Calvin Synod Herald, 2010 (111. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2010-09-01 / 9-10. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 7 For I Know The Plans I Have For You... Election and Ordination of Rev. Viktor Toth First Hungarian Reformed Church of Los Angeles On July 11,2010, our church received a double blessing. With Bishop Bela Poznan officiating, our Congregation unanimously elected Rev. Viktor Toth as our Pastor. And additionally, our congregation and our guests that day had the great joyful surprise of witnessing Bishop Poznan ordain Rev. Toth as a minister in the Hungarian Reformed Church Bishop Poznan preached a beautiful sermon for us from Psalm 134: “Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD who minister by night in the house of the LORD. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD. May the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion. ” The message was that the pastor’s role in the congregation is key to the blessings the people receive from God. This important day in the life of our congregation - the Bishop’s visit and message, the election of a new pastor and his ordination - reminded us of one of God’s important promises for our lives and gave us an opportunity to reflect on our past and His ongoing presence in the life of our church. Ordination of Rev. Toth by Bishop Bela Poznan Rev. and Mrs. Viktor Toth Our church - the First Hungarian Reformed Church of Los Angeles - is the first Hungarian church of any denomination west of the Mississippi. We were founded on August 1, 1926 by a group of 42 individuals and their brave, young pastor, Rev. Albert Hady. The Rev. Antal Szabó, our church’s second pastor, writes in a page from our church’s 40th Anniversary Yearbook (1966): “On August 1, 1926, a group of Hungarians of Reformed, Lutheran, Catholic and other faiths came together to worship God. Those assembled that day sang a song that brought joy to their faces and resonated up into the rafters. They sang: ‘Our hearts are glad when we hear these words: we go to church to listen to the Word of God.’ The young founding pastor, Rev. Albert Hady preached about this everlasting promise of God from Psalm 34:8: O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. ’ After this first worship, all those present - 42 men and women - signed the Church Record Book and declared themselves as witnesses ‘with one heart, one spirit’ to the founding of the First Hungarian Reformed Church of Los Angeles.” Since those early days, so vividly described above by Rev. Antal Szabó, our congregation - like any living, breathing entity - has faced many trials. Yet throughout all that time, God has remained with us and repeatedly blessed us in ways that only He can. Throughout out nearly 85 years, we have experienced much together with the pastors who have served our people. Rev. Albert Hady (1926-1946) was the pioneering young man, under whose leadership the congregation bought its first church, which was home until December of 1986, more than 60 years. Under Rev. Albert Szabó (1946-1969) the congregation continued to grow in faith and welcomed and assisted many Hungarian refugees from WWII and also 1956, and expanded and made many improvements to the church buildings. The 1970’s were times of great change for many of our Hungarian Reformed Churches in the USA and our church was no exception. Our pastor then was Rev. Gyula Paal (1969-1981) a very effective pastor who preached strong, scholarly and relevant sermons based on important Biblical teachings. He was followed by Rev. Sándor Patocs (1982-1987), a time of difficulty for our congregation, for it was in December of 1986 that our church home of 60 years was sold under chaotic circumstances. These were also the times when our Anyakonyvek - all the records of our congregation’s life for 60 years - disappeared forever. And a collection of historical photos that documented the life of our congregation were thrown in the trash by unknown people. Fortunately, the photos were picked-out of the trash and saved by our alert then- Organist and Chief Elder, Margaret Saltzer. These were times of fear too, and many people fled our church in search of places that offered them more certainty. Chaos reigned, our church was sold, our Anykonyvek disappeared, historical photos and other church belongings were thrown in the trash - and we had to find a new place to worship. Yet, God never abandoned us. After the sale of our long-time home in latel986, in January of 1987 our decimated group began to worship in a small rented room of a large church. The congregation during that time was blessed with the leadership of then-Chief Elder, Margaret Saltzer and later Dr. Bela Biro. Both of these individuals, with God’s
