Tracing God’s influence through art

Gretchen Hoffman

A mural commemorating Southern California landmarks and God’s

influence in the area over the past century will be unveiled at an

open house Sunday.

Elfred Lee’s “100 years with Christ” is a 4-foot by 8-foot mural

that was commissioned in honor of the centennial anniversary of the

Southern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

The colorful mural contains familiar local landmarks such as the

Glendale Adventist Medical Center as it looked 100 years ago and the

Hollywood Hills and Pasadena’s Rose Bowl. It also captures in oil

other people and places that are part of the Seventh-day Adventist

history in the area.

“[We] had a vision of the diversity of God’s leading of the church

in Southern California,” said Betty Cooney, communications director

for the conference. “We wanted it to show the growth of ethnic

diversity within the conference and be a visual reminder of the

history with Christ at the center. The artist had the same type of

vision.”

The mural, which was commissioned for $15,000 from a private

donor, will be unveiled at an open house from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Sunday in the front lobby of the conference’s administration

building, 1535 E. Chevy Chase Drive.

The open house will also be a chance for people to tour the

administrative offices, which recently underwent a major renovation.

“We got some beautification awards for the outside, but we never

really showed the public,” she said. “We wanted to let people in our

church and in the community know what we’re looking like and the

types of services we offer.”

The Southern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

serves as the administration for almost 150 Adventist churches and

groups in Los Angeles and Ventura counties and parts of Kern and

Santa Barbara counties.