Mortgage Broker in St. Andrews, SC

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina/AP) - 28 Upstate churches are set to leave the denomination at the end of June after their separation from the United Methodist Church (UMC) was approved over disputes about LGBTQ+ issues.

The Upstate locations are among a total of 113 across South Carolina whose members voted to separate from UMC’s 2023 South Carolina Annual Conference, which “overwhelmingly approved the closure” of the churches, according to a news release from the conference.

Conservative leaders within the United Methodist Church unveiled plans Monday to form a new denomination, the Global Methodist Church, with a doctrine that does not recognize same-sex marriage.

These churches, having completed the Local Church Discernment Process, determined that they can no longer function as a United Methodist church because they firmly believe that the denomination has not consistently upheld its stated doctrine on issues of human sexuality. The UMC Book of Discipline prohibits performing same-gender weddings and the ordination of “self-avowed practicing homosexuals.”

The move could hasten the long-expected breakup of the UMC over differing approaches to LGBTQ inclusion. For now, the UMC is the largest mainline Protestant church in the U.S. and second only to the Southern Baptist Convention, an evangelical denomination, among all U.S. Protestant churches.

“We pray for these churches that have chosen a different journey,” Bishop L. Jonathan Holston said after the vote. “May we also acknowledge that that which binds us will never leave us. In the midst of our separation, may we show each other the grace and love that you demonstrated through your sacrifice on the cross and your resurrection from the grave.”

Here’s a list of all the SC churches set to close effective June 30, 2023:

Anderson District

Charleston District

Columbia District

Florence District

Greenville District

Greenwood District

Hartsville District

Marion District

Orangeburg District

Rock Hill District

Spartanburg District

Walterboro District

MORE NEWS: Officials explain ‘loud boom’ heard in part of Upstate

Copyright 2023 WHNS. All rights reserved.

After six years of holding service in a temporary space, the church will now have a space to call their own.

More Videos

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A local movie theater in the St. Andrews area in Columbia will transform into a church.

Spotlight Cinema, a low-cost theater focused on second-run films, closed down weeks ago, and now Elevation Columbia will be moving into the space.

Elevation Church has been hosting non-permanent services for the past six years, where they would hold their Sunday service in the University of South Carolina's Pastides Alumni Center in downtown Columbia. But they didn't have a sanctuary, which meant they had to set up and tear down their setup every Sunday.

By purchasing this theater, however, they hope to have more permanent roots in the community.

"We are a family, and we want to be that for people," said Taylor Shytle, the campus pastor at Elevation Church. "I believe that as we are in the area with permanent roots, then people can grow up with us together, and we can grow together."

"We have a church that is heavily dependent on volunteers, so there are a lot of people that have served a lot of hours and put blood, sweat, and tears into this, put a lot of efforts and obedience and sacrifice, so this is really huge for us," Shytle said.

Armando Fabila is the owner of a local restaurant in the area. He said a new church nearby would be beneficial for his business. "Sundays are pretty busy for us; it's pretty much all day," Fabila said.

Fabila said his business has grown as more people move to the area.

"They help us a lot, keep us in business and help keep our families together," he said.

Shytle said he and the church are excited to call this area their new home.

"We're open to the broken, we're open to the hurting, we're open to the happy, we're open to the joyful," Shytle said. "This is the church that you can truly come as you are, not just the way you look, but come as you are from the inside out."

Church officials said they hope to open their doors at this new property this October.

RELATED: Historic Columbia church getting multi-million dollar addition

RELATED: 'God put it in my heart': Greensboro panhandler gives all that he has to family of fallen officer

A cluster of mailboxes at The Grove at St. Andrews apartments has been out of service for a month, forcing residents to travel to a nearby Post Office to get mail.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Tenants at a St. Andrews apartment complex say they can't get their mail on property. One resident who is disabled and doesn't own a car says he's spending money he doesn't have to travel to the Post Office.

The apartment complex affected is The Grove at St. Andrews. Residents tell News 19 this is happening because someone tampered with their mailboxes.

Under condition of anonymity, one resident explained how this problem started since at least the beginning of June.

"I've been here two years since we had the tragic incident at Allen Benedict Court. I'm one of the Allen Benedict Court residents," he explained. "Dealing with certain issues about this mailbox situation has really taken a toll on me."

RELATED: Residents concerned over hike in Columbia water bills

The tenant reached out to News 19 after he says apartment management wouldn't share how they're resolving the problem in a timely manner.

"The post carrier...said he noticed the mailboxes were tampered with and he didn't want to put anyone's important mail in there if something happened," the tenant explained.

In pictures sent to us by residents, a notice can be seen taped to one side of the mailboxes.

Credit: Courtesy: The Grove resident

It says those residents can get their mail at the Post Office instead on Briargate Circle.

Credit: Courtesy: The Grove resident

For the resident who notified News 19 about the problem, he says the 5-minute drive is a costly inconvenience.

Credit: WLTX

"I don't have transportation. I'm disabled, so I don't have nobody to come by and to rely on," he said. "I was catching a taxi almost every other day. That would cost me $15 to $16 dollars a trip."

Housing vouchers, medical and benefits papers are among the important letters he gets. He'll also take the DART bus, but says he can't afford to keep traveling to get mail, especially while on a fixed income.

RELATED: Dominion Energy settles on customer rate hike request

"Now I need household supplies and I need to figure out how I'm gonna do that," he explained. "I still need to pay my bills. Then the little money I have left over, I have to dip into that to go try to get my mail."

Friday afternoon, apartment management told News 19 they met with the Postmaster last week. After examining the mailboxes, management says it was recommended they buy a new mailbox instead of changing the locks and handing out new keys.

Right now, management says they're working on selecting the new mailbox. Before they install it, they say they'll need approval from corporate.

RELATED: Why Columbia residents may see a higher water bill

News 19 also reached out to USPS to see how they're helping resolve the situation.

In a statement, Rick Badie, a Strategic Communications Specialist for USPS said, “Rest assured, we take customer concerns seriously, remain committed to delivering mail in a timely manner, and appreciate customers’ patience. We are working with apartment management to address this issue and will make necessary adjustments in order to enhance our service performance. Our goal is to quickly address service issues that are brought to our attention.”

A large early morning blaze at St. Andrew's Church in the Old Village consumed significant portions of the worship space and offices Sunday.

“The Lord promises to bring beauty out of ashes,” Wood said Sunday, surveying the remains of the ministry center, “and we’re taking him at his word.”

Wood received a call from a parishioner at 4:25 a.m. and hurried over to find the church he leads ablaze.

Authorities who responded to the scene, including the Mount Pleasant Fire Department and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, have not publicly stated a cause for the fire. There were no reported injuries.

Much to the relief of Wood and his congregation, however, Mount Pleasant authorities contained the fire before it could spread to the adjoining historic chapel.

The ministry center, a large contemporary-style worship space, was built right behind it in 1996.

The chapel, a revered structure in the booming town that dates back to 1857, appeared mostly unharmed, although firefighters did have to pump water over it, said Greg Shore, a church spokesman.

With its iconic dark salmon-color paneling, the chapel is situated on Whilden Street and is draped in live oak trees. It was designed by famed architect E.B. White, who also designed the French Huguenot Church in downtown Charleston.

Hundreds of worshipers congregated outside St. Andrews on Sunday morning, many of them arriving for early morning services to find their church in flames and firefighters working to extinguish the blaze. Many covered their mouths with disbelief after seeing the ministry center roof engulfed in fire, then cave in.

Rebecca Ranucci and her family were driving to one of the services when she got word of the fire on social media.

Ranucci, 42, of Mount Pleasant, described reading the news and immediately sobbing.

“Not St. Andrew's,” she cried. “Not my St. Andrew's.”

Out of instinct, she recalled, Ranucci looked up at her husband — a firefighter — saying, “Fix this!”

Today's Top Headlines

“We were so close (to the church) at that point, we came to see if there was anything we could do,” Ranucci said.

Services were canceled, and parishioners were encouraged to attend the church's other campuses in downtown Charleston and North Charleston.

"There are a lot of tears. A lot of tears," Wood said. "You tell yourself that it's a building, but a lot of people came to faith here. Marriages, baptisms, funerals."

St. Andrew's has been especially popular with the town's many young families. About 2,000 members attend its Mount Pleasant campus, which also runs a preschool.

The preschool will remain closed while church leaders and firefighters assess the damage, the spokesman said, warning that it is substantial.

"It's never good when you get a call from the rector at 4:30 a.m.," Shore said.

St. Andrew's, one of the area's largest houses of worship, had recently launched a building campaign called Imagine 2040 to address its growth. The church was one of the first in the area to introduce a contemporary worship style and has seen its membership boom since.

Back then, it was associated with The Episcopal Church. However, St. Andrew's Church split from the national body after ongoing disputes over scriptural interpretations and administrative controls. After, Wood was consecrated in 2012 as the first bishop of the Diocese of the Carolinas within the Anglican Church in North America, although he also still leads St. Andrew's.

Today, the church's services range from a more contemplative traditional style to others filled with lively families worshiping with guitars and drums.

Wood remained anxious Sunday morning to get inside the building. A waterfall flowed down the steps outside what had been his office.

As parishioners looked upon what used to be their place of worship Sunday, many wondered aloud about the fate of the large oak cross that towers above the interior of the ministry center.

By late morning, a photo taken by someone who had been inside the building had begun to circulate among members of the church.

There, amid charred remnants of the building and caved-in roof, stood the cross.

Some residents say their apartments and cars were damaged due to Thursday's flash flooding.

More Videos

ST ANDREWS, S.C. — Midlands residents started cleaning up Friday morning after their apartment complex experienced flooding Thursday night.

On Thursday, flash flooding occurred between 6 and 7 p.m. and affected an area around St. Andrews Road in Irmo over to the Town of Lexington. A lot of the flooding impacted different apartments on Fernandina Road and Fox Run Lane.

An official total is not yet in, but Richland County estimates some parts of that area could have received 4 inches of rain in one hour.

One of the apartments affected by the rain was The Creek Apartments in the St. Andrew area.

"I thought it was time to evacuate because it really ain't safe. I got little girls so that's a major problem," said one resident.

RELATED: Heavy rains flood Irmo apartment complexes, streets

Heavy rain had water flowing through parts of the apartment complex. There's also a creek that runs through a part of the complex where the water followed through. The water receded around 8 p.m., according to officials.

Some residents say the water ended up inside their apartment.

"The tiles on my floor from the water getting up under it is coming up," said one resident. "I had water. There's water all up under my stairway up here."

Video sent to News 19 shows the water level coming up to the tops of tires on cars.

"My car will not even crank. That made it bad," said another resident. "Who's going to fix that? I've got to do that."

Residents who spoke to Street Squad but didn't want to be on camera say flooding happens too often at their complex.

They believe something needs to be done soon before it gets worse.

"My point is, every time it rains, what are we supposed to do? We supposed to keep cleaning up our houses? Either move us or they need to find a way to fix it," said a resident.

Street Squad reached out to management at the property and they say they plan on having a landscape engineer come next week. Management also looks to clean out draining ditches as well.

The American Red Cross says they'll be helping 20 people in Lexington County who were impacted by the flooding.