Hollywood Presbyterian to Shift Focus

Hollywood Presbyterian Church, for years a congregation with nationally prominent pastors, next month will welcome a new senior minister who has been asked to refocus church priorities toward Los Angeles and the church’s closest neighborhoods.

The 94-year-old church’s pastors have included the Revs. Louis Evans Sr., Raymond Lindquist and, most recently, Lloyd Ogilvie, who ended 23 years there in March 1995 to become the U.S. Senate chaplain.

“The TV cameras that filled the sanctuary in recent years are gone and are not coming back,” said Rob Asghar, a member of the church’s pastor nominating committee. Rather than being “a voice to the nation,” Hollywood Presbyterian has embraced a mission statement proclaiming it a church for the city, he said.

The new pastor, starting with services Sept. 7, is the Rev. Alan John Meenam, 51, a native of Northern Ireland who holds a doctorate from Edinburgh University in Scotland and has pastored in Richmond, Va., Canoga Park and, since 1989, in Amarillo, Texas.

“He’s a top-notch teacher and preacher,” said Sandra Mader, who headed the nominating committee. She noted that Meenam’s midweek Bible studies at Canoga Park First Presbyterian (1984-1989) and at Amarillo First Presbyterian drew hundreds of students.

After Ogilvie departed for Washington, the congregation--at 3,200 members but slipping--formed a committee to reexamine its outreach.

“We are a church in transition in a city in transition,” the committee reported, noting that the congregation’s singles of all ages nearly match its number of married members.

In trying to serve a diverse community that “is not particularly disposed to a religious message,” the report concluded that instead of trying to maintain its national profile, the church needed to become a “caring community” that appeals to people living in Los Feliz, the Hollywood Hills, Hancock Park and adjacent suburbs.

Churchgoers who attend services and classes on Sunday mornings at Hollywood Presbyterian, which occupies more than two city blocks near the Pantages Theater, are not always comfortable going there at night, the mission report said. “Our vision, therefore, includes alternatives such as clustering for home Communions.”

HONORS

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Eight Southern California campuses are among 135 U.S. colleges and universities listed in a new “honor roll” for character building programs soon to be released by the John Templeton Foundation, the Radnor, Pa.-based organization best known for the annual Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion. Honored were: Azusa Pacific University, California Lutheran University, LaSierra University, Loyola Marymount University, Pepperdine University, the University of San Diego and Westmont College. The schools met five criteria, including programs that “inspire students to develop and strengthen their moral reasoning skills.” The 1997-98 Honor Roll for Character Building Schools will be released Sept. 24 in Washington and distributed to 34,000 high school guidance counselors and 16,000 public libraries.

CONGREGATION

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The only United Methodist congregation in America to conduct its services in German will dedicate its new church facility in Glendale on Sunday. The 121-year-old First German United Methodist Church was located for years in small quarters close to Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles, but it was forced to move in 1988 as the area was renovated by the Community Redevelopment Agency. After years of sharing space at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Eagle Rock, the congregation of nearly 200 members was able to build the new facility with a circular tower at 665 W. Glenoaks Blvd.

Methodist Bishop Walter Klaiber of Frankfurt, Germany, will attend the 10 a.m. dedication ceremonies that will include German choral music and a brass band, said Pastor Siegfried Eisenmann. A lunch will follow the worship service. Donation $5.

DATES

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. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) and the Rev. Al Cohen, executive director of the Southern California Ecumenical Council, will speak next Saturday at an environmental ministries program at Reseda United Methodist Church, 18120 Saticoy St. Sherman will talk about environmental issues that will be before Congress this fall, and Cohen will review what has happened in the five years since the 1992 Earth Summit. The conference, whose sponsors include the San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council, will run from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. with a snack dinner. (818) 344-7870.

* Zahi Hawass, director of the Great Pyramid and Giza Plateau monuments for Egypt’s Department of Antiquities, will describe new discoveries at those archeological sites in a lecture at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12 at the Agape International Center of Truth, 3211 Olympic Blvd., Santa Monica. $15 fee. (310) 829-2780.

* A four-month exhibit of three interpretations of Sukkot, the Jewish fall festival, will open Friday at Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., in the Sepulveda Pass. “Temporary Quarters: Artists Build for Shelter and Celebration” features the work of artists Sam Erenberg, Therman Statom and Marlene Zimmerman. The holiday will occur in mid-October this year, but the exhibition was meant to convey the universal Sukkot themes of shelter, hospitality and thanksgiving. (310) 440-4500.

* Thousands of charismatic Catholics are expected at closing workshops and worship services today and Sunday at the Southern California Renewal Communities’ 26th annual convention at the Anaheim Convention Center. The convention began Friday. Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala, who heads the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese’s San Gabriel Valley region, will preside at the closing Mass at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Adult registration is $25 for one day.

FINALLY

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Young, wannabe preachers are being offered a shot at 15 minutes of pulpit fame by the Claremont School of Theology.

Entrants in three age categories (5-7, 8-12, 13-17) are asked to write a sermon on “God’s Plan for My Generation” and submit it in writing and on audiotape. This is the first year that the graduate-level seminary has sponsored a contest for budding ministers. First-place winners will deliver their sermons Oct. 17 at Claremont United Methodist Church.

“I’m sure there are youngsters who have sat in church listening to their pastor and said to themselves, ‘I could do that!’ ” said contest organizer Stephanie Graham, director of public relations at the ecumenical seminary.

Entries must be received by Sept. 26. (909) 626-3521, Ext. 1-280.

Notices may be mailed for consideration to Southern California File, c/o John Dart, L.A. Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, CA 91311, or faxed to Religion desk (818) 772-3385, or e-mailed to [email protected] Items should arrive two to three weeks before the event, except for spot news, and should include pertinent details about the people and organizations with address, phone number, date and time.