We are excited to offer choir camp for both newcomers and seasoned choir members, plus a camp/beach retreat combo led by children’s choir director Zippy Hood (pictured here with her daughter, Libby)! If your child is thinking of joining the choir this fall, this is a great way to get a sneak peek into our program.

Our time at camp will be filled with musical activities, games, and fellowship, with fun prizes to be won along the way. Lunch is included! Questions? Contact Zippy Hood.

St. Cecilia Camp

(rising 2nd–3rd graders)

August 3 ~ 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Canterbury/St. David Camp

(rising 4th–12th graders)

August 10 ~ 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Canterbury/St. David Beach Retreat

August 19 ~ 10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. camp, beach time to follow 

Join the Home Missions Team and other members of your St. Philip’s family for a day at Hope to Home on the upper peninsula! Opportunities include delivering furniture to previously homeless people moving into their first apartment, organizing donations in the warehouse, putting together kitchen and linen kits, repairing/refinishing furniture, decorating Bible verses to go in frames, and more! Volunteers should be 12 and older, please.

On July 22, our family joined other parishioners of St. Philip’s at the headquarters of the Christian engineering nonprofit Water Mission in North Charleston. This was an interactive and engaging look at an organization dedicated to bringing fresh water and sanitation systems to both developing countries and disaster areas, while at the same time spreading the good news of the Gospel. 

We began our tour with an introduction by the cofounder, George Greene III. When Hurricane Mitch ravaged Honduras in 1998, Greene learned there was an urgent need for safe drinking water. He and his team of engineers, realizing no portable system was available, began developing one of their own. Thus Water Mission was born, which now helps those in need in multiple regions including Uganda, Haiti, Ukraine and Indonesia.

Our tour continued with a scavenger hunt for the children, which our fifth-grader Will heartily enjoyed, and an empathy exercise in which we role-played family members forced to leave home because of political unrest, to travel miles to a refugee camp. 

Earlier this year, I kept hearing about one of the great sessions given at January’s Mere Anglicanism Conference. It seems the subject was, to paraphrase, “Telling Your Story.” A vivid recollection made me search through my Bible, where I store many important writings and personal letters, and there it was:



July 7, 2005

This is a writing for my Bible study group, which has been such a wonderful Godly group that has blessed me. My reason for writing is that maybe in some way this letter will encourage or serve each one of you.

As we say goodbye to the summer and get back to our fall routines, let’s get together for a time of encouragement and community! Young adults and parents are invited to enjoy a time of fellowship and mingling over heavy hors d’oeuvres, beer, wine, and sodas. After the fellowship time, we will have a brief session of teaching and encouragement, complete with information about all the ways you can stay connected. Meanwhile, youth and children will be entertained with activities of their own (including a pizza party!). 

Through August 21: $15* per adult

After August 21: $20 per adult

Youth and kids 18 and under are free!

*Pay-what-you-can option available.

Please register by August at the link below. However, if you realize you can join us after the deadline has passed, go ahead and register and come on down––we always have leftovers!



This joint event for our young adult and family ministries is hosted by Justin Hare, David Gilbert, and Dorothy Lancaster.

Registration for all Sunday school opportunities from nursery through 12th grade is now open! 

Parents, please take a moment to fill out the online registration form for the 2023-2024 Sunday school year. Filling this out from the comfort of your home will not only save you time, but this will also be tremendously helpful as we start to assign teachers and classrooms. If you are interested in helping with Children's Ministry, there is an option for that, too.

If you have a 7th-grader interested in signing up for our Confirmation class taught by Al “Gator” Phillips, this is the place to register!

On Sunday, July 23, St. Philippians of all ages enjoyed some summertime fellowship on the lawn, complete with ice cream sundaes, a splash pool, and a water slide! At least one person thought that the highlight of the day was seeing the Rev. Justin Hare plunge headfirst down the water slide, but really, the whole afternoon was one big highlight––especially since the rain, which had threatened to push us inside (sans water activities), held off until after our time together had ended!  

Justin Hare demonstrates advanced water slide technique

Ben and Mary Read Robinson take a break from splashing to have some ice cream

Meredith Gale and Liza Layfield enjoy shade and conversation

Law Hare has inherited his father’s water slide prowess

Ethan Barkley and Mary Frances Elliott, super scoopers

St. Philip’s Preschool wrapped up session two of summer camp July 21, and boy, what a week they had! They practiced yoga every day, did lots of crafts and activities centering on their “camping” theme––such as making lightning bugs (and learning what lightning bugs were) and creating their own healthy trail mix––and learned about how Jesus “camped” in the wilderness. On Thursday, they had a very special visit from the Station 2/3 (AKA Central Station) firefighters, who even let the campers climb inside their firetruck, Engine 102!

“Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.” ––Proverbs 3:9-10

Dear St. Philippians,

As we reach the middle of summer, everything in the Lowcountry seems to be ripening. Figs hang heavily on trees, blueberries and raspberries share refrigerator space with fresh picked corn, tomatoes brighten windowsills, and cantaloupes and watermelons wait on kitchen counters to be carved. It is a time of joy and fruitfulness.

At St. Philip’s, although our church is bearing fruit in so many ways, we are midway through our budgetary year, and our larder is looking a little lean.

*Note: Childcare is not available for the summer series.

Join Steve Graudin and Guv Gottshalk for the final installment of their summer adult forum series, Ray VanderLaan’s “Walk as Jesus Walked,” a journey through the Bible and first-century culture that will illustrate how we can apply discipleship to our daily lives today as we endeavor to be more like Christ. This week’s topic is “Don’t Forget Us,” based in part on 1 Corinthians 12:12, 26.

In his letter to the Corinthian church, Paul wrote that the body of Christ is a unit made up of many parts, and when one part suffers, the whole body suffers along with it. Are you aware of the suffering of brothers and sisters, both in your own experience and around the world? In this lesson, follow the rabbi deep into the caves of Cappadocia and honor the suffering, both past and present, of the body of Christ for the sake of the gospel.

Looking for a way to keep your brain engaged and fellowship with other St. Philippians this summer? Come join Jane McGreevy and Joanna Macmurphy on Wednesday evenings for a summer book club. We are going to read Rosaria Butterfield’s “The Gospel Comes With a House Key.” If you would like to participate, please email Jane at janemcgreevy@yahoo.com. We meet at 6:30 p.m. at Joanna’s house (284 Coinbow Circle in Mt. Pleasant).

Questions? Call Joanna at (843) 607-6763 or Jane at (843) 793-9832. 

The Rev. Jeffrey S. Miller is preaching at our services of Holy Eucharist: Rite I at 8:15 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

Paul Reese’s first official day as Associate Director of Music and Organist was yesterday! And what perfect timing that the first of the month fell on a Tuesday, the day we hold our weekly staff meetings, so that he could get the complete picture of how we interact as a staff: we support each other, we worship together, and we pray for each other...but we can laugh with (at?) each other, too. And if the meeting has ended and the Captain hasn't joked about firing someone, have we actually even had a staff meeting?

Look for Paul in church on Sundays starting in September. Until then, you can catch him in the office during the week or email him if you'd like to welcome him to the St. Philip's family.

If you follow St. Philip's on Facebook and Instagram, then you probably already knew that Paul joined us for staff meeting yesterday. But if you're just now hearing the news, don't you think you should take a moment to follow us so that you, too, can be among the first to hear about upcoming events, weather-related schedule updates, and the latest church office news?

Important Dates

August 3 ~ St. Cecilia Choir Camp

August 5 ~ Hope to Home Workday

August 10 ~ Canterbury and St. David Choir Camp

August 19 ~ Canterbury and St. David Beach Retreat

August 27 ~ “Goodbye, Summer!” Summer Send-Off

September 1 ~ ADOSC Night at the Riverdogs

September 10 ~ Rally Sunday

October 20–22 ~ Anglican Women's Retreat

January 18–20, 2024 ~ Mere Anglicanism Conference

We pray for the sick: Sallie Barrera, Jean Carlton, Babbie and Noel Casey, Diane Christensen, Karen Collins, Silas Cressman, Cullen Crowley, Sally Fayard, Mary Forbes, Dara Heikes, Susan Hemminger, George Hooks, Marvin Kirkland, Robert Kizer, Wes Lewis, Rena Mack, Alan McNeel, Rene Meyer, Elaine Pendarvis, Eli Penn, Meredith Repik, Sally Rhett, Fran Sanders, Joanna Sparks, Pete Sperr, Margaret Swanson, Jimmy Townsend, Jenny White, and Lindsey Wing.

We pray for our expectant parents: Elizabeth and William Bryan, Jill and Alton Phillips.

We pray for protection for Becca Baird, Graham Blunt, William Bruce, Robert Cale III, Henry Clayton, David Daughtridge, Paul Economy, Noah Flowe, Eric Gaines, Morgan and Mason Herring, Andrew Kane, Quin Kane, Horry Kerrison, Frazier Kulze, John Mason, Zach McFadden, Philip Middleton III, Jackson Miller, Edward Pritchard, Nathaniel Rollings, David Scott, and Joey Villeneuve.

We pray for our home and world missions: Lowcountry Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Lowcountry Pregnancy Center, Star Gospel Mission, Suzy McCall and LAMB, for the medical missions to Honduras, for ministry to victims of genocide and AIDS in Rwanda, for the Persecuted Church, for Anglican Frontier Missions, for Uganda Christian University Partners, for Water Mission and the Global Water Center, and for St. Jean Baptiste, our sister church, and the schools in Haiti.

Collect for Sunday:

O Lord, we beseech thee, let thy continual pity cleanse and defend thy Church, and, because it cannot continue in safety without thy succor, preserve it evermore by thy help and goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Readings for Sunday:

• Romans 8:35-39
• Psalm 78:14–26
• Matthew 14:13-21