South Carolina Baptist Convention

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State leaders discuss church revitalization

Church growth is a “supernatural event, and therefore church revitalization is more of a spiritual issue than a mechanical one,” said Ken Hemphill, director for North Greenville University’s Center for Church Planting and Revitalization, during a meeting of leaders... Continue Reading »

Loving ‘the People Nobody Wants’

Grant and Amber Hinson forsake comfort and security to live among the residents of Countryside mobile home park Imagine quitting your job, putting your roomy home up for sale, paring down your possessions by way of a yard sale,... Continue Reading »

‘Her Way’: How a daughter of the Palmetto State ‘blazed the missions trail’ in the antebellum South

Before there was Lottie Moon, Annie Armstrong or Woman’s Missionary Union, there was Hephzibah Jenkins Townsend, who overcame the societal constraints and paternalistic attitudes of her day to found the South’s first missionary society in 1811. In “Her Way:... Continue Reading »

South Carolina Baptists’ CP giving up slightly in 2015

Cooperative Program giving from South Carolina Baptist Convention churches increased in 2015, marking back-to-back years of modest growth. Churches forwarded $27,988,055.32 in CP gifts in 2015, an increase of $362,646.25 (1.31 percent) over 2014, according to information released by... Continue Reading »

S.C. Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers merit national recognition

At a gathering in late January of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief leaders from several state Baptist conventions, three South Carolina volunteers were recognized for their service. Receiving awards were Steve Shumake of Grace Baptist Church in Sumter, Avery Fox... Continue Reading »

S.C. Baptists spend Christmas Eve visiting teenage offenders

For 18 years, Columbia-area Baptists have spent Christmas Eve with juvenile offenders. Tim Brown received a letter after Christmas thanking him and other Baptist volunteers for a Christmas Eve visit to Columbia’s state juvenile detention center. “My own family... Continue Reading »

S.C. Student Loan Corp. gives $500,000 for state Baptist Disaster Relief

South Carolina Student Loan Corporation, based in Columbia, has donated $500,000 to South Carolina Baptist Disaster Relief toward the South Carolina Baptist Convention’s three-year commitment to rebuild homes affected by the October 2015 flooding throughout the state. The donation... Continue Reading »

Speaking of Alabama-Clemson …

Gary Hollingsworth was called to be executive director-treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention the same week his alma mater defeated Clemson University in the NCAA football championship game. The irony of the timing is not lost on the... Continue Reading »

New state convention CEO to hold statewide listening sessions

Gary Hollingsworth, newly elected SCBC executive director-treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, wants to hear what’s on the minds of South Carolina Baptists. To that end he has scheduled six listening sessions across the state during the month... Continue Reading »

Call to serve in South Carolina was clear, say Hollingsworths

Gwen Hollingsworth was watering flowers last September during a moment of quiet time with the Lord. She knew a South Carolina Baptist Convention search team had approached her husband about his possible candidacy for the state’s open executive director-treasurer... Continue Reading »

New exec hopes to bring ‘clarity and focus’ to convention’s role in serving churches

Gary Hollingsworth, newly elected executive director-treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, says he embraces the state denomination’s pillars of evangelism, missions, church planting and church revitalization, and he plans to sharpen the SCBC’s focus on serving churches. “Denominations... Continue Reading »

Gary Hollingsworth to lead South Carolina Baptist Convention as new state executive

Gary Hollingsworth, a long-serving pastor and denominational leader with a record of church planting and international missions support, has been elected executive director-treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention. He received the unanimous support of SCBC messengers who convened... Continue Reading »