As every year, the SCC officers attended the North American Division year-end meetings (October 30-November 5) and joined other conference and union leaders along with church members who are members of our division executive committee. Excellent reports and exciting initiatives were presented. The spirit of collegiality and harmonious conversation in spite of the different perspectives and opinions expressed reminded me of the well-known verse in Psalm 133:1 that says: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”
I invite you to watch some of those six-day meetings; go and visit the North American Division website:
On Friday morning, November 8, I attended a brief but meaningful occasion of ZERO HARM award celebration of Adventist Health Glendale (AHG). Several units in this hospital achieved this remarkable goal, and the AHG executive leadership recognized the physicians and nurses for this incredible success! Kudos to ALL those who serve in this hospital as agents of healing.
That Sabbath, Esther and I joined the Ventura church 125th anniversary. What an awesome day! There was beautiful music, a variety of delicious food, lots of memories and laughs and many people from different places. The sanctuary was almost full. In the afternoon, Elder Jim Ayars briefly told the story of this church since its organization established in November 1894.
I had the opportunity to encourage this church to keep alive the hope of the second coming of Jesus, because He promised that He would return, and He will, in my lifetime or that of my descendants. Elder Greg Hoenes congratulated the congregation for such a milestone in their life and ministry over a century. Actually, that church was established seven years before our conference was organized in 1901, when California was comprised of a single conference.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
- Open Enrollment in New Healthcare and Benefits: The conference will no longer use paper forms to enroll and employees must enroll using a new online benefits platform. All employees MUST enroll for year 2020 benefits during the Open Enrollment period, which started at the employee benefits fair on October 27 and ends on December 1, 2019. If you do not enroll, you may find yourself without any health care coverage and/or other benefits on January 1, 2020. (Employees, please check for recent emails from HR.)
- SCC Day of Prayer: Save the date for Sabbath, January 25, 2020, at the Spanish American SDA Church. All are invited to come and seek the Lord’s blessing as we begin a new year.
Your fellow traveler,
Velino A. Salazar
President
Southern California Conference