utilizing so much of their site for building and parking, they have had to go through the additional costs of doing underground retention under the parking lot. They will have to dig down six feet and put in these big plastic domes to retain water.”

But King is sold on the Heritage District, specifically Justin Drive. The current center was built on land that had been “an old country church” before it was used as a real estate office. In five years, she would like to see a complete campus for XP Ministries in that section of Maricopa, “reaching more people than we ever have.”

Adam Wolfe contributed to this story.

This story was published in the January issue of InMaricopa News.