When the Rev. Dorothy Cross is officially...

When the Rev. Dorothy Cross is officially added to the ministerial staff of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood on Sunday she will embody three “firsts” for the 4,300-member congregation, one of the 10 largest Presbyterian churches in the country.

She will be the first woman pastor, the first black minister and the first one assigned to the area of spiritual growth.

Cross was a teacher and supervisor for nearly 20 years in Chicago public schools before she went to McCormick Theological Seminary there, eventually earning a doctoral degree. After pastoral and administrative duties within the denomination she had concentrated on leading seminars on what is called “spiritual formation” in church jargon.

Presbyterians have traditionally emphasized preaching, scholarship and social justice concerns, but exploring personal spirituality has come into increasing favor.

“We are truly living in difficult and strenuous times, and each of us needs to look seriously at our relationship with God,” Cross said.

Cross is believed to be the only “African-American woman who has been called to a position like that in that size church,” according to Rita Dixon, who heads the Racial Ethnic Ministry Unit at Presbyterian headquarters in Louisville, Ky. Women clergy total about 10% of the 20,000 ordained Presbyterian clergy, and only about 80 of those are black women, Dixon said.

The Rev. John Lloyd Ogilvie, senior pastor on the eight-minister staff at the Hollywood church, said in a statement, “Dorothy Cross has been called to this position because she is the best in the field. It is an added plus that she is female and black.”

She will be installed Sunday in the post during the church’s 9:15 a.m worship service.

PEOPLE

International evangelist Luis Palau--after Billy Graham probably the best-known preacher engaged in large-scale crusades--was originally scheduled to be conducting on the second day of his Los Angeles crusade today. But when Palau was seeking to generate local church backing last November for the L.A. crusade, “there weren’t enough churches solidly interested in it,” said Mike Umlandt, Palau’s public relations coordinator. The event was quietly canceled. Palau did get enough church interest, however, to hold a small crusade in Coachella Valley last week. Umlandt said that about 10,000 people attended rallies in three cities over six days. Organizers counted 297 people who made decisions “to accept Christ” and 107 reaffirmed their beliefs publicly.

DATES

Lutheran Bishop J. Roger Anderson of Los Angeles is expected to be reelected to his post at a three-day assembly, starting Thursday, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Southern California West Synod. The meeting will be at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Los Angeles.

The 48th annual Pepperdine University Bible Lectures will probably draw more than 4,000 registrants at the Malibu campus Tuesday through Friday, said Jerry Rushford, campus director of church services. He said that this year’s conference has 156 classes, the largest ever. The nearly 100 speakers are pastors, teachers and lay people from Church of Christ congregations in 30 states and three other countries.

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, 76, who lectures worldwide on her own yoga system of meditation, will give a public talk at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Wilshire Ebell Theater in Los Angeles. Born to a Christian family and married to C.P. Shrivastava, retired secretary-general of the U.N. International Maritime Organization, Shri Mataji teaches a universalist faith, according to spokesman Phillip Trumbo.

A major regional meeting on worship and the arts will be held at San Diego’s First Presbyterian Church from Thursday through Saturday. A 230-voice choir will present a hymn festival at 7:30 p.m. Friday.