Rev. Norman D. Copeland (Courtesy photo)

Second African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles will hold their 114th Anniversary service on Sunday, August 21, at 11 a.m. in their sanctuary located at 5500 S. Hoover Avenue in Los Angeles.

The guest preacher will be the Rev. Norman D. Copeland, retired presiding elder in the AME Church, said Pastor Godfrey R. Patterson.

“We invite the community to join us for a spirit-filled time in the Lord. I believe you will be abundantly blessed from the message delivered by Rev. Copeland,” said Pastor Patterson, who added that the anniversary them is “We Come This Far By Faith.”

Since his retirement from active ministry in the AME Church and the United Methodist Church before that, Copeland has stayed active as board chair of the Joshua Generation Community Development Corporation, executive director of the Joshua Generation Group LLC, board chair for Clergy Laity for Economic Justice (serving Los Angeles, Orange County, Long Beach and Pasadena), and board chair for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (serving the Inland Empire Interfaith Alliance).

Second AME was organized in 1908 and the church continues to thrive in a now ethnically diverse community. While the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted their worship services and weekly outreach programs, the church provided emergency shelter services to the homeless population for 12 consecutive months. Sunday worship services resumed in the spring of this year.