Homecoming 2026: Firestorm Fans Pack the Pavilion Before Facing the Comets
Nearly 300 alumni, families, and friends braved the Arizona heat and crowded under the pavilion for ACU’s annual Homecoming tailgate dinner on September 26—and by the time they headed to the stands to cheer on the Firestorm against the Mayville State University Comets (North Dakota), they knew the words to the University’s new fight song.
Former classmates swapped stories over dinner, caught up with the professors and staff who shaped them, and rediscovered their old school spirit. Assistant music professor Corey Hirsch, the ACU pep band, and the cheer team then led the crowd in learning the Firestorm Fight Song.
The evening’s high point came when President Munsil presented the Alumni of the Year Award to Pastor Dennis McMains, honoring a lifetime of faithful ministry. Ironically, Dennis was a student in Pres. Munsil’s Christian ethics class in the late 1990s when Munsil was an adjunct professor at then-Southwestern College.
McMains served Bethany Community Church in Tempe for 15 years. He taught Bible, World Religions, and Marriage and Family at Valley Christian High School for three years, then spent eight years as executive pastor at Sun Valley Community Church.
Next, God led him somewhere he never expected: Converge, a ministry focused on church-planting, named him its Regional Leader for Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Today he serves as an executive director at Rock Point Church in Queen Creek, where he strengthens the church, equips and cares for its staff, and champions healthy marriages and families.
Dennis and his wife, Amanda, have been married 38 years. They have three married children and seven grandchildren — four boys and three girls. Few things have delighted them more than watching their children and their spouses answer God’s call to Christian service; five of the six now serve alongside Dennis at Rock Point. The McMains family has lived out the promise of 3 John 1:4: “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”
Pastor Dennis’ story captured what the whole evening celebrated: ACU alumni building God’s Kingdom in pulpits, classrooms, and homes around the world.
