April 01, 1980 by

With only $15,000 in hand, three years ago the U.S. Center for World Mission obtained the option to purchase the 17 acre campus it now occupies.

To commemorate that important milestone, a celebration is being planned for Thursday evening, May 1st. Mary Frances Redding, the USCWM staff member responsible for coordinating the event, when asked who was being invited, replied, "I'm hoping that many hundreds of our friends in the Southern California area will be able to join us for this celebration." She commented that the program will rehearse how the Lord has brought the Center from its small beginnging in one building with three people on staff (counting Dr. & Mrs. Winter) to its present occupancy of a 17 acre campus with 40 on central staff and another 80 on the staffs of the 38 member organizations. Redding went on to say that even those who live at a distance would be welcome as there will be rooms available for $9 a night including supper and breakfast. She quickly added that reservations should be made immediately since accomodations are limited.

Adding to the festivity of the evening will be its unique location: the large auditorium. This will be the first USCWM meeting to be held there in the history of the organization. With a capacity of 3500, the auditorium is actually the largest in Pasadena, outdistancing others such as Caltech's Beckman Auditorium, and even the Pasadena Civic Center.

With the exception of its use for two years by the former tenant, it has been virtually unoccupied since the Nazarene College moved to San Diego. One of the reasons is that it was simply too big, and there was at that time no way to convert it into a smaller size.

However, in the last few months, gatherings have outgrown the only other auditorium on campus (capacity: 200). With that motivation, the USCWM put up most of the funds, a cooperating church provided much needed labor, and for the last two months the auditorium has been undergoing a modest facelift. The result is that it can now be curtained off for many different sizes of audiences.

Evidently this renovation has come none too soon. With an annual Missions Festival scheduled for July 13th, including an exciting reunion of all Student Volunteers from the early 1900's, followed by a Christian Leadership Institute of International Studies, the auditorium will see much use?