Don Turner retired as senior pastor of Round Hill Baptist Church in Lexington on Dec. 31, after 28 years of ministry. He and his wife, Toni, have faithfully served churches across South Carolina for more than 50 years. The church will be honoring the Turners with a drop-in and special service in January.
Bennettsville Second Baptist Church ended its Nov. 26 service with a surprise ceremony to honor its former pastor, Denny Costner. The church bestowed Costner with the title of pastor emeritus and presented a framed certificate and commemorative Bible to him. The ceremony included the presentation of the title and gift by Ron Taylor, director of […]
John Roberts was licensed to the ministry on Oct. 22, 2023 at Enoree Baptist Church in Travelers Rest.
Mike Harder began duties as lead pastor of First Baptist Church, Spartanburg, Aug. 6. Previously, Harder had served as Kairos pastor at Brentwood (Tenn.) Baptist Church and lead pastor of The Gospel Church in Nashville. A graduate of the University of Northwestern, he earned a master of divinity degree at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary and […]
Shannon Long, pastor of First Baptist Church, Whitmire, since 2006, will retire Dec. 31. Previously, Long served as associational missionary for Laurens Baptist Association. He and his wife, Loraine, formerly served as International Mission Board missionaries in Chile. After returning from Chile in 1989, he served as pastor of Park Baptist Church in Rock Hill […]
For two years now, almost every church in America has been holding in-person worship services, but not every pre-pandemic worshiper has returned. The final Lifeway Research tracking data for U.S. Protestant churches’ COVID-19 recovery finds 100 percent (rounded to the nearest whole number) met in person in August 2023, capping off a rebound since the […]
It may well be a record among South Carolina Baptists, and maybe even Southern Baptists: 60 years as pastor of the same church. John Arthur at Eureka First Baptist Church near Aiken will pass the six-decade mark Jan. 1 — and he still preaches every Sunday. His call to preach first came when he was […]
“Let’s go!” (on mission) doesn’t necessarily have to mean traveling great distances. For Joel Jolly, it meant starting an outreach ministry to meet essential needs of children in his own city and county. When the retired owner of convenience stores and deacon at Edgefield First Baptist learned that some children in Edgefield County did not […]
Individual communion cups were touted as “the sanitary” way to serve the Lord’s Supper. “Training in Stewardship” by Frank H. Leavell was listed as one of the best contemporary books on stewardship. Price? $1. It was Sept. 28, 1923. First Baptist Church of Greer, S.C., was building a new sanctuary. The miscellaneous tidbits are among […]
Expressing appreciation for your pastor (and other church leaders), doesn’t have to be a big banquet, a new car, a trip to the Holy Land, or a lawn tractor. Sure, all of these may be good suggestions for entire congregations. But individual members can also express appreciation in a variety of simpler, yet still meaningful, […]