The Saturday before Thanksgiving, several St. Philippian youths met up with youth minister David Gilbert and youth leader Sarah Silcox to go door-to-door downtown to collect canned goods for Tricounty Family Ministries ahead of one of its busiest weeks of the year. The kids divided themselves into small groups and headed off in all directions to begin their mission to top last year’s 600-pound total. Although this year’s total––upwards of 200 pounds––seemed like a big drop from last year (many folks were already out of town for Thanksgiving), David Gilbert discovered when he made the drop-off that afternoon that the food had come at just the right time, and Tricounty Director Sue Hanshaw was incredibly grateful....
Remember when churches were open all the time? Remember how nice it was to go in and sit quietly in prayer? Remember the peace you felt? Well, the world is different now and our churches are closed and locked much of the time. I was at Bible study when Elizabeth Bowles spoke to us about the Open Door Ministry. She explained the desperate need for volunteers that were needed for just two hours a week. I was new to Charleston and new to the Anglican Church, but I knew then that God was telling me to step out of my comfort zone and join the Open Door Ministry....
Click the link below to read the St. Philip's eSPIRE, the email version of our weekly inSPIRE newsletter, which is packed with information about all that's going on in the life of our parish....
The St. Philip’s Home Missions Committee is once again partnering with Tricounty Family Ministries to help brighten Christmas for Charleston families by collecting $25 gift cards to Walmart, Family Dollar, Big Lots, and Dollar Tree so that parents in need can have the dignity of purchasing a gift for their child. The Committee is also working with St. John’s Chapel, a mission church of our diocese, to collect $25 gift cards to Walmart or Target for the teachers of Sanders-Clyde Elementary School, who have poured their hearts into the students of Charleston's Charleston's Eastside neighborhood. With Thanksgiving coming late this year, the trees, which will be decorated with the ornaments that are Home Missions Committee's gift to you to serve as a thank you or reminder, will be in the narthex for only two Sundays! ...
The church office closes at noon Wednesday, 11/27, and reopens Monday, 12/2 at 8:30 a.m. No printed inSPIRE Thanksgiving week. No Wednesdays Alive! service, supper, or classes on 11/27. No Rector’s Bible Study Thanksgiving Day. Youth Group and children’s choirs will not meet Thanksgiving week....
If you were at the last ECW meeting in October, you may have heard me mention off the cuff that if we were to lose Gene Lesesne, the Tea Room could not go on. Gene is 82 years old, rides his bike almost daily 20 miles, was a Naval aviator, and flew for Pan Am Airlines as a commercial pilot until he went to teach at the Citadel in the PE department. He was married to Ann, who was a nurse instructor at Trident Tech until she was disabled by rheumatoid arthritis. He was her caregiver until her death just about five years ago. He has two daughters: Angela, who runs the preschool with Lee Moore here at St. Philip’s, and Jessica Martin, who attends and volunteered here as a Sunday school teacher for years. His first great-grand was recently baptized here. I do not know how long the Lesesne family has been attending St. Philip’s, but I know they have a legacy of serving quietly....
On a recent November mid-week, a small group of St. Philippians traveled up to the glorious mountains of North Carolina to attend a much-touted (by our beloved priest and C.S. Lewis aficionado, Brian McGreevy ) C.S. Lewis symposium. The conference was a packed time filled with insights and sharing to encourage us and engage us on our Christian journey. People from 28 states, England, and Malta were drawn to the beautiful village of Montreat for this experience, officially titled “C.S. Lewis: Influence and Relevance Today.”...
Last weekend, high school students from across the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina came together for “ReGenerate,” a weekend retreat at Camp St. Christopher on Seabrook Island. The main verse for the weekend was Philippians 2:8-11, and our speaker, Nate Morgan Locke, a youth evangelist with Christianity Explored Ministries, talked about how sometimes we put on different hats (like different identities) when we are in different social scenes. He told us that as Christians, we should have the same integrity, rooted in Christ, in all of our social realms. Another strong point that he reminded us of is that we are never done growing in our relationship with Christ. There is always something that we can change and there are ways that we can continue to get closer and closer to Jesus!...
Once upon a time, there was a master violin maker whose greatest joy was to make the most beautiful violins in the world. With each new instrument that he created, he went to great effort and expense. When each was complete, he would spend many hours testing its limits by playing it as only he could. For he dearly loved each one. ...
When my son was in a terrible car accident in 2011, his life was in the balance, and with one phone call, the St. Philip’s prayer chain was alerted and I was able to get many people praying fast. I believe that through these prayers and many more throughout his recovery, he was saved and is now healed. St. Philip’s has had a prayer chain for about the last twenty years, and many of us have taken great comfort in knowing that our situation is getting prayed over “right now.” But now we have a new and improved prayer chain....
I am grateful to several St. Philippians who have prayed for my little sparrow in Rwanda. Fraterine is a ten-year-old boy who, until the last year, has led a solitary life, away from school and simply drifting during the days because so many children made fun of his discomfiting, facial skin condition. Since discovering God’s little sparrow last summer, we from the Dufat...
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What a privilege and blessing it is to live in a country where we have the freedom to participate in a National Day of Prayer. Created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress and signed by President Harry S. Truman, the National Day of Prayer is significant because it prompts us to remember how our founding fathers sought the wisdom of God when making d...
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On behalf of my co-chair, Amanda Steinhardt, and the entire Tea Room Committee, I would like to thank you so very much for all of the hard work and effort that each and every one of you put into last week! The weather was beautiful, the food was delicious, and the crowds were steady and strong. I personally enjoyed meeting so many new people and getting to know fellow chur...
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Dear St. Philippians, On behalf of the clergy, staff, and Vestry of St. Philip’s, we wanted to provide a quick snapshot of our debt retirement campaign launched on April 1. To briefly review, our goal is to raise $113,000 in additional giving above and beyond normal giving before the end of May so that we may fully retire the approximately $197,000 in debt currently on ...
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This past February, I returned to Rwanda for three weeks. For almost six years, I lived in Rwanda’s Northern Province, an area nestled in a chain of eight imposing volcanoes. Their towering spires appear to direct the earth’s timid gaze to heaven’s sublime and regal dominion. When they quake, fire and brimstone slide from their lips, demonstrating God’s almighty, o...
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This Saturday was my second time handing out the St. Philip’s Tea Room flyers. Like last year, I had a lot of fun. We started off by getting some doughnuts at Glazed, our youth minister David Gilbert’s special treat....
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In his Easter sermon, the Rev. Jeff Miller illustrated Jesus’ gift to us with a story he’d read by Harry Allen Ironside, former pastor of Moody Church in Chicago. In the story, a young man, the son of a friend of Czar Nicholas of Russia, had been given a post as paymaster in a border fortress. A gambling problem, though, soon led him to begin taking a few rubles here a...
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As early as Saturday, April 13, college students feeling the weight of upcoming final exams received some goodies in the mail to help them cope with stress and remind them that their St. Philip’s family is here at home rooting for them!...
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