6 Chapter 6
After two years in Huntsville, Alabama, the Troy’s returned to California in the summer of 1939. Invited to pastor a church in Pasadena, Troy was also intent on furthering his education and enrolled at the University of Southern California.
His first position upon arriving in California was at the Sunset Avenue Church which “had been brewing for several months,” and according to Troy, their arrival “seemed to us that we are the prodigal son returning home, the welcome has been so hearty on the part of all.”[1] Formerly known as the Pasadena Second Church, this church was organized by Elder Bontemps, Troy’s father-in-law, just twenty years after the Furlong Tract had begun. One year after its dedication, Troy became its pastor.
During this pastorship, Troy experimented in radio broadcasting; this new media was taken up by a swarm of churches as the latest evangelical practice. Not limited to California, this new media held the ability for Troy to publicize the events at Sunset Avenue, as well as bringing the voices of the choir and preachers into listeners’ homes. His first venture involved the Sweet Chariot Hour radio broadcasting show in 1942 during with he broadcast live from the auditorium of the Pasadena church one evening per week. Incorporating his talent for music, Troy included singing groups in his time on the air, as well as short lectures on current and biblical issues. Troy was even able to conduct personal interviews with key SDA General Conference leaders, including J. L. McElhany, then president of the convention, and Roland Hayes, a famed composer. Another mode of mass communication monopolized by Sunset Avenue was the “mail order” catalogue, which involved the church sending out Bible study course pamphlets through the Sweet Chariot Hour Correspondence School. According to Troy in 1948, the mail-order study course program reached 925 enrolled households, and resulted in the baptisms of at least thirty-four new members to the Sunset Avenue Church.[2]
Segregation:
Following the move to California, Troy maintained his connection with the Associated Negro Press and continued to advocate for integration within the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He was appointed secretary of the Regional Department of the Pacific Union Conference, with responsibility for oversight and advocacy for the Black work throughout the union conference territory. The regional department was a new system introduced to promote even closer integration of congregations; it was inspired by an earlier SDA World Conference, of which Troy attended, which advocated for the election of an African American to a higher position to “serve to implement this racial constituency more closely into the organizational pattern of the denomination.” Serving in this capacity for eight years, Troy Sr. was, in the words of one newspaper report, “credited with many advancements affecting the wider opportunities of [Black] Adventists.” Troy presented a report to the Pacific U