South Carolina’s two U.S. senators offered two stylistically different but equally emotional reflections to commemorate the anniversary of the Emanuel AME Church shooting.

Each speech ”” delivered in succession on the Senate floor Thursday on the eve of the anniversary ”” was in keeping with the lawmakers’ personalities and reputations among their colleagues on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Tim Scott spoke in a deep sorrowful baritone from prepared remarks about the night of June 17, 2015, when Dylann Roof admitted to ending a Bible study by opening fire and killing nine black parishioners.

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U.S. Sen. Tim Scott got the first call about 9 on a Wednesday night a year ago. A deputy sheriff told him there were reports of a shooting at Emanuel AME Church in his hometown of Charleston.

Scott’s first thought was to check in with his friend the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the church’s pastor.

“I remember picking up the telephone to call Clementa to see what was happening, and it’s probably my last text that I have to him,” Scott said.

Sitting in his office on Capitol Hill, Scott pulled out his phone and scrolled through his messages ”“ all the way down to June 17 of last year.

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[Charleston Mayor John] Tecklenburg also drew parallels to Charleston’s loss almost a year ago at Emanuel.

“One year ago this week, we here in Charleston were brought face to face with the same kind of evil that the people of Orlando are being forced to reckon with today, when nine beautiful souls were viciously stolen from us by a racist gunman in the basement of Mother Emanuel AME church,” Tecklenburg said. “We will never forget the horror of that hot, sticky June night, or of the terrible days and weeks that followed.”

He added that the community would never stop giving thanks for the remarkable courage and grace of the Emanuel families, “who looked beyond their own pain to show us the way to hope and reconciliation.”

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Check it out (about 27 1/2 minutes).

Says my current pastor, the Reverend Dr. Timothy E. Tyler at Denver’s Shorter Community AME Church: “The mid-week prayer meeting was always a very intimate atmosphere””a place of renewal, love, and connectedness. As a child, when my mother and father dragged me there, I remember noticing that the large crowds of Sunday were much smaller on Wednesday. This group was the spiritual core of the church. The people would testify, petition God, and pray for each other. I finally understood it as a mid-week check-in on your spiritual self. Then you were ready for another Sunday.”

I listen to his words, realizing I like reflecting on such things with my own pastor: as I would on a Wednesday night.

He reminds me how Methodism itself, including its practice by African Methodist Episcopalians worldwide, finds its origins in the weeknight prayer meetings and love feasts organized by Methodist movement founder John Wesley.

“Wesley said, ”˜We’re still Anglican,’ but let’s go beyond the ritualistic worship of Sunday and meet God in prayer here tonight,” my pastor explained.

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According to Brad Steinecke, Director of Archives and Local History Programming at the Spartanburg County Libraries, there was a big, booming system of textile mill villages that had built-up around where textile plants were located on rivers in the Upstate by 1903. “The flood catches people by surprise, they are sleeping. They wake up to this, and it’s already at that point a pretty catastrophic thing,” Steinecke said.

Historical and media accounts from the time said that when the flood waters on the Pacolet reached the ten mile stretch of river where the mills and mill villages were located, the current was moving at about 40 miles an hour, and the water level was believed to be 22 feet above the river’s flood stage.

“It’s enough to move buildings, it’s enough to float the wooden houses, it’s enough to erode these enormous brick structures,” said Steinecke. “Trees and everything you can imagine is all up in that water,” Steinecke also said.

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The Department of Youth Ministries is seeking high school students interested in applying to serve for the 2016-2017 academic year. Our Youth Commission is comprised of cheerful servants who demonstrate spiritual maturity and leadership gifts and desire to develop skills while serving our Lord. This leadership group serves on youth events as well as at Diocesan Convention each year. Their role in events includes leading small groups, sharing testimonies, leading activities, and providing behind the scenes support. They are a vital part of our ministries! Serving on Youth Commission involves a commitment to several weekend events as well as two training days. Students are expected to serve in a leadership capacity in their church as well.

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A Promise Kept Trailer from CIU Alumni Relations on Vimeo.

Upon graduating from seminary, he taught for two years at Columbia Bible College, and then became headmaster of Ben Lippen School in Asheville, NC. Five years later, he, his wife, Muriel, and their four children moved to Japan. For 12 years he planted five churches, winning people to faith in Jesus Christ. While in Japan he also served as interim president of Japan Christian College. In 1968, he was called back to Columbia Bible College and Seminary to serve as president for 22 years. During that time enrollment doubled, radio station WMHK was founded and Ben Lippen School was moved from Asheville to Columbia. In 1990, Robertson resigned the presidency to care for his first wife who was in the advanced stages of early onset Alzheimer’s disease.

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[The Mcquilkin’s].. love story went national when [John’s wife of what would be 55 years] Muriel developed Alzheimer’s disease and was eventually terrified to be without McQuilkin. Some of his friends advised him to put her into an institution. But he chose instead to leave Columbia eight years short of retirement in order to care for her.

McQuilkin explained his decision to CT:

When the time came, the decision was firm. It took no great calculation. It was a matter of integrity. Had I not promised, 42 years before, “in sickness and in health . . . till death do us part”?
This was no grim duty to which I stoically resigned, however. It was only fair. She had, after all, cared for me for almost four decades with marvelous devotion; now it was my turn. And such a partner she was! If I took care of her for 40 years, I would never be out of her debt.

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The church has become a nexus of faith after the families of the victims forgave Roof after he was arrested, challenging the members to make sense of the tragedy for themselves and others.

“It is no secret that we have been walking through a valley,” Clark said at Wednesday’s prayer service. “And at times that valley has been so dark that we wondered if our light was able to shine. As we walk through our valley, the key is knowing that where we are today is not where we’re going to be tomorrow if we hold onto God’s unchanging hands.”

Her voice rose up and down, matching the strength and serenity of her words. Mayor John Tecklenburg played a soft song on the piano a few feet away.

“The key is knowing that despite our temporary discomforts, our trials, situations in life that we can’t explain and don’t understand, we’re so grateful to know a God who’s right there in the valley with us. And because he’s with us, we have no reason to fear.”

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Kim {Walters] faces this weekend with mixed emotions ”“ joy with the birth of her first grandchild; and sadness at [her first husband] Dixon’s death.

“Anyone who goes into the service goes in as a calling,” she said. “We need to honor these men and women, especially when times are this precarious.

“Appreciate them every day,” she said. “Value the relationships. Because, you never know.”

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Of all the evidence in recent years that white supremacy remains imprinted on American life, the shootings were the most indisputable. A white boy had come of age in the 21st century drinking from the same poisoned spring as lynch mobs across the country in the 20th. He had stepped through loopholes in gun laws broad enough to allow a 21-year-old with a criminal history to purchase a Glock, and carried it into the sanctuary of a church in hopes of avenging imagined wrongs and inciting a race war.

At the same time, in a way without any obvious parallel in recent decades, the offers of forgiveness, prayers, and mercy in the face of judgment were an extraordinary public reminder of the holy power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, its persistence even in an increasingly secular nation, and its capacity to change hearts, minds””and legislatures. Within three weeks of the shooting, the debate about the Confederate flag flying over South Carolina’s State Capitol, a debate that had been entrenched in stalemate in the South Carolina House of Representatives, was over. On July 10, 2015, the flag was removed. As South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley noted, the grace shown on June 19 helped to change the minds of wavering officials.

All this happened in a few terrible and memorable days. And it all deserves to be remembered and commemorated, lamented and honored, as CT seeks to do with the following story.

But none of it is over.

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You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there.

Here are the questions to ponder after listening.

1) Power – Are you in need of God’s power? Are you aware of how weak you actually are?

2) Surprise – Are you a Holy Spirit led person that can be open to surprises? Are there surprises God can do in your life, which you will actually notice if he does them?

3) Understanding – Who are the people in your life who don’t have an understanding of the Gospel? Can you pray for them? Can you be a message bearer to them so that they might have understanding?

Charleston’s review of on-street parking in some downtown neighborhoods is pitting residents concerned about bars and restaurants against churches whose services can last two or three hours.

The city’s transportation and legal departments are conducting a 90-day study of residential parking regulations, especially those for downtown neighborhoods.

City Councilman Mike Seekings, chairman of council’s Traffic and Transportation Committee, said the study will examine the rules in 10 special parking districts and the total number of spaces available. It also will clarify the law on changing the hours of special residential parking restrictions.

Read it all from the front page of the local paper.

Bonilla, 22, is one of thousands of Lowcountry students who will graduate from college over the next three weekends. On Saturday, she will receive her degree in biology from Charleston Southern University in a ceremony at North Charleston Coliseum. She will spend her summer applying to medical schools with the goal of becoming a pediatric oncologist.

“I’m very trusting that it will all work out, and I’m excited to be able to take a look at different schools this summer and see where God will take me,” she said.

Bonilla’s interest in oncology stems from a personal hardship even greater than overcoming the language barrier. When she was 17, her mother was diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer. Due to her mother’s limited English, Bonilla had to attend doctor’s appointments and translate heartbreaking news.

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Listen to it all (It begins with the reading of the gospel by the Rev. Fred Berkaw) [It is an MP3 file]. It occurred on the occasion of the Bishop’s confirmation visit to Saint Paul’s in Summerville, South Carolina in times past.

He speaks of a memory from 1960 and later there comes this quote to whet your appetite:

“What is astonishing to me I suppose is that we in the church make so little of the Ascension of our Lord.”

You can listen directly or download–at the link here (and if anyone has difficulty the download link is there)

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Enjoy them all and you can read more there

Listen to it all here or you can find a download there.

In early April, 2016, more than 100 parishioners and clergy from the Diocese of South Carolina attended the New Wineskins missions conference in Ridgecrest, NC., where they not only learned about missions but connected with Anglican missionaries from around the world. Just prior to and immediately after New Wineskins the Diocese hosted numerous visiting Anglican Bishops and leaders who spoke in Diocesan churches. On April 11, the Cathedral hosted “Voices of the Anglican Communion: a Gathering of Friends from Africa and South America” where 10 Bishops and Anglican leaders from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Bolivia, Brazil, and Chile spoke about the ongoing ministries in their own countries.

What is the impetus behind this movement?

In part it’s driven by Bishop Mark Lawrence’s vision to “Make Biblical Anglicans for a Global Age,” and his challenge for our Diocese to pursue mutually enriching missional relationships which help shape emerging Anglicanism in the 21st century.

“It’s about relationships,” said the Rev. Bob Lawrence, Chair of the Diocese’s Anglican Communion Development (ACD) Committee. “These experiences give us an opportunity to know people face-to-face, person-to-person

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You can find the link at the page here or the MP3 there; listening to Gary Beson’s sermon is recommended, it comes at about 31 minutes.

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Containing over 70 million members in 38 national and regional churches (provinces), the Anglican Communion is the world’s third largest Christian community. Retired Bishop Colin Buchanan defines a province in the Anglican context as a “cluster of dioceses, with an organic (usually constitutional) relationship which forms a province. The minimum is typically four dioceses to constitute a province, thereby conforming visibly to the requirement that, when there is a vacancy in a bishop’s post, there will still be three bishops available to consecrate a new bishop for the vacancy.”1 With rare exceptions all dioceses belong to a province. Prior to its separation in 2012, the Diocese of South Carolina was affiliated with the province called The Episcopal Church (TEC).

In 2014, the Global South Primates Steering Committee announced the establishment of a Primatial Oversight Council. This council provides pastoral and primatial oversight to dissenting individuals, parishes, and dioceses in order to provide a meaningful connection to the wider Anglican Communion. The steering committee extended an offer for provisional primatial oversight to our diocese, which we accepted. At the diocesan convention later that year a Task Force for Provincial Affiliation was established by vote of a resolution. Bishop Lawrence appointed one clergy and one lay person from each of the six deaneries to serve. The task force began meeting to “design and initiate a process whose goal will be to enable the Diocese and this Convention, along with their parishes, to discern among the options available for provincial affiliation, and in Convention, decide our means of affiliation.”2

For the next several months the task force considered all options, one of which was to remain unaffiliated. While provincial oversight from the Global South Steering Committee is a solid temporary arrangement, to remain disconnected from a province is not a desirable state for a diocese. Lack of affiliation has disadvantages in terms of ecclesiastical fellowship and limits both our ability to shape the larger communion and provide a normal process for episcopal succession. Ultimately, the task force determined that remaining unaffiliated was not a realistic option.

Read it carefully and read it all.

Take the time to look through them all.

The groundswell of residents who opposed opening the Lowcountry’s offshore waters to drilling for oil and natural gas had help from an unlikely white knight: the Navy.

Federal regulators Tuesday removed the Southeast coast from a proposed final ruling on leasing new areas for the work.

The ruling did open more of the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic Ocean. It now goes to a 90-day public comment period and must be approved by Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell.

The decision does not end the leasing process for seismic testing and exploratory drilling, but profit for that work is in fees paid by oil industry companies for the results, and the lease applications are widely expected to be dropped.

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…we are “To Make Biblical Anglicans for a Global Age.”’

That was the T-shirt version, and it has stuck! I am more convinced now than ever, however inadequately we have received, embodied and conveyed it, that this was a vision from the Lord. I have also come to accept that what takes a year or two for a new rector to establish in a parish takes five years for a bishop to achieve in a diocese. It is only in recent years have I noticed rectors reciting this statement in a way that rolls naturally off of their tongues.

Now in this ninth year as your bishop I remain unswervingly committed to our calling. I see also the need to doggedly keep it before us. Frankly, this vision is like a railroad track””that is, it has two rails. One rail is a local focus and the other is more global.

So let me elaborate afresh: To Make Biblical Anglicans will mean two things:

Ӣ To help every congregation to engage every generation with the Good News of Jesus Christ

Ӣ To help shape emerging Anglicanism in the 21st Century

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The 225th Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina, hosted by the Church of the Cross in Bluffton, SC, March 11-12, 2016 highlighted progress the Diocese made in recent years toward “Making Biblical Anglicans for a Global Age,” the vision cast by Bishop Mark Lawrence in 2009 during the first Convention after his election.

“I thought convention was fantastic,” said the Rev. Shay Gaillard, Rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Charleston. “We had such a sense of unity and excitement. Bishop Lawrence’s address really helped us see what we have accomplished and the things going on in the parishes were an incredible encouragement.”

Over 400 clergy, lay delegates and guests from 53 churches, representing 23,000 members across the southern and coastal part of the state came together for the Bluffton event.

In his address Bishop Mark Lawrence thanked the number of churches that have pursued active ministry relationships with provinces and dioceses that have stood with the Diocese. In the past year churches have strengthened ties with clergy and parishioners in the Diocese of Egypt, North Africa and the Horn of Africa; Northern Uganda; Marsabit in Kenya; Kilmore, Elfin and Ardagh in Ireland; Dar es Salaam in Tanzania among many others.

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