First Baptist’s Pastor of 32 Years to Retire

The Rev. John H. Townsend will leave First Baptist Church of Los Angeles at year’s end, retiring after 32 years as senior pastor of a congregation shaped by an ever-changing city.

Townsend, 65, has likened his minister’s role to that of a lumberjack guiding harvested trees downstream. “He keeps his balance only by moving simultaneously with the whirling logs,” he said.

The 630-member church has an international mix: 45% white, 24% Latino, 10% Korean American, 9% African American, 6% Filipino and 6% other backgrounds.

Rather than form separate groups by language, the congregation has remained one by adding headphones in the pews for simultaneous Spanish and Korean translations. The church is near Koreatown, and its pastoral staff now has Latino, Korean, black, Filipino and female ministers.

It is not the same church Townsend signed on with in 1962 as a part-time assistant pastor. He had graduated from the University of Redlands in 1954 and earned his master’s of divinity degree at what is now the American Baptist Seminary of the West in Berkeley in 1957. His first ministerial job was at First Baptist Church of Redlands.

Townsend has retained one practice from his early training. The church’s newsletter always contains a printed version of a previous Sunday sermon.

His last Sunday in the pulpit will be Dec. 28, the day after he and his wife, Carol, are honored at a luncheon at Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City. Associate Pastor George Hill will serve as interim pastor until a new senior pastor is chosen.

CHRISTMAS MUSIC

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The Crystal Cathedral’s 17th renewal of “The Glory of Christmas” opened Friday night at the Garden Grove landmark with a cast of actors along with horses, donkeys, sheep and goats. A 1,300-pound Mongolian camel and a white baby camel are new this year. Through Dec. 30, the musical will be presented at 4:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. most days. Tickets $15 to $30. (714) 971-4065.

* “The Christmas Concert,” an original production featuring costumed performers, will begin at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, 600 St. Andrews Road, Newport Beach, at 8 p.m. Friday. Other performances, also featuring the 90-voice sanctuary choir directed by Daniel Sharp, will be Dec. 7 at 4 p.m., Dec. 12 at 8 p.m., and Dec. 14 at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Reserved tickets $6. (714) 574-2253.

* San Dimas Wesleyan Church will present its fifth annual production of “Come Celebrate Christmas!” offering a mix of sacred and secular music. Performances are at 7 p.m. Friday through Dec. 7 and 3 p.m. next Saturday and Dec. 7. Donations accepted. (909) 599-1603.

* The Glendale City Seventh-day Adventist Church will present a sing-along performance of Handel’s “Messiah” at 7:30 p.m. Friday. John T. Dennison will conduct the chancel choir, soloists and orchestra. The church is at 610 E. California Ave. Free-will offering. (818) 244-7241.

* The Mary & Joseph Retreat Center in Rancho Palos Verdes will hold a workshop next Saturday called “Journey to Bethlehem, a Day of Musical Prayer.” Music based on Psalms will be used in a reflective pilgrimage, starting at 9:30 a.m. at the center, 5300 Crest Road. $25. (310) 377-4867.

* More than 200 choristers will present traditional Advent music and carols at 4 p.m. Sunday at St. Andrew’s by the Sea Episcopal Church, 1050 Thomas Ave., in the San Diego community of Pacific Beach. The director is Virginia Sublett of the University of San Diego music department. Offerings at the concert will support Episcopal Community Services AIDS programs. (619) 260-8100, Ext. 139.

CONVENTION

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About 1,000 clergy and lay delegates from 148 parishes of the six-county Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles will open a two-day convention Friday in Riverside. Bishop Frederick Borsch will deliver his annual address shortly after the 102nd annual meeting opens at 1 p.m. at the Riverside Convention Center.

Historian Kevin Starr, whose most recent book on state history is “The Dream Endures: California Enters the 1940s,” will speak at a Friday dinner. The Rt. Rev. Edward Neufville, bishop of Liberia, will talk about his West African Anglican province in a sermon during the convention. Eucharist at 8:30 a.m. next Saturday. (909) 222-4708.

WORLD AIDS DAY

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In observance of World AIDS Day, which is Monday, the annual interfaith prayer service of AIDS Project Los Angeles will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Hollywood United Methodist Church, 3817 Franklin Ave. Rabbi Marc Blumenthal, who chairs the AIDS National Interfaith Network, will speak. (213) 874-2104.

At least two churches will conduct rites Sunday. A 45-minute vespers service will be held at 4 p.m. at St. Ambrose Catholic Church, 1281 N. Fairfax Ave., West Hollywood. (213) 237-4712.

At the Hollywood Church of Religious Science, 7677 Sunset Blvd., the Rev. Pamela MacGregor will lead a “healing meditation” at 10:30 a.m. Rabbi H. Rafael Goldstein of Jewish AIDS Service; Jim Maier, president of Dignity Los Angeles; and the Rev. Jean Battah of the host church will speak during the 11 a.m. service. (213) 876-2260.

DATES

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Carol Christ, a leading scholar in feminist spirituality and the goddess movement, will speak at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Lyman Hall at Claremont’s Pomona College. Author of the recently published “Rebirth of the Goddess,” Christ has taught at U.S. universities and now works in Athens as director of the Ariadne Institute for the Study of Myth and Ritual. A reception will follow the free lecture. (909) 621-8813.

* “Benjamin and Judah,” a musical by David Shukiar about Hanukkah as seen through the imagination of a young boy, will be presented twice next week at the University of Judaism and nine times Dec. 18 to Dec. 28 in San Diego’s Hahn Cosmopolitan Theatre. The university performances at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday will be at Gindi Auditorium. $12 adults. (310) 440-1535. For information on the San Diego shows, call (619) 685-3332.

* The “Hanging of the Greens” service at First Presbyterian Church of Orange will start at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Members will decorate the church interior as music, readings and prayers usher in the Christmas season. The pastor is the Rev. Stephen H. Janssen. (714) 538-2341.

FINALLY

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Pasadena’s Holliston United Methodist Church, which has an unobstructed viewing spot for the Rose Parade, has added nearly 400 grandstand seats this year, bringing the total to 1,400.

Holliston is selling seats at $40 each for the Jan. 1 event as part of a fund-raiser to pay for city-mandated remodeling of the church, at 1305 E. Colorado Blvd. Parking on the grounds is $15. Breakfast is $7.50. (626) 793-0685.

The festivities provide the chance for a small congregation (about 150 active members) to parlay its parade-side position into financial support to make the church earthquake-safe. “Our main church building has historical landmark status and has been in this location for 74 years, but it’s older than that because it was originally moved from another location,” said Karen Radcliffe, development director.

CELEBRATION

For decades, Bill Bright’s Arrowhead Springs complex in mountains overlooking San Bernardino was both his home and headquarters for Campus Crusade for Christ. When Bright’s expanding evangelism enterprise moved to Orlando, Fla., in 1991, the facility was kept as a conference center but not much more.

In recent weeks, however, Campus Crusade has launched a dinner theater and Sunday brunches, and has booked weddings and banquets at the former resort below Lake Arrowhead.

A new coffeehouse will open today as well as an outdoor Christmas program. (909) 881-7907.

At 7 p.m., the “Celebration of Lights” will feature a 300-voice community choir, a live Nativity scene narrated by Thurl Ravenscroft (the voice of Tony the Tiger), the lighting of a six-story Christmas tree and a talk by Bright.