Sunday, December 12, 2010

Do You Hear What I Hear?

All are invited to join us for a night of singing and celebration, as the St. James chior and handbells present their Christmas cantata, I Hear The Prophet Callin'. The music begins at 5PM with refreshments to follow in the Fellowship Hall.
Also, next Sunday, December 19, at 10:30AM, please join us for a worship and a Christmas pageant called, Starry Night, Noisy Night, presented by the children of St. James.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Fall Festival

All are invited to join us for our Fall Festival and Craft Bazaar on Saturday, October 9, from 10AM to 2PM. There will be fun activities for kids and plenty of food to eat. The Craft Bazaar will offer homemade jellies/jams, baked goods, hand-made crafts, children’s items, and so much more! Also, come and see the cool cars in our Classic Car Show. We hope to see you there!


Friday, September 24, 2010

St. James Has Got Talent

Last Sunday evening, the congregation of St. James got together for a fantastic night of talent and fun! We cheered on instrumentalists and singers, rappers, actors, and hula hoopers. We also had a dessert contest, and we handed out an evangelism award to the person who brought the most friends. We really do have lots of talent at St. James, and we not only love worshipping together but we also enjoy letting our hair down and having a good time.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Confirmation Class


It's time for Confirmation classes to start up again at St. James, and our young people are ready for it! On the final Sunday in August, all Confirmation students stood before the congregation to make a declaration that they were committed and ready for a new year of study. This Sunday afternoon marked their first week of classes together, and 16 of them came out to study the word of God together! What a blessing. We can't wait to see how they will grow as young disciples of Christ in the year ahead.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Rallying Together


This past Sunday, St. James celebrated the start of a new Sunday School year with Rally Day! We had a great time together as we enjoyed food and fellowship, skits and a scripture verse-based scavenger hunt. Our time together also gave us a chance to hear from teachers and students in all of the Sunday School classes. We have classes for people of every age from infant through adult. Everyone is welcome to join us at 9:15AM each Sunday. We would love for you to join us.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

From South Carolina to Tanzania

Back in the month of July, two ladies from St. James traveled to our sister synod in Tanzania to serve as temporary missionaries. While they were there, they taught Vacation Bible School to 250 children, and they presented cross necklaces to them made by the children of our church. In return, the children of Tanzania made crosses that were brought back to our kids here. Sent there with much support and many prayers from our congregation, these ladies were able to provide school uniforms for 25 orphans and layettes for 25 newborn babies. They were also able to help build a house for a widow, her 4 children, and her brother. We give thanks to our Father God for the many ways in which He works through his people here and throughout the world. We also continue to pray for families and children in Tanzania, that they will always know the deep love of Jesus for them.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

St. James Day


Sunday, July 25, was St. James Day. St. James the Greater is the saint for whom our church is named, so we celebrated with a great day of worship together. During our worship hour, we read the story of this fisherman, this brother of John and son of Zebedee, who was called to leave his boat and follow Jesus. We also talked about the symbols surrounding the story of St. James the Greater, which include the sword and the shell. Each member of St. James took a shell to the font in honor of James and as a sign of all laying down their own lives to follow Jesus. Just as Christ took this fisherman, James, to be his servant, teaching him how to be humble and faithful, so too, may Christ take us and show us how to serve faithfully.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Following Christ

The youth at St. James work together each month not only to keep our food pantry stocked, but also to pack bags of food for all the hungry people who come to our church.
Soon, our God Rockz kids, (elementary and middle school kids), will be adding their gently used clothing to the pantry to be handed out to people who are in need in our community. The young people at St. James love following in Christ's footsteps and helping others!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Healthy Heart And Soul

This Monday evening at St. James, we welcomed Jamie Thomas, a registered dietitian with SCDHEC and Harvest Hope Food Bank, to discus simple ways to improve our health through diet and lifestyle. This interactive nutrition class taught us about food groups, portion sizes, fiber, fat/sugar content in foods, and much more. Each participant went home with a Healthy Heart and Soul Cookbook, a pedometer, and nutritional information. As Christians, we know that God wants us to be faithful caretakers not only of this earth which He has created and our neighbors all around us, but also of the bodies He has given us. May God continue to guide us to make more healthy choices in our lives.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Word from Tanzania

2:45PM: I just got off the phone with Carolyn. They were in the process of making 300 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for Bible School, which is tomorrow. She said everything has been going well. They will be leaving the village early Tuesday morning to go on their safari and start making their way back home. I asked her about the weather and she said it has been in the 40s at night and 70s during the day. Sounds like they are having a great time!

Blessings,
Adam

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Update from Tanzania

Carolyn called me around 2:30PM (9:30PM Tanzania time). They're having trouble with the internet, so one of the members of the team let Carolyn use her satellite phone. They arrived in Mgoyo on Sunday safe and sound. Yesterday was a rest day for them after 4 days of traveling. Today they dedicated the "St. James House." The house is nearly done, and the Bishop said he hopes it will be completed by Saturday. Carolyn and Lisa met the family that will be living there. Part of the team held a dental clinic teaching around 200 children how to brush their teeth. Carolyn and Lisa have been spending a lot of time with the local children. One of the things they will be doing tomorrow is attending a school uniform dedication. Hopefully they'll get the internet issues resolved soon so Cathy M. can send a full update.

Blessings,
Adam

Friday, July 2, 2010

Our Missionary Team Has Made It to Tanzania

Here's an e-mail received from Cathy, the team leader, around 11:30AM:

Greetings Everyone! This is a note to let you know that the Mission 2010 team has made it to Dar es Salaam. We all traveled well. It took us 32 hours to get here. We were delayed leaving Washington and Addis Ababa. Welcome to Tanzania. All of our luggage made it as well. Mary was at the airport to greet us and she will travel with us to Magoye. It was really good to see our drivers. Brighton Killewa came down from Arusha to greet us as well. We are preparing for dinner at 7PM. We will begin preparation to leave in the morning at 8AM. I will try to send a message when we get to Iringa.

Love to all,
Cathy

Monday, June 28, 2010

Look At What We Made

These 401 hand painted cross necklaces were made by our God Rockz kids to share God's love with the children of Tanzania. On July 1st-16th, two of our members will be serving as short-term missionaries with our sister synod in Tanzania, and they are taking these necklaces with them. Also going ahead of them are layettes for babies in need, as well as the money that St. James raised to build a house for an impoverished family and to help bring fresh water, food, medicine, and school uniforms to so many who are destitute in the area. May God bless the people of Tanzania!

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Our New Roof

The roofers are here! The roofers are here! Or, at least they have been for this past week. It's been a long time coming, and we at St. James are very excited about having a much-needed new roof for our church buildings!

Friday, June 25, 2010

Bishop's School

Pictured here is a small group of young people from ELCA's Region 9, which includes the NC Synod, SC Synod, Virginia Synod, FL-Bahamas Synod, Caribbean Synod, and the Southeastern Synod. This week, they gathered for theological instruction, worship, and service projects in a program called, "Bishop's School," at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary. The best part about this picture is that one of those young people is from St. James! Congratulations to Joshua West, who was chosen to attend Bishop's School 2010. What an honor! We can't wait to hear about all of the great things he learned.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Batter Up!

What have we here? Pictured above are a few of the guys who have played in our men's softball league this year. What a great season they've had! This year, St. James has had both co-ed and men's softball teams. What a wonderful way to share fellowship and fun together in Christ's name.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Our High Seas Expedition

The kids at St. James enjoyed a great week of VBS together as we boarded the High Seas Expedition and sailed away to learn about the deep, deep love of Jesus!
Together, we not only worshipped our Lord Jesus Christ, but we also learned some fun Bible stories about God's love and care in the lives of Peter, Paul, and John. And, most importantly, all of the kids practiced sharing God's love with others, as well. Our children went home and invited their friends to VBS, and they also brought in money to help needy kids in Tanzania, who don't have much food, fresh water, or clothing. Wow! While we learned about God's love, we also played some swashbuckling games, ate some delicious snacks, and created some cool crafts together. VBS was so much fun!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Vacation Bible School

Ahoy! Give summer boredom the heave-ho. All hands on deck for some swashbuckling Bible Adventures, Crafts, Games, Music, and Snacks! Grab your friends, and bring them aboard. VBS will meet on June 14-18, and will go from 6:30-8:30PM. We have activities for kids as young as age 2 up through kids who have just finished 6th grade. Click on the big colorful ship on our website, or contact the church office to register now at 359-2122. Come and join our High Seas Expedition!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Golf Tournament, BBQ, & Silent Auction

Thanks to everyone who participated in and supported our Tim Seward/Tom Metts Golf Tournament, barbeque luncheon, and silent auction this weekend. Together you helped us raise more than $5,000 to go toward mission work in our sister synod, Tanzania. We are so grateful for everyone's generosity and hard work in this effort and can't wait to see our funds used to build a home for those in need!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Operation Inasmuch 2010

On Operation Inasmuch Day this year, we had 131 of our members out and about, doing ministry around the Red Bank area. From making hot meals for 38 needy/shut-in families in the area;to building a retaining wall and cleaning up a local park; to building our own food pantry so that we can store canned goods for needy people in our community; to making 95 scarves and collecting 5 additional blankets for Veterans in need; to repairing and upgrading the homes of 2 two widows in need in the area; to offering free car maintenance checks to members of the community; to collecting 12 baskets of groceries from Food Lion for hungry people in the area; to creating 150 "Book Bag Blessings" (food bags) for school children who have no food to eat on the weekends...we love serving people in Christ's name!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

New Visitors

Check out these visitor bags! Our Evangelism Committee has been hard at work throughout the month of April making these to hand out to people who are first-time visitors at our church. They contain all sorts of interesting gifts and information about St. James. We hope that all who visit our church will feel the love of God and the hospitality of God's people in this place.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Free Car Maintenance Check

Is something wrong with your car, but you don't have the money to find out what it is? Drop by St. James Lutheran Church this Saturday from 9AM-2PM for a free car maintenance check. We will have licensed mechanics there to check under the hood, top off fluids, and let you know what "really" needs to be fixed. We will also offer child car seat safety checks and fingerprinting for children. We care about your safety!