The Rev. W. T. Snead Sr., a...

The Rev. W. T. Snead Sr., a pastor in South-Central Los Angeles, will be installed Monday in New Orleans as the third president of the National Missionary Baptist Convention of America.

Snead, 60, was elected in September to finish the term of the late Rev. S. M. Wright of Dallas, which ends in 1998.

The organization, estimated to have 3.5 million members in this country, was organized in 1988 as a separate entity from the National Baptist Convention of America Inc., after a dispute over control of the convention’s publishing efforts.

The first president of the National Missionary Baptists was the Rev. S. M. Lockridge of San Diego, who has since retired as a pastor. The denomination’s headquarters move to the offices of the current president.

In a ceremony that a church spokesman said will be unprecedented, Snead will be installed by the head of another denomination--the Rev. Henry J. Lyons of St. Petersburg, Fla., president of the National Baptist Convention USA Inc., the nation’s largest African American church body with 8 million members.

Although they are separate denominations, the two black churches “will explore ways that we can work together on projects,” Snead said. The installation ceremony will occur during the denomination’s winter board meeting.

Snead is pastor of Greater Temple of God Missionary Baptist Church, 1404 E. Firestone Blvd., which he said has about 200 member families. Snead, who previously was vice president at large of the national body, is also president of the denomination’s state convention.

PEOPLE

* In support of a retired Episcopal bishop facing a heresy trial next week, the Rev. J. Edwin Bacon Jr., rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, will conduct a special vigil and service at 5 p.m. Sunday. Bishop Walter C. Righter, who will confront the church tribunal, ordained a gay man living in a committed relationship, which conservative bishops charged was a violation of church doctrine. Bacon said he will attend the start of the church trial Tuesday in Wilmington, Del. Righter, a retired bishop, was assisting in the Diocese of Newark, N.J., when he performed the ordination, which has provoked intense controversy in the Episcopal church. The Rev. Malcolm Boyd, author and gay activist, will be the guest preacher at the service in the Pasadena church, 132 N. Euclid Ave. (818) 796-1172.

* Orthodox Rabbi Daniel Landes, who upset some Orthodox colleagues in the 1980s when he tried to initiate a pulpit exchange with Conservative Rabbi Harold Schulweis of Encino, left Los Angeles last year to become director of the independent, coed Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. Landes returned to California this weekend to serve as scholar in residence at Temple Emanuel, a Reform Jewish congregation at 8844 Burton Way in Beverly Hills where Laura Geller is rabbi. His concluding talk at 10 a.m. Sunday is on “The Mystic Dance: Where Is My Experience of Transcendence.” (310) 273-6242.

* Art Linkletter, author-humorist and host of the old “People Are Funny” TV program, will be presented with California Lutheran University’s Landry Medal at the college’s annual benefit banquet Thursday night at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. Named for ex-Dallas Cowboy football coach Tom Landry, an active evangelical, the medal honors those who have inspired others through their Christian commitment and distinguished careers. (805) 493-3151.

MUSIC

* Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor, one of the few pieces of church music written by the composer after he moved to Vienna, will be performed at 5 p.m. Sunday at Beverly Hills’ All Saints Episcopal Church by the All Saints Choir, soloists and full orchestra under the direction of Thomas Foster. Tickets at the door $10; $5 for students and seniors. (310) 275-2910.

Devotional music from Islam and Hinduism will be performed at 8 p.m. Monday at UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall in a free concert sponsored by the new Center for the Study of Religion on campus. The program includes “The Mystic Flute of the Arab World,” “The Mystic Voice of Persian Sufism” and “The Flute of Lord Krishna in Hindustani Music.”

* The Russian folk/gospel music ensemble Good News (Blagovestiye), which is touring the state, will begin a series of nine Southern California appearances at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Bellflower Presbyterian Church, 9630 Main St. Next Saturday, the ensemble will perform at the Slavic Evangelical Baptist Church, 545 N. Commonwealth Ave., Hollywood. For the complete schedule, call the sponsoring Slavic Gospel Assn. (800) BIBLE-50.

* Jazz musician-composer Ron Kabayashi will join Pastor Bill Peterson and members of the Congregational Church of Fullerton, 845 N. Euclid St., in a Lenten service of music and readings at 10 a.m. Sunday. (714) 526-2662.

DATES

* Representatives from three religions will discuss “The Three Faces of Eve” Wednesday night at UCLA. Rabbi Jane Litman of the University of Judaism, Samia El-Saaty of Ain Shams University in Egypt and Karen Torgesen of Claremont Graduate School will lead the talk. The event, starting at 7:30 p.m., will be at UCLA’s Faculty Center.

* Bishop Charles Blake, pastor of the West Angeles Church of God in Christ in the Crenshaw district, will be the keynote speaker Tuesday night at the 43rd annual assembly of the South Coast Ecumenical Council. The meeting, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., will be at the Neighborhood Church, 415 Paseo del Mar, Palos Verdes Estates. The Rev. Joel Hummel, a United Church of Christ minister on the staff at that church, will be installed as council president. Cost is $20, including dinner. (310) 595-0268.

* Theologian John Cobb will lead a two-hour seminar Sunday on economics, stewardship of the Earth and the Christian faith at Claremont United Methodist Church, 211 W. Foothill Blvd., starting at 1:30 p.m. An offering to benefit the sponsoring Environmental Ministries will be taken. (909) 624-9021.

* Habtnesh Ezra, an Ethiopian Jew who was among the first to leave Ethiopia in the 1980s mass immigration to Israel, will speak next Saturday at Hollywood Temple Beth El, 1317 N. Crescent Heights Blvd., West Hollywood. The topic will be the controversy that erupted this month when it was revealed that blood donated by Ethiopian Jewish immigrants was being dumped because of fear of HIV infections. Ezra, a health care consultant and founder of the Ethiopian Jewry Foundation, will talk after the 9 a.m. service. (213) 656-3150.

* Catholics in Media Associates, a group formed by Catholic professionals in the entertainment industry, will hold its annual retreat next Saturday, starting at 9 a.m., at St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica. Father Ken Deasy and leaders of the group will lead the sessions. Reservations required. (818) 907-2734.

FINALLY

What do you do with the kids when you are one of 5,000 volunteers Sunday in the annual telethon appealing for donations to the United Jewish Fund?

The Jewish Federation Council came up with an answer: Let them take part in the first of planned annual “mitzvathons”--doing good deeds while parents are volunteering their time at four locations in the Los Angeles area.

The children’s mitzvahs, or good deeds, will include such things as planting a tree for an elderly shut-in, assembling food baskets for the needy, making candy bags for Russian immigrants for the upcoming Purim holiday, or writing greeting cards to the sick.

“It’s difficult to explain to children how the mitzvah of collecting money for the United Jewish Fund helps those in more difficult circumstances,” said David Aaronson, the project chairman. But officials said that by doing their own good deeds, children will better understand their parents’ volunteerism.

The largest mitzvathon site will be the Jewish Federation Building, 6505 Wilshire Blvd. But the program, and the telephoning, will also take place at the Valley Jewish Alliance in West Hills, the South Bay Jewish Federation Building in Torrance and University Synagogue in Brentwood.