Southern California Conference

July 2, 2019
The highlight event of my past two weeks was last weekend with the visit of the General Conference and the thirteen Division Secretariat leaders and their spouses (54 visitors), who are touring the North American Division this summer.

The SCC officers and region directors welcomed these guests last Sunday afternoon at our El Monte Vietnamese SDA Church. Pastor Vinh Nguyen and his church leaders hosted them with a delicious meal, traditional music, costumed dresses and a tour of their facilities, explaining how this church is doing ministry with the Vietnamese people of this community, this country and Vietnam. (Stay tuned for more details in an upcoming issue of the Recorder!)

Every three years, these departmental (Secretariat) leaders go to a different division of the world church for two weeks; at this time, our North American Division and Pacific Union Conference leaders decided to include SCC, and we were pleased to share about our SCC family.

In our presentation, we highlighted a couple of characteristics of the townspeople on the West Coast. One is the entrepreneurial attitude the Californians have demonstrated over the years. Another one is the trailblazer spirit of our communities, making the SCC the source of many initiatives in evangelism and mission, seeking ways to carry on the gospel in our territory.

I will share with you the list of the many firsts accomplishments that have happened in our conference.

Firsts in Southern California Conference

FIRST CHURCHES

• 1879 – In Los Angeles (initially, Central SDA; today, New Hope)
• 1907 – Hispanic Company organized in (today, Spanish American)
• 1908 – African American Church organized in the West (initially, Furlong Track; later, Wadsworth; today, University)
• 1957 – First Filipino church in the USA (Central Filipino)
• 1960 – First Korean church in the USA (Los Angeles Central Korean)
• 1973 – First Samoan church in the USA (Compton Samoan)
• 1973 – First Indonesian church in the USA (initially, Indonesian-Dutch; now, Indonesian-American)
• 1975 – First Vietnamese church in the USA (initially, Glendale; now, El Monte Vietnamese)
• 1978 – First Yugoslavian church in the West (now, Serbian-Croatian)
• 1983 – First Armenian group in the USA (Glendale Armenian)
• 1983 – First Cambodian group in the USA (Long Beach Cambodian)
• 1986 – First Tongan church in the USA (Los Angeles Tongan)
• 1986 – First Thai church in the USA (Los Angeles Thai)
• 2018 – First Mongolian group in the USA (Mongolian Mission)

FIRST SCHOOLS

• 1902 – First secondary school in Southern California (San Fernando College)

FIRST MINISTRIES

• 1929 – Radio Program The Tabernacle of the Air
  • Founder & Speaker: H.M.S. Richard
  • Place: Los Angeles, California
  • Name Change: The Voice of Prophecy
• 1938 – Spanish Radio Program La Hora Cristiana
  • Founder & Speaker: Carlos R. Nicolas
  • Place: Los Angeles, California
• 1974 – Television Program Breath of Life
  • Founder: Walter Arties (singer)
  • Speaker: Charles D. Brooks
  • Place: Glendale, California

FIRST HEALTH MINISTRIES

• 1896 – First Health institution in Southern California (a vegetarian restaurant & treatment rooms in Los Angeles)
• 1905 – First medical institution in Los Angeles (initially, Glendale Sanitarium; then, Glendale Adventist Medical Center; now, Adventist Health Glendale)

These are the languages in which worship services are conducted in churches, Sabbath schools and small groups in SCC:

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Submission of proposed agenda items: No later than June 30, 2019, the SCC churches wanting to submit items to be included on the session agenda, should have done through the SCC Executive Secretary office. These items need to be approved by either majority of the members in a business meeting, the church board or their delegates to be passed to the SCC Executive Committee, to establish the agenda for the upcoming constituency session.
• 65^th SCC Constituency Session: This important meeting will be held on Sunday, September 22, 2019, at the White Memorial SDA Church from 7:55 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Your fellow traveler,

Velino A. Salazar
President
Southern California Conference