Come and see a visual portrayal of the plan of salvation as we become witnesses of the life of Jesus. April 18-19, 2025.
Registration is not required.
Corona SDA Church
2550 S. Main St.
Corona, CA 92882
Dear Southeastern California Conference members,
It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of Anthony Paschal, Sr. Pastor Paschal served within the Southeastern California Conference (SECC) for many years. He led as the Vice President for Black Ministries, and also pastored the Kansas Avenue and 16th Street SDA Churches. Before coming to SECC, he pastored in Southern California Conference and served as a chaplain in Los Angeles.
We solicit your prayers for his family and for the many people his life and ministry impacted. His services will take place in Dallas, Texas on March 31, 2025. A memorial service is being planned within the Southern California region in April.
Flowers can be sent to:
Skyvue Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens
7220 Rendon Bloodworth Rd.
Mansfield, TX 76063
Dear Southeastern California Conference members,
It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Elder Gerald Penick, Sr., who passed away on Friday morning, March 7, 2025, surrounded by his wife and children in Alvarado, Texas.
Elder Penick was born on October 1, 1944, in Topeka, Kansas, where his father pastored. Beginning at age 4, Gerald displayed his musical talent, playing the piano and adding the organ soon after. He led choirs by age 13. He graduated from Oakwood College in 1970, where he met the love of his life, Linda Penick.
Elder Penick’s ministry journey included being the organist for C.D. Brooks and E.E. Cleveland. He began his pastoral ministry in the South Central Conference, Central States Conference, and Allegheny West Conference before he joined the Southeastern California Conference. In Allegheny West, he finished building the Southeast SDA Church in Cleveland, OH. At Kansas Avenue, he held several evangelistic series to plant the Mt. Rubidoux SDA Church, leading baptisms at the Union for several years.
After pastoring the Kansas Avenue and 31st Street churches, he transitioned into the conference office. There, he served as Vice President of Black Ministries, where he created the Black Adventist Ministerial Fellowship (BAMF) and established the Black Ministries camp meeting, which was open to all churches. Over the course of 25 years, he held key positions including Vice President, Executive Secretary, and served as President for Southeastern California Conference from 2005-2012.
As president, Elder Penick’s leadership created an indelibly tangible impact within the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Jonathan Park, current president of SECC shares, “under Elder Penick's leadership, Elder Sandra Roberts became the first female Executive Secretary and later the first female president of a conference in the North American Division. I have always appreciated his extraordinary way he welcomed me into the conference office and his willingness to listen and impart his wisdom.”
Though Elder Penick’s leadership in administration was invaluable, his dream was always to return to pastoral ministry after leaving the office. He worked another six years in local congregational leadership. He served as Executive Pastor at Garden Grove (now OC Grace), served as Interim Pastor at several congregations, and concluding his years of ministry at Arden Hills in 2018 and OC Grace in 2019.
We are deeply grateful for Elder Penick’s many years of faithful service to the Southeastern California Conference and his unwavering commitment to ministry. He was well-loved for his gifted piano and organ playing, and his smile and laughter brightened the lives of many. His love for Jesus and his passionate energy for service left a lasting impression on all who knew him.
Elder Penick is survived by his beloved wife, Linda, his adult children Gerald Penick, Jr. (Terri), Eric (Tanisha), Anthony (Johanna), and seven grandchildren, and many other relatives and friends.
Please keep his family and loved ones in your prayers during this difficult time.
For your convenience, QR codes for CashApp and Venmo are available.
The Southeastern California Conference (SECC) is excited to announce our Lodge Lift campaign. It’s time to give our Pine Springs Ranch lodge a face lift and we need your help. We are renovating the entire lodge, from the lobby and hallways to the meeting rooms and furniture. We are also upgrading all of our guest rooms, from the carpet to the ceilings, and providing each room with new windows, solar shades and air-conditioning. It is safe to say your visits to Pine Springs Ranch will never look the same again.
This renovation project is estimated to cost $5 million. In order to make it a reality, we are calling upon our conference family to help donate towards this project. SECC is willing to double your donation by matching every dollar raised up to $2.5 million. We can and will complete this project with the generosity of donors like you, who cherish their past experiences at PSR and want to help make more possible in the future.
With your help, Pine Springs Ranch will continue to serve families and churches for generations to come, offering them the chance to answer Christ’s invitation, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest,” Mark 6:31. We thank you for continuing the legacy of our camp and retreat center by joining us in that mission.
And we thank you for not just making a donation, but for making a difference.
$171,316 raised of $2,500,000
as of 3/19/25
Dear Southeastern California Conference members,
It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Pastor Bernard Taylor. He passed away Saturday, February 15, 2025, and is now at rest in Jesus. A memorial service for Dr. Taylor will be held on Saturday, March 22, 2025, at 4:00 p.m. at the Loma Linda University Church. All are welcome to attend his memorial service.
Dr. Taylor taught biblical languages at La Sierra University beginning in the early 1990s until 2021. Upon accepting appointment as Associate Pastor of the Loma Linda University Church in 1990, Dr. Taylor also joined La Sierra University’s School of Religion as Collaborating Professor of Biblical Languages and Old Testament Theology—a position he held until 2021. During these years he regularly led La Sierra's pastoral ministry students into a thorough knowledge of the biblical languages of classical Hebrew and Koiné Greek, as well as into Ecclesiastical Latin, and the theological thought of the Hebrew scriptures. The publication of his Analytical Lexicon to the Septuagint (Zondervan 1994; rev. 2009) marked his thoroughgoing scholarship and lasting contribution to the field of scriptural linguistics. Accordingly, graduates of La Sierra who applied for admission into graduate programs in pastoral ministry at the SDA Theological Seminary and other advanced institutions found ready acceptance; their knowledge of the biblical languages was consistently strong.
Another significant part of Dr. Taylor's public ministry during these years was his regular participation over a couple of decades and more, as a panelist on "Searching for Answers," the popular weekly telecast on Loma Linda Broadcasting Network, with world-wide viewership. His spiritual insights into biblical teachings, arising from his thorough linguistic knowledge that were delivered in terms that spoke to the Christian lives of ordinary laypeople (often with a touch of his gentle trademark humor), contributed definitively to the program's success.
Please keep his family and his loved ones in prayer.
Memorial Service for Dr. Bernard Taylor
March 22, 2025, at 4:00 p.m.
Loma Linda University Church
11125 Campus St.
Loma Linda, CA 92354
Adventist Community Services (ACS) Training for Emotional and Spiritual Care Providers.
On April 6-7, 2025, from 9 a.m.-5:00 p.m., join us for this training and become a credentialed ACS Emotional and Spiritual Care provider. This two-day training will equip you with crisis intervention techniques, suicide intervention and crisis communication skills. It will held at the SECC Conference Office in Riverside, CA.
Training Date: April 6-7, 2025
Location: Southeastern California Conference Office
11330 Pierce Street
Riverside, CA 92505
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Cost: $45 (Includes course manual, NAD credential and lunch)
Register now at https://shorturl.at/qKn6W.
Dear Southeastern California Conference members,
It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Pastor David Perez Torpoco. He passed away January 27, 2025, and is now resting in Jesus. Originally from Huancayo, Peru, he received his education at Colegio Unión and pastored for 25 years before beginning his ministry in the United States.
Pastor Perez was a servant of God, the church, a beloved husband and father that left a legacy of inspiration. He is best remembered as being present and intentional with those he loved and served.
Before his retirement, Perez served in Orange County, assisting with a colporteur ministry, leading bible studies, and pastoring the Brawley, Indio Spanish, Lake Elsinore, Temecula, and La Sierra Spanish churches.
Southeastern California Conference is grateful for the many years of service to our Church and his commitment to ministry. He brought a spirit full of love for Jesus and passionate energy of service to others.
He leaves behind his wife Elizabeth and his children, Sam, Areli, Aurora, his 4 grandchildren Bernard, Amanda, Ariana, and Elias. A service will be held on February 9, 2025, at the La Sierra Spanish church.
Please keep his family and his loved ones in prayer.
Loma Linda University invites you and your family to the Black & Hispanic Alumni of Loma Linda University's Student Scholarship Banquet on Thursday, February 20, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. PDT at our Wong Kerlee International Conference Center. During this event, our goal is to raise funds for scholarships, engage our alumni and students and award scholarships to current Black & Hispanic students.
Thursday, February 20, 2025
Time:
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Location:
Wong Kerlee International Conference Center
11175 Campus St.
Loma Linda, CA 92350
Registration can be found by clicking here.
The Sustainability Studies Program at La Sierra University wants to welcome you to a free public event. 🧶🌿 Craft with purpose! ♻️✨
Learn how to crochet using recycled and sustainable materials while connecting with fellow changemakers. Whether you're a beginner or a pro, let’s craft a greener future—one stitch at a time! 🌍💚
📅 February 13 | 📍La Sierra University | ⏰ 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM You can sign up HERE.
January 30, 2025 | Columbia, MD
From the North American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church: An Appeal for Human Dignity and Decency
There are many in the United States who are afraid for their futures, and for the lives of family members. As a Christian denomination in the U.S., the Seventh-day Adventist Church supports the rights of all persons, no matter their country of origin—the equal rights provided in the U.S. Constitution and fair treatment as immigrants and refugees in this country.
As members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, we believe that “we are all equal in Christ, who by one Spirit has bonded us into one fellowship with Him and with one another; we are to serve and be served without partiality or reservation” (Fundamental Belief No.14).
“We maintain our allegiance to the biblical principles of equality and dignity of all human beings in the face of historic and continuing attempts to use skin color, place of origin, caste, or perceived lineage as a pretext for oppressive and dominating behavior. These attempts are a denial of our shared humanity, and we deplore all such aggression and prejudice as an offense to God” (Seventh-day Adventist Church statement “One Humanity: A Human Relations Statement Addressing Racism, Casteism, Tribalism, and Ethnocentrism”).
The Bible declares that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female—all are one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28). We are one humanity. Dehumanization and margination by law or the implementation of the laws or policies are diametrically opposed to the Bible. Therefore, it is inhumane and robs people of their God-given dignity in Christ to have policies that make them afraid to go to church and school because of the threat of being deported.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America encourages its churches and schools to be warm and welcoming places for all people. All are created by God and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.
In light of the fact that we have a shared humanity, in light of the fact we all are created equal, in light of the fact we should love our neighbor as ourselves, and in light of the fact that Jesus said, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matt. 25:40, NIV), our appeal is for us, as Adventists, to show our immigrant families that we love them by lifting up our voices and standing by their side in these times of uncertainty.
Our appeal to our policymakers and government leaders is found in The Seventh-day Adventist Church Manual (p. 92): “All are in search of wholeness. All are gifted, needed, and treasured. All are created in the image of God with an inherent dignity regardless of any limitation they may have.” Therefore, let our laws and the implementation of our laws treat all of God’s children, who are created in His image, with the dignity and decency they deserve.
Sincerely,
G. Alexander Bryant, DMin
President
Kyoshin Ahn, PhD
Executive Secretary
Judy Glass
Treasurer/CFO
