As Los Angeles prepares for the holiday season, St. Stephen Missionary Baptist Church in La Puente serves up a full menu of joyous performances to ensure blessings for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and even the ringing in of the New Year.
“The holidays bring lots of special services,” says Rochelle Beam, the church’s musical and media director for the last three years, of upcoming events that will take place both in-person and streaming live on the church’s YouTube channel.
St. Stephen’s festive season of praise starts on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 28, with a one-hour service at 10 a.m. that will include a 15-minute sermonette, followed by 45 minutes of music. A Christmas program will take place twice on Sunday, Dec. 8, at 8 a.m. and 11 a.m., with children and adult choirs and praise dancers performing; and on Wednesday, Dec. 25, Christmas Day will be observed with a service at 10 a.m.
A New Year’s Eve Watchnight will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 31, beginning at 7 p.m., with Myeasha Chaney serving as worship leader. The program includes a keynote by Dr. Adam Groza, president, Gateway Seminary, and a full lineup of recording artists, comedians, and other worship leaders.
Related Link: https://www.youtube.com/@SSBCservants
St. Stephen’s music ministry will continue to celebrate 2025 with two events in January. The Churchwide Day of Prayer, on Sunday, Jan. 5, will combine two services into one, starting at 8 a.m., to pray on specific topics for the new year. In addition, two old-fashioned tent revival services will be celebrated on Sunday, Jan. 12, beginning at at 8 a.m. and 11 a.m.
“The original meaning of revival was to cater to non-believers or folks outside of the walls,” says Beams. “We’ve gotten away from that in the church arena, so we’re bringing that back.”
Reaching out beyond their congregation is a focus at St. Stephen’s, led by its pastor, Dr. Anthony Dockery. The church’s Sanctuary Choir performed for the first time at Bakewell Media’s Taste of Soul Family Festival on Oct. 19.
“Here at St. Stephen’s, our motto is, ‘We are God’s servants, in God’s service, serving God’s people,’” says Beams. “In doing so, our goal is to “G.E.T.E.M.” – we ‘Go Evangelize to Every Mortal.’
“That was our goal when we went to Taste of Soul,” she says. “We planned on singing so that somebody that might walking by could hear what we had to say as we professed our love for Jesus. If Jesus was someone they didn’t know, we prayed that some lyric… something they saw on that stage would get them to want to know Christ.”
Beams says that while St. Stephen’s services are all available to stream via YouTube, there is something to be said for encouraging in-person church attendance.
“This church is alive and thriving – we thank God for that,” she says. “On a given Sunday, there might be 300 or so, but on the roll, there might be 2,000. The pandemic, as it did nationally, kind of put a halt to a lot of people getting out of the bed and coming in.
“We’re still striving to get those that are watching online to come on in, because there’s a difference to watching it on the couch, versus the fellowship that you feel when you’re together and worshipping Christ together,” says Beams. “But as long as they’re getting [the message], it it’s all good.”
For more information on St. Stephen Missionary Baptist Church (La Puente), visit youtube.com/@SSBCservants.
