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| January 28, 2003 "City Trilogy Part 3, Los Angeles, CA" |
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CityVoices readers, Greetings at this end of January. This last in our trilogy of city profiles, focuses on Los Angeles – the City of Angels, and America’s second largest city. I think you will delight in things you read here, be challenged by others, and perhaps be moved to tears by others. As I mentioned in our last edition, for the time being we are issuing CityVoices by email, allowing us much greater economic and technical flexibility. (We’ll continue to revisit this decision.) As you visit the CityVoices website (www.cityvoices.com) please be aware of a couple things: SCUPE Congress on Urban Ministry, March 11-14th, here in
Chicago. (Simply click on the Congress banner for further registration information)
Roger Johnson, Editor – CityVoices ******************** Where Americans Live: Small, Medium and Mega-Sized Cities Not much of America’s population can any longer be found in municipalities of fewer than 100,000 people. Let’s face it. If we’re talking city in the twenty-first century, we’re now talking about a place that’s got energy for commerce and education, lots of cultures and language groups (and room for growth in that mix), more than its share of confusion and problems, and well in excess of 100,000 people. If it doesn’t have that kind of critical mass, it is ceasing to be a city rather than growing as a city (or simply a "museum piece" of it’s former self). The current trilogy of CityVoices editions profiles three very different-sized American cities: Fort Wayne, Indiana (with just over 205,000 citizens, ranks 84th nationally), Memphis, Tennessee (with its 650,000 people citywide, ranks 18th), and Los Angeles with a municipal population of 3,694,000 ranks second only to New York City throughout the entire United States. Metro areas certainly encompass far more people for each one of these cities, with greater Los Angeles accounting for several "nations" within its roughly defined borders. The point in our comparison and contrast is that there are many ways to live within urban American at the beginning of this century. Some cities face backward, some fast-forward, some are traditional, some are a global urban village, barely looking like last century’s America at all! It’s an exciting time to be part of our nation’s cities! There seems to be a place for everyone, and there’s a place for nearly every kind of church. Just watch with wonderment, as Christ’s mission gets carried out in amazing ways! ******************** L.A. Divided: What’s Ahead After a Tumultous 2002? By Roger Johnson – Editor, CityVoices I don’t have to tell most of you that I’m a Midwesterner making my observations about the California scene, and I also don’t have to tell most of you about the civic struggles that nearly tore Los Angeles into two (possibly three) cities last year. As you’ll recall, cooler heads (and perhaps pocket books) prevailed by the election date in November, and one Los Angeles held together at the ballot box. But the "regionalisms" within the far-flung, and patch-work city that makes up the giant municipality of Los Angeles, CA, have been revealed, now to the nation, as never before. Those of us who never before quite understood what "this Los Angeles" was, well, we may still not quite "get it," but we have a lot better idea why the erstwhile "suburbanites" out in the San Fernando valley who get counted as city dwellers have their "beefs," and the growing and "new downtown L.A people" may not want to listen to their case. Ah, such is the City of Angels (and I’m not speaking of Anaheim). Along the way last year, semi-creative solutions to the issues did come from some local thinkers, perhaps the best being a rather detailed "borough system" (similar to New York City’s), in which the far-flung city of Los Angeles would be divided into 9 boroughs (and 45 districts), each borough with some measure of local governing autonomy, but none acting as a city unto itself. Los Angeles, as the city municipality we know it to be, would remain intact. Once put together, a city, as an urban governing unit, is extremely hard to tear apart into smaller units. Congratulations Mulholland, and all you other city fathers, whatever your motives. However present-day Los Angeles looks, it seems bound to hold together for one reason or another. Or, perhaps the insurgent forces of Valley Secession in 2002 just didn’t push hard enough? To read their persuasive treatises over the past two years, one would certainly think they had made their case with all of the Valley, Hollywood and Ventura County voters, as well as most of the Los Angeles County electorate. But as one friend reminded me concerning "Angelinos" upon my arrival in Southern California last year, "We’re laid back here. It takes more than a few newspaper editorials to get us excited about politics here in Los Angeles." Well, perhaps so. And perhaps that’s why the status quo held its own last November. After all, it would have been quite an uprising, in Los Angeles, and for the entire country to see, if voters had gone for Valley Secession. So what, if anything, does the Valley Secession question of 2002 (answered only by a ballot box), have to do with Los Angeles’ churches and their coming together as Christ’s kingdom throughout Southern California? It may be a very small matter, or a non-issue completely, depending on how well congregations are already working together as agents of wellness and reconciliation, mending potential differences across existing racial, economic, geographic and municipal boundaries. But if churches are not working well along these lines to begin with, then an unanswered question of Valley Secession might only reinforce wrong interpretations of Scripture, and long-held bitterness toward people of differing racial, economic, political or ethnic backgrounds. Los Angeles is a complicated enough city to begin with. One can only hope that out of the civic debate of 2002, that the churches of both the San Fernando Valley and the remainder of Los Angeles can agree that there is a good enough reason why they remain together in one often unwieldy municipality, together striving to bring God’s kingdom to earth. ******************** Los Angeles By the Numbers In light of last week’s Census update telling us that Hispanics have now overtaken African-Americans as the largest minority group in America; it’s good for us to refer back to Martin Marty’s words in Sightings of nearly two years ago (April 1, 2001) when initial figures from Census 2000 were first released telling us what kind of an urban area Los Angeles had become for the new century: "None is likely to have more impact than the statistics released this past Friday, March 30. They deal with California, where one of eight Americans now live. For the first time since the nation was founded and the states have reported, a white population has been reduced to minority status. Los Angeles is now 31 percent white, 45 percent Hispanic, 9 percent black, and 12 percent Asian. Other states will not soon match this mix -- a mix also signaled by the presence of 903,115 who list themselves as multiracial. But get ready, everyone else. If the American pie for decades has been sliced into three quarters marked Catholic, evangelical, and mainline (with African-American making up one-third of the remaining quarter), expect shifts next time the plotter makes the rounds asking "What is your religious preference?" Count on some shuffling. …One has to have eyes closed or blinders on to walk away from the study American Catholicism without foreseeing the huge role Hispanics will play in the future, atop and beyond the role they are now playing as one-fourth of the church. Evangelicals of many sorts, especially Pentecostals and Southern Baptists, are ‘working the Hispanic influx’ ardently, recognizing that millions are nominal or post- or ex- and sometimes even anti-Catholic. The mainline will struggle. Think of the heirs of the colonial big three: United Church of Christ, Episcopal, Presbyterian. Or the frontier big three: Methodist, (Northern) Baptist, Disciples of Christ. Or the European Continental big three: Lutheran, Reformed, "Anabaptist." In all cases you will see churches with tiny percentages of non-white members, and an even tinier portion of Hispanic congregants. If such churches want to serve and prosper, the best advice might be to learn a new language, and new ways." We’ve been saying as much for years in many, and louder ways. Now the numbers are clearly uncomplicating the message. Learn a new language, be adaptable, several new languages. Try new ways, all those that may look uncomfortable. Remember, God is with us! Just as he has been with every immigrant group adapting to a new mission reality in urban America. Amen. ******************** New Cathedral for Los Angeles Catholic Community (September 3, 2002) The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels was dedicated Monday (at Grand Avenue and Temple Street in the heart of downtown Los Angeles), amid ancient prayers and pageantry, as a cathedral for the ages and a house of prayer for all people. Cardinal Roger M. Mahony led a procession through the cathedral's 25-ton bronze doors to a four-hour service steeped in Catholic ritual dating to the 4th century. Three thousand invited guests expressed their devotion, then watched a sacred dance—a modern innovation in the Western church—and the traditional anointing of the altar and the building with aromatic holy oil. The 12-story cathedral, built to stand at least 500 years, is the first major American cathedral to be built in three decades. Its dedication as the mother church of the nation's largest and most ethnically diverse Roman Catholic archdiocese culminated eight years of an effort led by Mahony to build a monumental cathedral that he vowed would be worthy of the City of Angels. "At long last, there is a noble great church at the heart of Los Angeles," Mahony declared as sunlight, distilled to a phosphorous essence by towering windows of Spanish alabaster, streamed into the cavernous nave. He ended with a shimmering vision of a 21st century cathedral, rooted in 18th century California history, committed to building a just and inclusive community in the state's "most diverse and decidedly most global city." "From this day forward," he proclaimed, "the stones of this building will sing, echoes rolling down the ages, telling of love and justice through the lives of all who come and go from this house of prayer for all people." Mahony called the church an "anchor for the ages." Demonstrators were on hand Monday to underscore their long-standing criticism of the $189.5-million cost of the cathedral and conference center in view of the ever-present needs of the poor and marginalized. One sign proclaimed, "No Fat Cat Cathedral." Earlier estimates had put the cost at $200 million. Go to http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-cathedral-sg,0,2090256.storygallery for complete set of stories surrounding building and dedication of The Cathedral of our Lady of the Angels. ******************** 650 and Counting: Storefront Houses of Worship in Los Angeles by Martin Krieger (Martin Krieger is a professor of planning and research associate at the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California. He is writing a book on photographing storefront houses of worship.) If you drive down many of the main streets of Los Angeles, and you look to the side once in a while, you will notice many storefront churches, often in distressed retail strips. The churches are remarkable in their ubiquity and variety, marked as they are by ethnicity, language, religious denomination or sect, and theological stance, proclaimed in lettering and iconography, often large enough to read while driving by. Authentic spirituality and religiosity are comfortably present in the most mundane and commercial of realms with no sense of contradiction or irony. I have photographed the facades of several hundred small houses of worship in Los Angeles, along the main thoroughfares of the city and adjacent parts of Southern California. Most of these institutions are evangelical Protestant African-American and Hispanic churches, but there are mosques, synagogues, Korean churches, Buddhist temples, etc. Los Angeles proves to be rich in these institutions, in part reflecting diverse migration and immigration patterns and groups, in part reflecting the mythic source of modern Pentecostalism at the Azusa Street Mission in downtown Los Angeles in 1906. To visually document the extent and diversity of these institutions is to begin to take seriously their displayed signs and symbols. This is a vernacular architecture representing transcendent ambitions, to be realized, in part, here on Earth, recalling the cathedrals of the past. Building decoration, signage, context are strikingly informative. Rather than being idiosyncratic or rare parts of city life, these storefront churches are intrinsic to the urban fabric, as it is experienced visually and socially. They are a source of vitality and hope. The sacred and the religious is literally embedded in the secular and the commercial. ******************** The Dream Center: How Matthew Barnett Built One of L.A.’s Fastest Growing Churches (From the Los Angeles Times) The truck and its cartons of free food--this morning a collection of oranges, grapes, raisins, bread, celery and green beans--arrived at this corner deep in Echo Park at 9:30 and people were already waiting. Now, an hour later, the line still stretches around the corner. There are Asian and Anglo faces in line, but most are Latino, mothers with a child or two in tow, a few old men. No one in line is saying much, the air unusually muggy. In the back of the truck, where everyone is sweating profusely, the workers have an assembly line going: hands flying, bodies twisting as they put food into containers and hand them down to the waiting people. It was all moving smoothly until about a minute ago, when the worker whose job it is to pass out the food got involved in a convoluted conversation with a broad-faced, middle-aged woman in black. He's a slight young man in sweats and running shoes, with wispy blond hair and the features of an earnest teenager. He's a head shorter than the woman, who is attempting to reply to his rudimentary Spanish with rudimentary English. It's clear neither has much idea what the other is saying, and they're both laughing about it. In the back of the truck, the workers are growing impatient. Finally the girl in charge of the grapes plucks one from the bunch she's holding, cocks her arm and beans the slight young man in the back of the head. "You're holding up the works, pastor," she says. The assault brings laughter and catcalls from the people in line, from the workers in the truck and from other church workers busy sweeping the sidewalks and cleaning up this poor and dilapidated neighborhood. Matthew Barnett grins, wipes grape juice from his hair and thrusts the food into the woman's arms. The 28-year-old is the pastor, founder and prime motivator of the Dream Center, which is impressing church-growth experts and is being hailed as a model for how to conduct a massive inner-city social ministry while also appealing to throngs of worshipers. The church has drawn accolades--including one from President Bush--and at the same time has raised red flags among some more tradition-minded religious authorities. None of which matters at the moment. Megachurches are not a new phenomenon. Southern California is home to several that arose during the past two decades, including Faithful Central Bible Church, which had a congregation of about 200 in 1982. It purchased the Forum in Inglewood in December 2000 and this year (2002) drew a crowd of 15,000 for an Easter Sunday worship service and reenactment of Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem. What distinguishes Barnett's church, though, is the staggering array of 200 ministries that operate from the former Queen of Angels Hospital, towering above the Hollywood Freeway near Alvarado Street, just a few miles from the new $200-million Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Some of the ministries conduct church services for different ethnic communities, but the vast majority are social-service programs targeted at gang members and other at-risk youth, prostitutes, AIDS patients, the homeless, the hungry, drug addicts--the list goes on. There's even a ministry for transsexuals. Building a church by focusing on the immediate, temporal needs of potential worshipers--"customers," as Barnett sometimes calls them--isn't new. What some call the New Church Movement has been employing the technique for years, striving to build large congregations by creating a user-friendly atmosphere. But for the most part the resulting megachurches sprouted In affluent suburban communities and provided services designed for upscale congregations. Barnett's church, however, has grown up in the heart of the city, in one of L.A.'s poorer neighborhoods, where the "customers" for whom its programs are targeted are those on the margins of society. Its ministries reach 500,000 people a month. This surprises no one more than Barnett, who nearly quit in frustration months after coming to L.A. to be a pastor. In 1994, the 20-year-old Barnett--who once wanted to be a sports announcer and who, as a teenager, spent weekends going from church to church as a traveling evangelist--found himself the pastor of Bethel Temple in Echo Park. Once one of the vibrant centers of the religious revival that swept Southern California in the early 1900s, Bethel Temple had fallen into a long and sad decline. Barnett's job was to turn that around. That task alone was enough pressure for a young man taking up his first major position. But Barnett also bore the weight of his father's dreams: For 35 years the senior Barnett, Tommy, a famous preacher who had pastored large and well-known churches in Iowa and Arizona, had cherished the notion of building a church in L.A. At Bethel Temple, the young Barnett's congregation consisted of just 30 people--Filipinos, most over the age of 60. But he was confident that with the traditional tools of church building--creating a great choir, refurbishing the building, preaching rousing sermons--he eventually could establish a thriving church. Events took a different course. During his first several months in the job, Barnett's flock lost interest one by one. One Sunday Barnett peered out from the back of the church to gauge his congregation. What he saw, sitting there, patiently waiting for the service to begin, was a congregation of exactly two. Recalling the embarrassment of that moment eight years later, Barnett still gives a little shudder. Watching his flock desert him was bad enough for the preacher's son accustomed to the thousands who crowded his father's services. But Barnett also faced a mutiny among the young people from his father's church in Phoenix who'd volunteered to help out. They had held a private meeting and concluded that it was time for them to move on. "I just went home and wept," Barnett recalls. "It was all down to absolutely nothing. I was ready to go home and tell my father I'd failed. Instead, something in me said to go out and take a walk in Echo Park." As a manager, Matthew Barnett's style continues to develop but seems characterized by calmness and a real desire to empower others. "It's all based on giving permission," says Aaron Jayne, an associate pastor and one of Barnett's earliest staffers. "Pastor is not into micromanagement at all." Instead, says Jayne, Barnett's notion is that "if you encourage people to have their own dreams and then release them to carry those dreams out, they remain enthusiastic and loyal. He's a great CEO." As he moves from one meeting to another or gives precise instructions to an assistant, Barnett does seem the young executive, engrossed in the business of his company. But he says he is determined to keep himself rooted in the Dream Center's mission; on many Saturdays he goes knocking on doors as part of Adopt-a-Block or participates in food programs. And every service at the Dream Center ends with an altar call, when those facing some particular trial or those simply feeling a special presence of Christ are urged onstage to kneel and pray. On this particular Sunday, as soft music plays and the lights dim, people come forward, old and young, in fine clothes or jeans. They pray. Dream Center pastors move among them, joining their prayers. Kneeling by the lectern is a crying young woman, thick, dark hair falling forward to cover her face, her shoulders trembling. Barnett kneels beside her. He places his hand on her head and leans close. "Oh, Lord, lift this burden. Oh, Lord . . . Oh, Lord . . . " he prays. The woman takes his hand and holds it for a moment. Then Barnett stands and raises his hands. "Praise the Lord," he says above the murmuring of prayer. And on his face there is a look of pure, serene joy. Contact: The Dream Center, Rev. Matthew Barnett, 2301 Bellevue Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90026, (213) 273-7135, mbpub@dreamcenter.org ******************** Sprawl Hits the Wall: Confronting the Realities of Metropolitan Los Angeles The Southern California Studies Center, University of Southern California 3601 Watt Way, GFS 344 Los Angeles, CA 90089- 1696 www.usc.edu/sc2, 1991, Michael Dear, director During the suburban era— between the 1950s and the 1970s— Los Angeles gained a reputation as the archetypal suburban metropolis. Fueled by the defense and entertainment industries and by a good deal of traditional unionized manufacturing, metropolitan L. A. created an unparalleled middle-class economy. With the construction of the freeway system and the rise of production homebuilding, the region became the capital of suburbia, transforming such outlying areas as Orange County and the San Fernando Valley into classic postwar suburban communities. The Los Angeles region is still spatially organized around the assumptions of the suburban era: that it serves a middle- class suburban population engaged in a middle- class suburban economy; that the supply of buildable land is practically unlimited; and, following from the first two assumptions, that the region’s middle- class and wealthy residents can simply move away— always outward— from "urban- style" problems. But this is no longer the reality of the region. For more than a century, metropolitan Los Angeles has grown by moving on to "the next valley". When the coastal plain of Los Angeles was filled up, suburbs were constructed in the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys and in Orange County. When those areas were full, new communities sprung up in Ventura County, in northern L. A. County, and in the Inland Empire. Today, sprawl has hit the wall in metropolitan Los Angeles. Almost all the natural locations for urban development have been consumed, and most of the remaining areas are constrained by government policy. And at the same time, many of the other resources that have helped fuel sprawl in the past— for example, low- cost water supplies and efficient water delivery systems— appear to be exhausted as well. This means that the Los Angeles region will have to accommodate an additional 6 million people in the next 20 years— or "two Chicagos," as policymakers often say— without additional resources. Los Angeles and Orange Counties do not have enough developable land to accommodate expected growth in the next 20 years. Outward urban growth still continues on the fringes. But even in these outlying areas, most of the remaining undeveloped land is either too mountainous to accommodate major development or has been reserved by government policies. Most of the region’s land is owned by the federal government. Endangered species preservation efforts are likely to set aside well over a half- million acres of land. Agricultural preservation efforts in Ventura County have set aside 100,000 acres of land that could otherwise have been developed into urban communities. In areas on the metropolitan fringe where land is available — such as southern Orange County, the Santa Clarita Valley, and the Temecula Valley in Riverside County — some growth is likely to occur. But these are battleground areas. The only part of the region with a large amount of unconstrained land is the high desert, which is environmentally fragile, has the harshest climate in the region, and is located far from most job centers. The Fragile Governance Structure The vast majority of metropolitan Los Angeles’s residents live inside the boundaries of the region’s 177 cities. These municipalities are mostly small to medium sized, with an inevitably parochial view. Even as the region itself becomes more diverse, these municipalities are becoming more segregated by race and by income. They sometimes work together on limited issues of mutual concern, but often fight with one another over attractive tax producers and the adverse impacts of growth and development. The longstanding fiscal inequity among them appears to be getting worse as the result of Proposition 13 and its progeny. Federal revenue flows do not alleviate this inequity; in fact, the federal dollars, while vital to many cities, appear to make the fiscal inequity problem worse. Grow Smarter It is no longer possible to facilitate growth and prosperity by growing outward. Therefore, it is necessary for the region to begin growing "smarter"— that is, making conscious choices about how land, water, and transportation infrastructure are deployed, so that future growth reinforces existing communities in positive ways and improves our regional patterns rather than destroys them. Most likely, this effort will require: Overhauling the state’s fiscal system to encourage a healthy balance in communities, including housing and jobs. Grow Together Perhaps the most disheartening part of the Los Angeles story today is the growing regional divide between rich and poor, which manifests itself not only in geographical separation but also in social and economic turmoil throughout the region. But the regional divide need not get worse — and the region’s economy could actually grow faster — if a commitment is made to grow together in the following ways: Link the working poor to employment opportunities wherever they are through better use of urban land and regional information sharing. Invest in older communities and restore neighborhood economies, especially through state and local investments and the investments of the California Public Retirement System. Grow Greener The dramatic changes of recent decades have made it clear that metropolitan Los Angeles cannot continue to grow and prosper until it comes to terms with the natural environment in which it is located. The region should take steps to ensure that growth is greener and cleaner as well as smarter. These goals should be combined and built upon to create a regional "growing greener" agenda that citizen groups, businesses, regional agencies, and local governments could all sign on to. The growing greener agenda should include the following steps: Combine stormwater runoff programs with ecological restoration of riparian areas and wildlife corridors. Grow More Civic-Minded No matter how powerful the region’s ideas for dealing with future growth are, they will not be effectively implemented unless metropolitan Los Angeles overcomes the long- standing deficiencies of its "civic infrastructure". To meet the regional challenge in metropolitan Los Angeles today— to grow smarter, grow together, and grow greener — civic leaders throughout the region must show the foresight to grow more civic minded in the following ways: Improve the basic information the region collects on growth, the environment, and market trends— and the impact of those trends on all parts of the region. For the complete version of this expansive study on the Los Angeles region, its issues and future recommendations, and the many maps and charts that accompany it, go to http://www.usc.Edu /sc2, and view the excellent work coordinated by Southern California Studies Center director Michael Dear. ******************** Great Resources for Understanding Los Angeles and It’s Churches: "Los Angeles: Past, Present and Future" (http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/la/) – this comprehensive website, begun under the direction of the late, Dennis Thomison, a reference librarian at the University of Southern California in 1996, explores much about Los Angeles in an encyclopedic way for the visitor and long-time resident alike. It’s a site to return to again and again. "The Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California" (CRCC), (http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/religion_online/) – another voluminous website, this time representing one of the academic world’s most active blends of thought on urban issues and religious ferment within the context of the highly-charged Los Angeles region, and beyond. Led by Donald E. Miller and Grace R. Dyrness at USC, this program and all that it produces is reflected in each part of this most helpful website. "City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles," by Mike Davis, Vintage Books, New York, 1990. Mike Davis’ book has arrived at "almost-classic" status in describing what and why Los Angeles is the urban place it has become. As for the future, we will wait and see if his predictions hold up. A wide-ranging critique, in the southern California style. "The San Fernando Valley: America’s Suburb," by Kevin Roderick, Los Angeles Times, 2001. A journalist and native son of the San Fernando Valley, arguably America's quintessential suburb, returns to his old neighborhoods and discovers a long, rich history filled with the sort of lore and traditions that make a place a home. Especially telling photo narrative in light of the Valley’s aborted march toward secession prior to the 2002 elections. "William Mulholland and the Rise of Los Angeles," by Catherine Mulholland, University of California Press, 2002. A comprehensive account of a mostly forgotten era, casting new light on Mulholland's legendary achievements for the city of Los Angeles-as well as an enlightening addition to the history of the American West. World Impact – The wholistic ministry of church planting has been effective in Watts and South Central Los Angeles since the early 1970's. The World Impact Ministry Center is located in the California community made famous by the 1965 riots. World Impact’s ministry area extends from south of 55th Street in Los Angeles to the Orange County border in the southern part of Los Angeles just north of the 105 Freeway. Contact: World Impact, 2001 South Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90007-1279, (323) 735-1137 http://www.worldimpact.org/ministries/cities/la.html The Urban Leadership Institute of Claremont School of Theology provides a "bridge" between the school of theology and people actively engaged in the practice of urban ministry through a variety of programs and activities. It enables urban practitioners to be involved in extremely pragmatic workshops, courses, and seminars which the school provides, as well as hands-on training in traditional and new techniques, theory, and practice for clergy and lay leaders serving in the city. Primary areas of focus are: Community and Economic Development, Transcultural Relations and Peacemaking, and Congregational Development. Contact Urban Leadership Institute director Michael Mata at: 3300 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90010, (213) 380-0655, mmata@cst.edu Dr. Dan Rodriguez of Pepperdine University’s Religion Department has brought his own "Dream Team" of students together to impact the city and Hollywood Church of Church Christ. Read the story and follow its continuing outreach at Rodriguez’s website (http://arachnid.pepperdine.edu/drodrigu/main.htm). A tremendous number of other helpful urban ministry resources related to the L.A. area are included here. Contact: Dr. Dan Rodriguez, Pepperdine University, Religion Division, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, California 90263-4352, (310) 456-4352, drodrigu@pepperdine.edu. Built in as part of the nicely-designed website for PBS’ website for its "American Family" series, focusing on several generations of the Gonzalez family in East Los Angeles, this page (and subsequent pages) describing and depicting the East L.A. environment of both past and present are particularly good! Decades of cultural history are packed together in a way that makes the America’s largest Latino community both understandable and attractive to the outsider. If the church can’t find its way into this environment, then its simply not looking hard enough! Tune your computer to http://www.pbs.org/americanfamily/eastla.html and discover East LA! ******************** Thanks for reading CityVoices! Thanks for taking the time to discover more about Los Angeles: the giant metro area it is, its churches and ministries, what that great city can mean to you and your ministry in the future. Now, remember to take a good look at the CityVoices website: www.cityvoices.com and as look at the many resources available within that site, keep in mind:
SCUPE Congress on Urban Ministry, March 11-14th, here in
Chicago. (Simply click on the Congress banner for further registration information)
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