The Glendale City Church began celebrating its 100th anniversary in January and will continue doing so throughout the year with monthly “Power Sabbaths.” As Senior Pastor Mitch Henson put it, “You can’t celebrate 100 years all on one day.”

Though time is allotted this year for remembering how the Lord has blessed the church in the past century, the present is very much about personal and corporate ministry. “Inasmuch as you have done it unto others, you have done it unto me,” (Matt. 25:40) is an integral part of the congregation’s mission.

Following its long-standing tradition of funding global outreach, GCC has assisted in purchasing choir robes for church members in Nigeria. “When the Glendale choir got new robes, the church donated the old choir robes to my home church," said local GCC elder Ishmael Nwachuku. "I took them back to Nigeria, and now they are using robes labeled ‘Glendale City Church!’” Additionally, because the Nigerian believers had no baptistry, GCC sent funds for one. Previously, members had to travel 15 miles to the river for baptisms, some by bicycle or on foot.

Glendale City Church is one of five area congregations committed to partnering as “Churches Without Walls” in service to the community, in conjunction with the Glendale Adventist Medical Center. As its project, GCC is taking a leading role in disaster-preparedness for the city of Glendale, working with the local emergency services office, the American Red Cross and other first-responder departments; involving Adventist and other faith groups in preparation.

Henson is spearheading efforts to recruit volunteers. “I envisioned the need for this when the aftershock from the Northridge earthquake was felt here,” he stated. “When the 2005 London train bombings occurred, it was a reminder that we need to be always ready. We need volunteers to help train churches to assist in community disasters.”

As efforts are underway for this vital role, members continue their involvement in other global community ministries that the church affirms and aids. GCC member Victor Villalba’s project in his native Argentina helps fund a soup kitchen for children attending church school there.

“The children receive full scholarships to attend church school," Villalba explained, "but students from the church had no food because they live too far away to go home for lunch.

“Twenty soup-kitchen volunteers now feed 100 students a full lunch as a result of kitchen facilities and improvements that we were able to develop over a three-year period. I started the project with my own money, but the church wanted to help and several individuals gave donations.”

The “100th Year” tab on the Glendale City Church website (www.glendalecitysda.com) conveys a message from Don W. Greathouse, Centennial Committee chairman: “Throughout this year, we will continue telling stories of our past and writing new ones for the future.”

The church that began in the parlor of the Glendale Adventist Sanitarium and housed the beginnings of Glendale Adventist Academy in its basement is writing stories in the community, maintaining a highly visible presence on a busy Glendale street corner.