Columbia Evangelical Church 75th anniversary

2025-2026 Bill 5701: Columbia Evangelical Church 75th anniversary - South Carolina Legislature Online

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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H. 5701
STATUS INFORMATION
House Resolution
Sponsors: Reps. Kilmartin, Alexander, Anderson, Atkinson, Bailey, Ballentine, Bamberg, Bannister, Bauer, Beach, Bernstein, Bowers, Bradley, Brewer, Brittain, Burns, Bustos, Calhoon, Caskey, Chapman, Chumley, Clyburn, Cobb-Hunter, Collins, Cox, Crawford, Cromer, Davis, Dillard, Duncan, Edgerton, Erickson, Ford, Forrest, Frank, Gagnon, Garvin, Gatch, Gibson, Gilliam, Gilliard, Gilreath, Govan, Grant, Guest, Guffey, Haddon, Hager, Hardee, Harris, Hart, Hartnett, Hartz, Hayes, Henderson-Myers, Herbkersman, Hewitt, Hiott, Hixon, Holman, Hosey, Howard, Huff, J.E. Johnson, J.L. Johnson, Jones, Jordan, King, Kirby, Landing, Lastinger, Lawson, Ligon, Long, Lowe, Luck, Magnuson, Martin, McCabe, McCravy, McDaniel, McGinnis, C. Mitchell, D. Mitchell, Montgomery, J. Moore, T. Moore, Morgan, Moss, Neese, B. Newton, W. Newton, Oremus, Pace, Pedalino, Pope, Rankin, Reese, Rivers, Robbins, Rose, Rutherford, Sanders, Schuessler, Scott, Sessions, G.M. Smith, M.M. Smith, Spann-Wilder, Stavrinakis, Taylor, Teeple, Terribile, Vaughan, Waters, Weeks, Wetmore, White, Whitmire, Wickensimer, Williams, Willis, Wooten and Yow
Document Path: LC-0398HA-GM26.docx
Introduced in the House on May 13, 2026
Adopted by the House on May 13, 2026
Summary: Columbia Evangelical Church 75th anniversary
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date

Body

Action Description with journal page number

5/13/2026

House

Introduced and adopted (
House Journal-page 219
)

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VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
05/13/2026

A
house
RESOLUTION

TO RECOGNIZE AND HONOR COLUMBIA EVANGELICAL CHURCH
FOR ITS MISSION IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND TO CONGRATULATE PASTOR CALEB COLLINS AND
THE CONGREGATION UPON THE SEVENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF WORSHIP OF THEIR GOD AND
MINISTRY LOCALLY AND AROUND THE WORLD.

W
hereas, the House of
Representatives is pleased to learn that Columbia Evangelical Church is
celebrating its seventy-fifth anniversary from the fall of 2025, culminating on
October 4, 2026, with worship services, a shared agape meal, and testimonies
and reminiscences of the church's history; and

W
hereas, in the fall of
1950, twenty-three believers formed a church concerned with community outreach
and commitment to worldwide missions. Charter members were Charlotte Adolphson,
Marie Bookter, Paul and Kathryn Brown, Joe and Marie Dannelly, Marie Deconynck,
Harold and Ouida Eich, Sam and Frances Eisenback, Albion and Louise Holbrook,
Woodrow and Peggy Hood, Lewis and Isabella Jones, Penny Lyon, Ray and Helen
Shepherd, David and Roma Strebe, and W. G. Ward; and

W
hereas, the nascent
church, called The Gospel Fellowship Church, held its first meetings which
included Sunday worship and Bible study, and the group began meeting on the
second floor above a drugstore on Main Street, dubbed the Upper Room; and

W
hereas, in 1961, the
congregation changed its name to Columbia Evangelical (CE) Church and moved to
a house on Pendleton Street on the edge of the University of South Carolina
campus in 1962. The first missions conference was held in 1963, and a Faith
Promise Missionary offering of sixteen hundred dollars, in addition to the
regular missionary designations, totaling twenty-seven hundred dollars, was
received; and

W
hereas, by 1965, CE membership
reached eighty-five, which necessitated two morning services and standing room
only for Sunday evening services. By 1966, a new auditorium was built and dedicated
for use on Barnwell Street, still in use today, and the first evangelistic
services were held in 1969; and

W
hereas, in 1974,
property with a house were purchased for meetings and social events north of
Columbia and used until 1976, and an Evangelism Explosion ministry was
initiated in 1978. Construction of an education building was completed in 1982 between
the auditorium and the Pendleton building which is on the historic registry. By
1983, two services were needed again to accommodate Sunday services in the
auditorium, and in 1985, average Sunday school attendance was over two hundred
fifty. The AWANA Clubs in the church had a high attendance of some hundred
forty children. In 2020, a food pantry was established to help those in need;
and

W
hereas, the purchase
of the Barnwell House was ready for occupancy in 1989. Built in 1895 by John
Samuel Verner, it became the Columbia Grammar School for Boys established in
1901 by William H. Verner, the state's first Rhodes Scholar. It continued as
the Columbia University School for Boys and relocated in 1908. Then Barnwell
House was used as a private residence. In 1960, the property changed ownership,
and CE purchased it from the South Carolina School Boards Association in 1985;
and

W
hereas, in 1991, CE
Church voted to begin a mission church in the Chapin area under the name Lake
Murray Evangelical Church and became a thriving independent church in 1995.
Today it is pastored by a former member of CE who came through Sunday school
and the AWANA program there; and

W
hereas, CE has been
taught and challenged to live for Christ under the following pastors: T. Gerald
Wheatley, 1956-1970; F. Rhett Sanders, 1971-1975; Michael D. Eremic, 1976-1979;
Jed N. Snyder, 1980-1995; David R. Kunz, 1996-2004; Dennis Newell (interim),
2004-2013; Michael Galdamez, 2013-2025, and Caleb Collins, 2026-present. The
South Carolina House of Representatives is grateful for seventy-five years of
faithful service of CE Church to God and to the community. Now, therefore,

B
e it resolved by the
House of Representatives
:

T
hat the members of the
South Carolina
House of Representatives
,
by this resolution, recognize and honor Columbia Evangelical Church and
congratulate Pastor Caleb Collins and the congregation upon the seventy-fifth
anniversary of worship of their God and ministry locally and around the world.

B
e it further resolved
that a copy of this resolution be presented to Pastor Caleb Collins.

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This web page was last updated on May 13, 2026 at 5:59 PM