A 42-member mission team from Fellowship Baptist Church, Lexington, went to New Orleans June 19, where they worked with Operation NOAH Rebuild on 10 homes. Roger Clark is the pastor of Fellowship.
Brian Spearman was licensed to the ministry July 8 by Glenwood Baptist Church, Easley. Spearman, who teaches at Crosswell Elementary School in Easley, has served as Glenwood’s student minister since 2003. He is the son of St. Helena Baptist Church pastor Richard Spearman. From left are Glenwood pastor Dale McCoig, Brian Spearman, and deacon chairman Craig Alexander.
Kris Bjorgen and Bill Gabel of First Baptist Church, Hartsville, along with Cooper Quattlebaum of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Hartsville, went on a mission trip to Zambia May 20-June 3. They helped build a new campus to train Zambian pastors and also shared the gospel with Zambian people. From left are Quattlebaum, Bjorgen and Gabel standing in front of the church with the pastor and some of their Zambian friends.
Friendship Baptist Church, Honea Path, recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of pastor Michael Bowen during its first annual “Celebration Sunday.” Since October 2006, the church has baptized 89 people, setting a record for the church. During the celebration, a banquet was held in honor of 120 new members and the six people who were baptized during morning worship. Ten more professions of faith were also made during morning worship service, and Sunday school attendance reached a record of 245.
First Baptist Church, North Myrtle Beach, held its third annual ocean baptism Aug. 26. With those who were baptized are pastors John Gambrell and Dwain Hayes.
Fort Johnson Baptist Church, Charleston, celebrated “Baptism at the Beach” again this summer, baptizing 26 in the Atlantic on the afternoon of Aug. 26. The annual summer event included a picnic supper, live music, beach games, fellowship, and baptisms at sunset. Fort Johnson has baptized 44 people in 2007.
Sara Mae Adams was recognized Aug. 12 by First Baptist Church, Whitmire, for 25 years of perfect attendance. She is actively involved in the Women on Missions group and the Dorcas Sunday School Class. Pastor Shannon Long, who gave her a framed certificate on behalf of the church family, praised her for her faithfulness. For several years, she rode her bike up and down the streets of Whitmire distributing cassette tapes of the Sunday morning service.
First Baptist Church, Winnsboro, held its annual church picnic Aug. 19 at White Oak Conference Center. Highlighting the annual event was a baptismal service in which eight people were baptized at the conference center pool. During the church calendar year, First Baptist has baptized 18 people, a record number for the small rural congregation which has a church membership of about 220. Mark Chapman, center, is pastor.
The summer of 2007 was a busy one for Memorial Baptist Church, St. George. Above, a World Changers team from the church went to Gastonia, N.C. Below, Clay Shook, pastor of Memorial, was a member of a mission team to Moscow, Russia, that included seven other South Carolina pastors. Plans are to return to Moscow in June of 2008 to continue construction on Golgotha Baptist Church. Shook, who was called to Memorial in February, has been a pastor in South Carolina for 17 years.
Missions in Motion, directed by Charles Mathis, sent a team of seven to Choluteca, Honduras, to conduct a Bible school for 113 orphaned children ranging in age from 8 months to 18 years. Mathis, along with Lorain Long, wife of Shannon Long, pastor of First Baptist Church, Whitmire; her granddaughter, Jennifer Kotrady; Jennifer’s friend Emily Cull; and church member Dakota Miller spent Aug. 9-17 teaching the children Bible stories and songs, doing crafts, and playing games. A Honduran mother and her two children assisted them. All of it was done outside on a cement floor covered by a roof. There were no tables or chairs, and there were no walls. The children attended Bible school in shifts. Half of the children went to school while the other group attended Bible school. The orphanage, built by a humanitarian group from Spain, is the nicest in Honduras. It consists of 12 cottages, each with a house mother. Having the mission team there to work with them and provide for their basic needs meant a lot to the children, as well as the people who worked with the children. The children were much better off than some other children in Honduran orphanages, but they lacked one very important thing – God’s word. That is why Missions in Motion chose to go to Choluteca.
Fort Lawn Baptist Church, Fort Lawn, held Game Day Central Vacation Bible School, averaging 137 each night. There were five professions of faith.
Fourteen people from Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, Powdersville, traveled to Cot, Costa Rica Aug. 7-14 to evangelize the people there and to start a relationship in the town of approximately 8,000 residents with no evangelical church. At left, pastor Johnny Touchet preaches to a group of young people from Cot using a soccer ball with colors representing different parts of the gospel. Below, Mike Puckett plays the guitar and sings for a group of kids. The mission trip was part of a project that Mt. Airy Baptist Church, Easley, is leading in Costa Rica.
Olive Drawdy and Diane Branham of Ebenezer Baptist Church, Cordova, knitted 183 stocking caps for the International Seafarer’s Ministry in North Charleston.
The Mission Friends from Bethel Baptist Church, Fairfax, held Christmas in July for residents at John Edward Harber Nursing Home, resulting in donations of much-needed items. Here, resident Doris Collins enjoys the company of Ben Young, Taylor Cable, Lexi Fail, and Bryce Blakeney.