I Hear The Prophet Callin'

This Sunday during the 10:30AM worship service, our musicians at St. James will present the cantata, I Hear the Prophet Callin', telling the story of Christ's birth from prophecy to fulfillment. You won't want to miss this great musical story, written by Pepper Choplin, using Appalachian, Irish, Latin, Cajun, and Early American styles of folk music.

Bethlehem Bliss

Many thanks to all who came out and participated in our Night in Bethlehem. It was an adventure that we won't soon forget! What a great time we had together as we experienced a glimpse of some of the possible sights, sounds, and tastes of the city where Christ was born. The more we learn about Bethlehem and about the life of Christ, the more we continue to be amazed that our most holy Lord God loved us sinners so much that he humbled himself and came to earth as a tiny, helpless baby in a manger. Praise be to our God, who overwhelms us by his grace!

A Night in Bethlehem

All are welcome to join St. James as we celebrate "A Night in Bethlehem," on Saturday, December 12, from 1-4PM. Any time during those hours, our doors are open for members of the the community to come and walk through the village of Bethlehem. We will have an interactive nativity scene, and a chance for kids to paint, listen to music, make candy, and experience stone masonry, carpentry, and various other fun activities. We hope to see you there!

The Hanging of The Greens

It's time to prepare for our Lord's coming! All signs point to Christ's imminent return. "Stand up and raise your heads, for your redemption is drawing near" (Luke 21:28). Help the congregation at St. James Lutheran Church get ready for Christ's coming as we decorate the church together on Sunday, November 29, during the 8AM and the 10:30AM worship services.

Community Thanksgiving Service

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow!" Join us in giving thanks to God for all the good gifts He has given us. St. James will host a Redbank Community Thanksgiving service on Wednesday, November 25, at 7PM. All are welcome to worship with us.

I Can See Clearly Now

This Sunday, we are pleased to welcome New Vision, a Contemporary Christian ensemble from Charleston Southern University. New Vision is directed by Mr. Allen S. Hendricks, the Horton Endowed Chair of Church Music at CSU. Our own member, Leslie Sharpe, is a student at CSU and has sung with New Vision in the past. We are excited to worship with them!

Trick-or-Treat for Cans

Our youth split up into groups and went trick-or-treating this Sunday, but their bags weren't filled with candy. They were filled with canned goods! All of the food items that were collected were donated to Lexington Interfaith Community Services to help those who are in need in our area.

Holiday Bazaar

This weekend, St. James held our first ever Holiday Bazaar, and it was loads of fun! We sold chicken stew dinners, handmade crafts, baked goods, pictures, raffle tickets, and more!
Thanks to all who helped out with this fun church event.

Guest Speaker at St. James

We've had a few guest speakers lately. Our first was Pastor Nathan's former pastor, the Reverend Bob Coon, (pictured above with our pastors), who is the president of Lutheran Homes of SC Foundation. He gave a sermon on stewardship, reminding our congregation to give because of what Christ has first given to us. Another recent visitor to our church was Mitzie Schafer, an Associate in Ministry from Lutheran Family Services in The Carolinas. She spoke to us about the many ways that Lutheran Family Services helps those in need in our area and around the world. If you'd like to hear the sermons from Rev. Coon or Mrs. Schafer, check them out on our "downloads" page.

Rally Day

St. James celebrated the start of new Sunday School year with a helium balloon release. Each balloon had an invitation attached to it, so that whoever finds it might be able to visit our church or drop us a line and let us know where they picked it up. These balloons represent the outward direction we want to take toward the community around St. James this year as we reach out and share Christ's love with all people.

New Downloads!

We have started adding new downloads to the website. Just select the downloads button from the menu on the left. You will see a section for publications and audio. We'll be posting the monthly newsletter and the sermon from each week.

Let us know what you think.

Jeff

What is Simply Giving?

Simply Giving® is an automated giving program designed to help you conveniently and consistently contribute to a Lutheran congregation or institution or to pay tuition at a Lutheran school. Through Simply Giving®, your gifts or tuition payments are made through a pre-authorized withdrawal from your bank account or credit card. You determine the frequency of your automatic gift—weekly, semi-monthly or monthly—the option is yours. Your gift or payment is deposited into the recipient's bank account on the same day it is withdrawn from your account—at no cost to you or the recipient.

Simply Giving® benefits to you and to ...

Your congregation
Simply Giving® is a reliable, safe way to move your stewardship plan into action. It allows you to share your gifts through planned giving and activates your generosity into ongoing stewardship. Because your gift is given consistently, you won't need to play "catch-up" at year-end or worry about forgotten checkbooks or missed Sunday offerings.

But you're not the only one that benefits. Your congregation benefits from steady, more predictable revenues throughout the year, more efficient bookkeeping and greater confidence in meeting its financial commitments.

For me I’ve also found it’s something more, commitment. St. James has had this program for a number of years but I’ve always managed to avoid enrolling. I would use a number of reasons why, I like to write the check and put in the offering plate. In these economic times I can’t be sure how much money I will have to give. It’s just as convenient for me to write the check on Sunday. The truth is I was afraid, afraid of giving up the control. You see for some reason I thought my wife and I controlled the money in our house. What was made and how it was spent. What I failed to realize is our income was a gift from God. We decided to put it in his hands. I realize this program might not be for everybody but for us it’s been a blessing. We have made a commitment to God and St. James and have had no regrets. Life is not perfect, we still worry and feel guilty but not about forgetting our offering or how we’re going to catch up.

In January 2010 a new Simply Giving program endorsed by Thrivent Financial Bank will be introduced. What will be different? The only difference that you will notice is a new price structure. Currently all our fees are paid by Thrivent. Starting in January 2010 we will be responsible for paying our own transaction cost. These fees will be $0.20 per transaction. For our current enrollment our invoice total for the month of August would be $5.40 or approximately $65.00 per year. From an operational standpoint, nothing will be different. Vanco Services will continue to administer the program to ensure that your transition will be seamless. Individual donors already enrolled in the current Simply Giving program will not need to re-enroll.

Please consider Simply Giving as a giving option for you and your family. To participate, download and complete the following form and return it to the church office. Simply Giving® Individual Enrollment Form (PDF, 128K)

Jeff

What's New?

We've had a busy summer at St. James and are excited about all the things that God is going to be doing in, with, and through us this fall! This Sunday is our church Rally Day, where we'll celebrate the start of a new Sunday School year. St. James will hold classes every Sunday morning at 9:15AM for nursery and preschool children; rotation-model Sunday School for kids in grades K5-4th; a middle school class for grades 5th-6th; a youth class for grades 7th-12th; a Young Adult Breakfast and Bible Study for college students and young adults; and 3 other adult Sunday School classes as well. Also this weekend, we are kicking off our new combined Youth Group and Confirmation Class with two other local ELCA congregations: Nazareth Lutheran Church and Providence Lutheran Church, as we gather together at a Youth Group Adventure at Camp Kinard. Come and join in all the fun, as we learn about God together at St. James!

God's Work. Our Hands.

This week, our ELCA Churchwide Assembly is being held at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In attendance are 1,045 voting members from 65 synods serving on behalf of the 4,709,203 baptized members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. They are gathered for worship, Bible study, discussion, and action on a number of proposals regarding our church.

This year's theme is: God's Work. Our Hands. In celebration of all the ways that churches in the ELCA are seeing God's work change the world through their own hands, a video contest was held. The following are just a few of the many inspirational videos that you can check out on the ELCA website to see the many ways that God is working through the people of the ELCA.

God's Work. Our Hands: First Trinity Lutheran Church in Washington D.C.

God's Work. Our Hands: St. John Lutheran Church in Janesville, WI.

God's Work. Our Hands: St. Matthew Lutheran Church in North Hollywood, CA.

Back to School Blessing

Our church kids are looking forward to the start of another school year! This week, the God Rockz group met together for a Back to School Bash. They each brought some new or gently used school supplies that will be handed out to the families who come to our mobile food pantry. They also wrote a note to go along with these school supplies to remind the recipients that God loves them. This Sunday during worship, these bookbags will be brought to the altar to be blessed along with the bags of all of the students, teachers, and school workers in our church. May Christ's light shine through us this year into our schools, our neighborhoods, and our workplaces.

Youth Gathering, 2009

On July 22nd-26th, 4 of our high school youth from St. James joined 37,000 other ELCA youth and adults for the 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans. What a faith growing and expanding experience! Based on Philippians 2:1-8, this year's ELCA Youth Gathering was a servant school. At the center of the program was a deepening awareness of God’s call to servanthood and a deepening of basic Christian practices by which we live out our baptismal calling to servanthood in day to day life. Our youth went out in Jesus' name to serve the people of New Orleans and had an awesome time together! We look forward to hearing their stories of servanthood in Christ's name in the upcoming weeks and can't wait to see how they will go out as Christ's servants this year in Lexington, SC.

Reaching Out

The people at St. James have been busy this summer helping others who are less fortunate. During the month of July, we took a Saturday morning to pay for people at the local laundromats to have their clothes washed and dried. We also collected snacks, games, soap, and other needed items to ship to soldiers overseas. Then, this past Sunday, the kids at our church put together birthday kits with cake mixes, icing, and goodies for members of the community who come to receive food at our Harvest Hope Mobile Food Pantry once a month. What a great time we're having as we shine Christ's light into the world around us!

Set Hike!

Click here to catch a news clip of St. James' own flag football team having fun as they played against some students from Gilbert High School last weekend: http://www.wltx.com/video/default.aspx?maven_playerId=articleplayer&maven_referralPlaylistId=playlist&maven_referralObject=1179965718

Boanerges

Congratulations to Boanerges, our softball team. (For all who are wondering, they have the same nickname as Jesus gave to Saint James the Greater. Check out Mark 3:17 if you'd like to know more.) Boanerges had a great time playing together this spring and is thankful to all of the fans, who cheered them on their way. They look forward to another great season next year. Are you interested in joining our softball team? You'll have a chance to sign up again next spring!

Food And Fellowship

Wondering what our OWLs are up to? They continue to meet on the third Thursday of every month for lunch and fellowship together. All are invited to join them.In the month of June, they came together for some delicious BBQ at Shealy's. Mmmmmmm.... Their next gathering is on Thursday, July 16th, at Vegetable Medley. Be there at noon for some great food and good times!

Come To The Waters

The SC Women of the ELCA had their annual convention this weekend at St. Stephen's Lutheran Church in Lexington, and some of our own ladies from St. James were there in attendance. This year, the theme was, "Come to The Waters," and these ladies celebrated the ways that Christ's living water flows in their lives and in the lives of others around them. Together, they engaged in a service project to collect bingo prizes for five different Lutheran homes in SC. They also attended various seminars that included subjects such as Prayer Journaling, Latino Ministries, and Spiritual Yoga. The ladies of WELCA at St. James invite all of the women at our church to join us as we gather together again this fall to do women's ministries in Christ's name.

All Aboard

We weren't kidding when we told you that our kids are having fun at Sunday School this summer. Come and check it out for yourselves! We promise that you won't be disappointed.

Crocodile Dock Rocks!

We had an awesome time at VBS this year, as we heard stories about Moses and the burning bush, Pharaoh and the plagues, the Passover of God, the parting of the Red Sea, and Jesus dying on the cross and rising again. In all of these stories, we learned that we should never be afraid, because: God is with us; God is powerful; God does what he says he'll do; God gives us life; & God cares for us! This week, we also talked a lot about what it means to be a baptized child of God, shining God's light into the world. We want the whole world to know just how great our God is!

Summer Sunday School's Not Boring

We kicked off our new Kids' Summer Sunday School this week with a view from inside the whale with Jonah. We also painted seashells, made a big fish craft, and popped bubbles with whale-shaped party blowers! It's fun to learn the stories of the Bible and to remember God's forgiveness and grace.Kids are invited to join us again next week at 9:15 AM for another exciting Sunday School lesson.

Crocodile Dock

VBS begins this Sunday evening at 6PM. All are welcome. We offer snacks, stories, crafts, games, and songs for kids of all ages, and we also have an adult Bible Study based on Mark Allen Powell's book, Giving to God. Don't miss this fun time of learning and fellowship together!

Pentecost

It's now the season of Pentecost, a time when we remember how God's spirit was poured out like flames of fire and a mighty rushing wind upon His people. What a mighty and all-powerful God we serve!

B-I-N-G-O

Our church family has a good time together! We enjoyed some food, fellowship, and fun this Sunday evening as we shared a hot dog dinner and a night of BINGO. Some really neat prizes were awarded to all of our BINGO winners. We are thankful to our Family Life Committee for planning this exciting event, and we invite more people to join us next time!