Four Southern Baptist ministers who planted seeds...

Four Southern Baptist ministers who planted seeds of hope in South Los Angeles two years ago are finally seeing some buds.

“The South-Central Los Angeles Planning Committee was formed because we did not see a lot of activity on the part of (church) agencies,” said its founder and chairman, the Rev. E. W. McCall, pastor of St. Stephen Baptist Church in La Puente. “There was no plan or program for South-Central.”

The committee sought to expand the denomination’s services and activities in the community and coordinate them under one entity, raising the level of spiritual and social needs being met, McCall said.

His colleagues on the committee are the Revs. Willie Simmons of Greater Cornerstone Baptist Church in Los Angeles, Luther Keith of Central Baptist Church in Inglewood and Lonnie Dawson of New Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles.

Until a few months ago, the foursome was tangled in bureaucracy and did not have the funding to launch a major program. Then, in the wake of the Los Angeles riots, the Southern Baptist denomination’s Home Mission Board decided to help. In November, the board agreed to hire a full-time coordinator of services for the South-Central area. Meanwhile, the committee had established off-campus college classrooms and drafted a proposal for a business training center. Plans are in the works for a religious rally on the first anniversary of the riots.

“We want to see our smaller sister churches with the same kinds of programs, personnel and levels of service as the larger ones,” said McCall, whose 4,000-member suburban church runs thriving educational and community service programs. He estimates that there are 30 to 40 predominantly black Southern Baptist churches in South Los Angeles.

Dawson said the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention “is still considering what can be done (to help). We haven’t had money pouring in,” he said, “although after the riots they did some immediate things, like trying to provide some food.”

“As a black Southern Baptist,” he said, “I have always hoped that the eyes of the convention would open and refocus some of its priorities. The convention needs to consider the plight of inner cities in the same way it considers conditions in foreign countries. Charity begins at home.”

So far, the Home Mission Board is supporting the committee by paying part of the salary and benefits of the new coordinator. The Fresno-based California Southern Baptist Convention is also helping, according to Thomas Kelly, director of its Black Church Extension. Kelly said that some large churches throughout the country send gifts, donations and occasional volunteers to South Los Angeles.

Even these modest efforts have yielded results, McCall said. The hiring of the Rev. Robert Wilson as services coordinator has raised the level of services for small churches, he said. And an arrangement with Compton Community College has brought six business courses, including instruction in computer literacy, to classrooms at New Mount Calvary.

Next, the committee hopes to polish a grant proposal for a “business incubator,” a training center to provide business skills such as bookkeeping, marketing and computer use. Greater Cornerstone has bought a nearby building that, after $35,000 in renovations, could house the center. “We hope to submit a grant to Rebuild L.A. and other agencies,” McCall said.

For further information on the South-Central Los Angeles Planning Committee of the California Southern Baptist Convention, phone (909) 918-3225.

RELIEF

St. James Armenian Church Parish is collecting warm winter clothing, new blankets, sleeping bags, flashlights, medical and hospital supplies and packaged food (not in glass containers) to send to Armenia, where many people are still recovering from the devastating 1988 earthquake. Items may be delivered to 4950 W. Slauson Ave., Los Angeles 90056. For information call (818) 347-4127.

DATES

A Mass and anointing for people with AIDS, their families, friends and care givers will be celebrated at 7:30 p.m. today at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Westwood. The Rev. Nat Wilburn, a Paulist priest, will preside. Gordon LaCross will conduct a 40-voice choir accompanied by brass instruments and organ. The offering will benefit Serra Project, an Archdiocesan program to house men, women and children with AIDS. A reception follows. 10750 Ohio Ave., Westwood. (310) 474-1528.

Married couples who wish to pledge their love again this Valentine’s Day can renew their wedding vows during a special nondenominational ceremony at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Burbank Church of Religious Science. Champagne and wedding cake will be available afterward. 260 N. Pass Avenue. (818) 848-4158.

What is it that keeps Catholics and Jews loyal to their religions, peoples, heritages and traditions? Novelist and priest Andrew M. Greeley and journalist/theologian Eugene B. Borowitz try to answer at 8 p.m. Feb. 21 and 22. The Feb. 21 talk is at Valley Beth Shalom, 15739 Ventura Blvd., Encino; the next night’s is at Sinai Temple, 10400 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood. Sponsored by the University of Judaism. Tickets are $20 per lecture. (310) 476-9777, Ext. 246.

Rabbi Arnold Rachlis of University Synagogue in Irvine will talk about the temple’s adoption of the McFadden School in Santa Ana at Sabbath services at 8 p.m. Friday. The school choir will perform. (Last year, a survey reported that Irvine had the lowest high school dropout rate in the nation while Santa Ana, just a few miles away, had the highest. In response, the Reconstructionist congregation will provide McFadden with tutors, equipment and support.) 4915 Alton Parkway, Irvine. (714) 553-3535.

The Rev. Cecil Murray, pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church, will be the keynote speaker at the 40th Annual Assembly of the South Coast Ecumenical Council from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at Grant A.M.E. Church in Long Beach. Bobbie Smith will be installed as president. A $9 ticket includes dinner. 1129 Alamitos Ave. Reservations must be received by Wednesday. (310) 595-0268.

The Academy for Judaic, Christian and Islamic Studies will present a free dialogue-lecture at 4 p.m. Wednesday in Mudd Theater of the School of Theology at Claremont. Speakers will include Talmudic scholar David M. Gordis of Hebrew College in Boston and Shiite scholar Seyyed Hossein Nasr of George Washington University in Washington. (714) 974-2912.

Father Michael J. Himes, University of Notre Dame theologian, will discuss “Preparing for the Church in the 21st Century” at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20, in the Manchester Executive Conference Center at the University of San Diego. Admission is free. (619) 260-4817 or (619) 546-7422. Mutuality Temple, a division of American Christian Freedom Society Inc., offers “an alternative Sunday morning religious experience.” The Rev. Uriah J. Fields, a poet, mystic and composer, emphasizes meditation and prayer weekly at 9:30 a.m. and 10:50 a.m. services. 9428 S. Western Ave., Los Angeles (213) 754-7761.

Journalist Yehuda Lev will speak about the Clinton Administration and Middle East Policy at 7 p.m. Monday at McAlister Center at the Claremont Colleges. Admission is free, sponsored by Hillel Foundation. (909) 621-8000, Ext. 2937.

BRIEFLY

Two human-rights activists, the Revs. John Fife of Tucson and Robert W. Bohl of Ft. Worth, last week addressed the 15th Annual Mission and Stewardship Rally in Newport Beach, the largest annual gathering of Presbyterians outside of the denomination’s General Assembly.

The New York-based Jewish Fund for Justice has awarded $25,000 to the Fund for New L.A., an innovative funding collaborative that directs resources to low-income groups needing jobs and hope in the areas hardest hit by last year’s civil unrest.

The University Religious Conference of Santa Barbara has named the Rev. Dale Morgan as Clergyperson of the Year and will celebrate with a dinner Saturday, Feb. 20. For information, phone (805) 968-1555

Please address notices to: Southern California File, c/o Religion Editor, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053. Send faxes to (213) 237-4712. Items should be brief and arrive at least three weeks before the event announced.