About half of churches represented in a recent informal BaptistCourier.com survey regularly set aside a day each year to honor their pastor or ministerial staff. A significant share of the 68 readers who took the online survey, 42.65 percent, said their churches do not regularly observe Pastor Appreciation Day. Of the readers whose churches do […]
Clara Able is on oxygen 24 hours a day, but that doesn’t stop her from fulfilling what she calls “my mission.” The 78-year-old widow from the town of Ninety Six, in Greenwood County, has always enjoyed sewing, and now she gets up every morning and spends a good part of her day making dresses for […]
Summer is traditionally a time when families and schools take a break, but it is a busy and spiritually productive season for those who lead Christian youth camps. Over the last three months, Baptist-related summer camps in South Carolina reported attendance in excess of 18,000. In addition, more than 2,200 children and youth made personal […]
Angie Keene, who volunteers as a small-group leader in her church, remembers how uncomfortable the teenage girls in her discipling group seemed to be when she asked them to share their testimonies. “All of their stories sounded the same,” said Keene. They all were raised in church and accepted Christ at a younger age and […]
Although a variety of ministry activities spring to mind upon hearing the words “disaster relief” or “collegiate ministries,” a singular fidelity to sharing the gospel emanates from the core of two Baptist entities responsible for those particular mission fields in South Carolina. More than a humanitarian agency that assists victims of floods, storms and tornadoes, […]
When it comes to the decisions to be made when someone dies — burial or cremation … whether the receiving of friends will be held the day before or the same day as the funeral … if there will only be a graveside service — ministers in South Carolina largely agree that the needs of […]
Nearly eight in 10 Baptist Courier readers responding to an online survey said that church members who are not law enforcement professionals provide security for their congregations and that many of them carry concealed weapons. The survey, which ran from March 28 through April 11 at BaptistCourier.com, posed a series of questions on church security […]
Last fall, Keith Davis and a few other Spartanburg pastors planned a free seminar for churches in the area interested in a presentation on how best to prepare for an active shooter. Then, on Nov. 5, a mass shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, left 26 people dead and a nation […]
William Franklin “Billy” Graham, 99, a dairy farmer’s son and a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ, died Feb. 21 at his home in Montreat, N.C. He was laid to rest March 2 in Charlotte. Saved as a young man under the preaching of a traveling evangelist, Graham felt called by God to become […]
Preparing to speak at the March 2 interment of the preeminent preacher of the 20th century, Don Wilton admitted a few days before the service he wasn’t sure what he would say. “I’ve prepared many messages in my life, and I’ve had numerous conversations with Mr. Graham about this moment, but I would be less […]