It was a beautiful morning for this year’s Walk for Water at Riverfront Park in North Charleston! The walk began at 9:00, but the St. Philip’s youth group and leaders had been chosen to supervise the children’s area, so they started out the morning at 7:45, doing crafts, playing games, making huge bubbles, and applying Walk for Water tattoos to anyone who requested them.

As the St. Philip’s Team gathered nearby, Fruit of the Loom characters offered stretching exercises for the large crowd, and the opening ceremonies took place on a large elevated stage with gorgeous water vistas all around. The Water Mission team processed by with flags representing the various countries served, and we followed behind with our St. Philip’s banner and nearly 100 Team St. Philip’s members.

Feel free to contact Jane McGreevy (843-793-9832) or Lynn Dayton (843-343-1001) with questions. We are both attending and would love to have you join us!

Last Thursday evening, over thirty St. Philippians joined close to 1,000 others for Lowcountry Pregnancy Center’s Annual Fundraising Banquet at the Charleston Area Convention Center. The keynote speaker was Ryan Bomberger, pro-life and adoption advocate, author, international public speaker, and Emmy Award-winning creative professional who co-founded the Radiance Foundation, an educational life-affirming organization that creatively illuminates the intrinsic value each human life possesses. Ryan shared with us about the blessing of being adopted as an infant and raised in a loving, multi-racial Christian family of 15. During his presentation, Ryan exposed some of the untruths told by pro-choice advocates and spoke of the importance of giving every life the opportunity to fulfill God’s purpose on his or her life, just as his birth mother did for him.

If you would like to make a contribution to the Easter Flower Fund as a memorial or in thanksgiving for a loved one, please submit your dedication information at the link below (preferred) or fill out a paper form available in the church office or narthex. You may make your donation online through the My St. Philip's portal of our website or drop off or mail a check (memo: Easter flowers) to the church office:

St. Philip's Church

Attn: Juli Garland

142 Church St.

Charleston, SC 29401

Dear St. Philip’s Parish Family,

The Reverend Dr. Marion Platt III, head of Star Gospel Mission, one of our partner ministries, has put out a call to St. Philip’s Church with opportunities to serve and spread the Good News, requesting assistance in their annual spring cleaning on April 23. Will you join me as part of a St. Philip’s team we’re forming to go over and assist Dr. Platt?

There will be several opportunities on that day, some more physically demanding (moving furniture, cleaning, painting, etc.) and others much less (reorganization of the storage area, filing paperwork, etc.). Finally, for those wanting to provide ministry, there will be opportunities for follow-up prayers with families and individuals Star Gospel Mission assisted over the holidays.

Please do join me in showing the world that St. Philip’s Church is that beacon of light, hope, and love starting right here in our own backyard. St. Philip’s Church had an awesome showing for Water Mission’s Walk for Water this past Saturday. Let’s keep the drive alive and send a strong St. Philip’s Church team over to Star Gospel Mission on April 23!

Blessings,

Gantt Folline, Home Missions Team

After church last Sunday, March 27, seven youngsters (with their parents listening in) participated in a First Communion workshop led by Director of Ministry to Children and Families Dorothy Lancaster and the Rev. Andrew O’Dell. During the workshop, Fr. Andrew covered the mechanics of how to receive communion and made connections between Passover in the Old Testament and Christ as our Paschal Lamb.

Questions about your child and communion? Reach out to Dorothy Lancaster.

Thank you to all who have already signed up to volunteer at the much-anticipated return of the St. Philip's Tea Room! There's a place for everyone, so please review the options and consider where you can volunteer your talents! Curious what the waiters, greeters, and kitchen helpers actually do? You can find that out on our website!

Okra soup time! We need your help making our famous okra soup! Aluminum containers with covers are available at the church office, and we are accepting soup now through opening day. Please follow the recipe below. (If you don't see an image below, you may need to turn images on in your email.)

Note: Before delivering the soup to the church, please freeze it in an aluminum pan provided by the church (available in the church office) and contact sexton Ben Singleton during church office hours only at (843) 475-9765 to arrange drop-off at the Parish House freezer. One pan can hold one batch of soup. 

Come enjoy fellowship and food while helping to make the palm crosses worn by all on Palm Sunday! Dinner begins at 6:15 p.m. in the Parish Hall, immediately following the Wednesdays Alive! service. Questions? Call Joanna Macmurphy at (843) 607-6763 or click below to email her.

Youth group is open to all 6th–12th-graders of St. Philip’s and the surrounding community. Plan to play hard and pray hard. Questions? Contact youth minister David Gilbert at dgilbert@stphilipschurchsc.org or (843) 708-3795.

Note: No youth group Easter weekend.

The Rector's Bible Study will be in recess April 14 (Maundy Thursday)–May 5 (Tea Room). The study will resume Thursday, May 12, and continue through May 26.

The Rev. Brian K. McGreevy will be preaching this Sunday at our services of Holy Communion at 8:15 and 10:30 a.m.

Unless you are worshipping with us exclusively online, you've noticed quite a bit of activity involving the wrought iron gates and fencing surrounding the sanctuary, graveyard, and cemetery recently.

If you've noticed, you might have wondered who oversees such an undertaking. Well, you need only look to the slip of paper tucked under the glass top of a desk on the first floor of the church office building to get your answer.

Since the gates are HEAVY, BROKEN (well, not anymore), EXPENSIVE, and most definitely COMPLEX, they are under the purview of parish administrator Chisolm Leonard (pictured here with contractor Nathan Youngman).

Is this the first time you're seeing these pictures? Sounds like you need to give St. Philip's a follow on Instagram or Facebook!

Prayer appointments are available with trained prayer ministers for personal needs related to healing for physical, emotional, or spiritual needs. All meetings are confidential and can be arranged by contacting Juanita Orvin (juanitaorvin@gmail.com) or Frenchie Richards frichards7@aol.com.

Call Suzanne McCord, head of the prayer chain, and she will pass your request on to members of the chain:

suzanne1959@gmail.com or (843) 224-1630.

Apr. 1-2 ~ Intentional Grandparenting Conference

Apr. 6 ~ Monthly Men’s Lunch (12 noon in the Parish House)

Apr. 6 ~ Palm Cross Supper (following 5:30 p.m. service)

Apr. 9 ~ Easter Egg Hunt (10:00 a.m.)

Apr. 10 ~ Palm Sunday (services at 8:15 and 10:30 a.m.)

Apr. 11-13 ~ Holy Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (services at 8:00 a.m. in the church)

Apr. 14 ~ Maundy Thursday (service at 6:00 p.m.)

Apr. 15 ~ Good Friday Good Friday Liturgy at noon, supper at 5:00 p.m., Stations of the Cross at 6:00 p.m. on the Parish House lawn or sanctuary if raining)

Apr. 15–19 ~ Church office closed

Apr. 17 ~ Easter (services at 6:30, 9:00, and 11:15 a.m.; breakfast at 7:30 a.m.)

Apr. 23 ~ Star Gospel Mission Spring Cleanup

Apr. 24 ~ Youth Confirmation Sunday

Apr. 27 ~ Adult Confirmation (6:00 p.m.)

May 2-6 ~ St. Philip’s Tea Room

June 5 ~ Choral Evensong (5:00 p.m.)

June 6-10 ~ Preschool Summer Camp session one

June 13-16 ~ Vacation Bible School (VBS)

July 18-22 ~ Preschool Summer Camp session two

We pray for the sick: Arthur Applegate, Baby Avera, Jean Carlton, John Colwell, Banks Cummings, Linda Dennis, Maffett Dowd, Sally Fayard, Elizabeth Flowers, Mary Forbes, Debbie Foster, Pat Gould, George Gulyas, Mary Anne Hanckel, Dara Heikes, Robert Johnson, Robert Kizer, Claudia Kolster, John Legare, Connor Lowndes, Molly Margaret O’Quinn, Beverly Melvin, Baby Zan Murphey, John Murray, Valerie Rouillard, Fran Sanders, Jay Schrimpf, Lynne Scoville, Pete Sperr, and Lindsey Wing.

We pray for our expectant parents: Ralph and Anna Gray Baker, Lauren and Allen Davis, Felicia and Tim Evans, Katie and Ruben Perez-Phillips, Lauren and Ashton Phillips, Jane and Randell Stoney III.

We pray for protection for Becca Baird, Chris and Julia Beasley, Graham Blunt, Henry Clayton, Ben Colyer, David Daughtridge, Tripp Hathaway, 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, and David Scott serving in our Armed Forces.

We pray for our home and world missions: Star Gospel Mission, Lowcountry Pregnancy Center, 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.