Politicians Flock to Pastor’s Hillside Services in Anaheim : Religion: Congregants ranging from a county supervisor to a city councilman gather to hear the Garden Church minister.

Tucked in the hills east of town is an unconventional place where, each Sunday, politicians meet, but where politics is taboo.

On most any warm, summer weekend, the shirt-sleeved crowd gathered in an amphitheater just above the eastbound lanes of the Riverside Freeway includes a variety of local officials, from a county supervisor to an Anaheim councilman. But they are not here to see each other. They are here to hear Pastor Bryan L. Crow, the politically savvy minister of the Garden Church.

“We offer them an opportunity to be themselves,” Crow said of the congregants at his hillside “fellowship” services. “Nobody’s on stage here. It is against the law to talk politics here on Sunday.”

It’s not unusual to find among the tiers Orange County Supervisor Don R. Roth, Anaheim Mayor Fred Hunter, Councilman William D. Ehrle and on occasion City Manager James D. Ruth or Anaheim Fire Chief Jeff Bowman.

“When I’m out there, I’m not the mayor. I’m Fred and Bill is Bill,” Hunter said. “We’re out there to worship, nothing else. No ties, no suits.”

Hunter and others said they feel comfortable in the secluded, pastoral setting dotted with canopies of ancient oak trees and where horses graze in the nearby fields. It is a place where nobody asks about street repairs or rising utility rates, Ehrle said.

“At other churches, everybody would say hello and immediately they wanted to talk about their problems,” he said. “We go there to worship. We don’t go there to talk politics.”

Chief Bowman said: “Some of us live our jobs all damn day. When you go to church, you don’t want to have to deal with that.

(Crow) tries not to bring any attention to us . . . never singles any of us out.”

In a service last month, however, Crow made a point to reach out publicly to a prominent member of his congregation. Roth, embroiled in state and federal investigations involving his political dealings, was there when Crow told his flock “that there is one in our midst who is going through some rough times.”

While not mentioning Roth by name, Crow said it was his intention to communicate a message.

“We were saying: ‘Hey, Don, we love you.’ ”

In the pulpit, church members say, the folksy 59-year-old pastor delivers a “practical message” sometimes mixed with Baptist fire. It is not the same ministry that Crow directed from Euclid Street Baptist Church in the city’s flatlands starting in 1962. The pastor said he left that church after feeling “boxed in.’

“We’re outdoors, and it is a very upbeat, informal service,” he said of the 2-year-old ministry. “The key here is that we stress fellowship, not membership. We offer support, but it is not just for people in public life.”

But the pastor admits that he holds a special admiration for those in public life, and away from church considers his own involvement in local politics an “obligation.”

Crow said he recruits candidates for offices ranging from the city Planning Commission to the City Council. Although he believes “there is no such thing as political influence,” one local lobbyist says there may be no other person in the city who has more warm relationships with all council members than Crow.

“He’s a quiet man who speaks with moral authority,” Councilman Tom Daly said. “He plays a helpful role as a peacemaker. If there is a hot spot in the community, he is one of the first to speak up. He’s a bridge between the religious community and City Hall.”

And in some cases, Crow has been known to use his skills as a political diplomat in attempts to smooth rifts on a City Council known for past spells of volatility.

For example, Councilman Irv Pickler said Crow has worked behind the scenes to open lines of communication between him and Hunter, a longtime political adversary. The two have clashed in two bitter mayoral campaigns and disagreed on a host of other issues, primarily the $103-million sports arena.

Crow “may have tried to do something,” Pickler said, “but whether he has been successful or not, I’m not too sure. He doesn’t like there to be any controversy. He’s a great man and tries to be friends with everyone.”

His relationships with local politicians and bureaucrats alike have been built during years of community service, council members said. Crow serves on the city’s Gang/Drug Citizens Task Force and Community Service Board. He started a chaplain ministry for Anaheim police officers and serves as a chaplain for high school athletic programs throughout the state.

“I have gone where they are,” Crow said of those in public life. “Most religious organizations get involved, especially in politics, only in a negative way. We are determined not to do that.

“They know me and I respect them,” he said. “There is a comfort zone. But that’s not to say that I can go to the county, state or city and get my way. I’m just a minister.”

But Crow does hope to get his way with required city approvals when he presents a multimillion-dollar plan to build his “dream” church. The church is planned in the area where the outdoor amphitheater now stands.

Crow said he will try to create a “biblical village” complete with a bell tower constructed of Jerusalem stone on the 80-plus acres the church owns in the hills. The complex, which he said will be landscaped with trees and vegetation native to the Holy Land, has been his dream for more than two decades, and he hopes to break ground by next summer.

“This project is the right thing,” Crow said. “I believe that if I knew no one in this city, it would not matter. This project carries itself, whether I’m involved in it or not.”

Hunter said he and the other members of the current City Council “will probably be long gone” before Crow could garner all the preliminary approvals the project would require before it ever reached the point of council approval.

“I go there because he is a good preacher,” said the mayor, himself a former preacher. “Every time I go there, he seems to be able to recharge my battery. His sermons have a practical message.”