This year, Sabbath-keepers in Glendale had an opportunity to share for the first time in the city’s annual cleanup. Most residents participated in this event on Saturday, but this year, in response to a local Adventist’s proposal, the city provided materials and staff for both Saturday and Sunday so local Adventists and Jews could participate.
Wainright Watkins, a volunteer with the city of Glendale, said, “When I suggested the idea of a Sunday cleanup, city leaders anticipated that, at most, 100 persons might volunteer. So they—and I—were pleasantly surprised when more than 150 people signed on!”
Adventists primarily participated in the morning. Jewish believers were invited to share in a lunch following their customary Sunday morning classes before helping with cleanup. Sunday crews cleared areas near synagogues and Adventist churches that needed work. Some also helped to plant six trees donated by the city of Glendale, with city staffers instructing parents and children as they planted in Pacific Park.
Morning and afternoon volunteers assembled at the park for a lunch of Loma Linda Linketts and Big Franks, fruit, vegetables and drinks, sponsored by the Healthcare Foundation at Glendale Adventist Medical Center.
Participants were invited to continue the cleanup by adopting streets adjacent to their meeting locations as ongoing cleanup projects. Volunteers from Vallejo Drive, Glendale City, Glendale West Spanish and Glendale Filipino churches and nearby towns were among the 150 individuals who helped.
The cleanup was one of a number of community-oriented events and projects involving five L.A. metro region churches and the Glendale Adventist Medical Center (GAMC). Called “Churches Without Walls" (CWW), the group includes Vallejo Drive, Glendale City, Eagle Rock, Sunland-Tujunga and La Crescenta churches.
“The churches have endorsed a lay persons’ university to train and certify members as Bible instructors and to preach," said CWW coordinator Mike Elias, pastor of the Sunland-Tujunga church. "This will enable them to preach in our churches and reach out in their community. One of our pastors who has served in an Adventist university is exploring development of a curriculum for the project. By working together to impact the community, my hope is that we will experience the reality that the kingdom of God is larger than the little territories of our respective churches.”
At the CWW kickoff meeting in January 2004, inspirational speaker Leland Kaiser said, “Christ spent the most time in the community. We are to go where the people are. For ‘interface’ evangelism, our agenda is the community’s. We follow a community-centric model, not a church-centric one. The most powerful evangelism occurs when community residents work side by side with us and want to know why we do what we do.
“We have the work of restoration, redemption and regeneration. What we need is to reach out—take the ‘community plunge’—go out and talk and work with them. Most who need us are so desperate, but they can’t find us.”
Other innovative projects being used to reach out to the community include coronary pre-screening surveys developed and followed up by GAMC. Glendale City and La Crescenta churches have conducted the survey. Students of the Sunland-Tujunga church’s ESL class, which graduated approximately 70 in June, completed the survey in English, Spanish or Armenian.
Marathon Clinic Celebrates 20th Anniversary of Fitness Witnessing
For two decades Fred Hosillos has helped Adventists and community residents walk and run to a fitter, healthier life. The no-frills fitness program is now one of Vallejo Drive’s "Churches Without Walls" (CWW) outreach programs. “The clinic offers lots of unconditional support and camaraderie,” Hosillos said.
“We meet at 7 a.m. on Sundays in Verdugo Park in Glendale,” he said, “and about 1,000 people have participated, many of whom have come to our clinic for years. At one time, we had clinics conducted by a number of Los Angeles churches. On one trip to run in the Honolulu Marathon, a total of 100 runners and family members signed on.”
Hosillos, a busy administrator of a new pediatric subacute hospital, has appointed section leaders to assist him. When he is involved with other weekend appointments, he asks fellow Vallejo Drive member Irvin Henry to help with overall coordination of the group. Henry regularly helps teach individuals who choose to walk rather than run the training route.
Three clinic veterans reflect benefits most clinic participants enjoy. Lily Rogers, Beth Petersen and Elaine Herfert are in their early 70s, and each has run 27 marathons. Though past retirement age, Rogers (profiled in the Recorder last year) continues as an emergency room nurse at the Glendale Adventist Medical Center.
Herfert, a community resident and longtime clinic participant, is a Legacy Runner in the Los Angeles Marathon, having run in all 19 Los Angeles marathons. In her first marathon, she and her family started a tradition in honor of her husband who was in the hospital recovering from surgery. They carried a sign indicating that the marathon was the number one event. Ever since, by designation of then Mayor Tom Bradley, she and her family have carried the distinctive sign announcing successive races in Roman numerals.
Beth Petersen began running in the 1980s after nearly succumbing to respiratory failure. An asthmatic, she began with the marathon clinic in 1984—at first, walking; then jogging. Within 30 days, she was on a trip to Spain. A retired, certified medical transcriptionist in Glendora, she works part time and runs 35 miles weekly, from 45-50 miles a week near a marathon. Petersen runs four to five marathons annually.
A former colleague with the singles group to which Peterson belongs has become an Adventist and attends the Vallejo Drive church. “I have brought people to the Marathon Clinic, and I tell others all the time about my lifestyle, about the Adventist health advantage,” Peterson said. “I believe the best witness is your actions, how you live. Where would I be today if I hadn’t started walking and running?”
