‘Walls of separation’ coming down after service

August 15, 2005

By MEGAN VARNER
Index-Journal senior staff writer

The spiritual and emotional effects of last month’s Reconciliation Service in Abbeville are continuing to be felt across the Lakelands community.
On Sunday, hundreds of people from congregations across Greenwood and Abbeville counties gathered at Restoration Worship Center in Greenwood to praise God as one spiritual body, and to show their dedication to follow through with the commitments made during the July 12 service.
Last month, white and black church leaders and their congregations convened to confess to and offer forgiveness for sins committed against black people over the past centuries. It was an event that garnered national media attention and one that came just days after the U.S. Senate issued a resolution apologizing for its inaction on the issue.
As pastors Tony Foster, with Restoration Worship Center, and Wendell Rhodes, with Friendship Worship Center in Abbeville, took to the pulpit, people of various ages and races took to their feet, singing and praising the name of the Lord. A few people could even be seen dancing in the aisles, as they became overwhelmed in the spirit of the moment.
Foster, who attended last month’s service, said he wanted to have a special service at his own church in order to show the community that the commitments made toward reconciliation were not ones that have been forgotten.
“We saw the recent poll in The Index-Journal that said a lot of people were skeptical of the Reconciliation Service. We wanted to demonstrate that this was not a one-time event, and that (these) churches wanted to come together and worship together,” Foster said. “We’re planning on having strategic talks around the table between African American leaders and Caucasian leaders to find out what we can do to help our community.”
A recent Index-Journal poll showed that 90 percent of the people who responded did not think that the reconciliation service in Abbeville would bridge the racial divide. Foster said those numbers inspired them to reassert their mission.
“We wanted to show the community that what happened in Abbeville was a true phenomenon,” he added. “When we saw that poll in the newspaper, we decided to show the community that we meant business — that we weren’t just being hypocritical.”
The 1916 lynching of Abbeville resident Anthony Crawford has received media attention in the wake of the Senate’s apology, but Foster said similar transgressions have happened to Greenwood residents.
“There are some issues in our city that we haven’t talked about,” he said. “I feel that there needs to be some healing taking place here in our community.”
Rhodes, who organized last month’s Reconciliation Service at his church in Abbeville, also spoke to the congregation during event. He said Sunday’s service was not about issuing another apology, but about opening the lines of communication between churches and bringing all people together for a common purpose.
He said the “walls of separation” that have divided the white and black communities have already begun to fall, and he hopes now to continue building better relationships between the two communities.
He said that the government has done its part to reconcile past transgressions, and now it is time for the church to “catch up.”
Rhodes said that he wasn’t sure why so many people who responded to the Index-Journal poll felt that the previous service would do little to heal racial wounds.
“If you polled the people who were at the service, those numbers would have been different,” he said. “Even if we only affected 10 percent, that’s a good start.”
As Rhodes led the congregation in prayer during the service, his voice became heavy with emotion.
“I hope we leave this place tonight determined in our hearts, more than ever, to love each other, to care for each other and to stand up and be counted for God, and that every prejudiced thought and hindering force be cast off of us,” he said to the crowd. “I declare that the walls of separation are going down and we are coming together.”
For Euketha Tolbert, a member of Restoration Worship Center, the evening was about serving God as “one body.”
“This is about different congregations coming together to do the same thing – to worship God,” Tolbert said. “We are all one body. We are the body of Christ.”
Miriam Ferguson, a member of Friendship Worship Center, said the service was an amazing experience.
“God is doing super work. The message brought today – God delivered it,” she said. “It was awesome, and it is just a beginning of what He is going to do. I felt God’s love and presence tonight. The spirit was so sweet in there.”

Megan Varner covers general assignments in Greenwood and the Lakelands. She can be reached at 223-1811, ext. 3308, or: mvarner@indexjournal.com

Ruthie Poland

BRADLEY — Ruthie Yvonne Poland, 35, of 114 Response Court, Callison, died Saturday, August 13, 2005 from injuries received in an automobile accident.
Born in Greenwood, she was a daughter of Jess and Marie McClain Lipe. She was a former employee at Durst Plant of Greenwood Mills and she was of the Church of God faith.
She was preceded in death by her maternal grandfather, George McClain and her paternal grandparents, Jess and Rosie Lipe.
Surviving in addition to her parents of Greenwood are two sons, Sean Poland and C. J. Poland, both of the home; a nephew, raised in the home, Rodney Lipe; a sister, Mrs. Robin (Angela) Pickelsimer of Brevard, NC; a brother and sister-in-law, Richard and Teresa Lipe of Chappells and her maternal grandmother, Ruth McClain of Greenwood.
Services will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Harley Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Eugene Thrasher and the Rev. Dennis Ayers officiating. Burial will be in Oakbrook Memorial Park.
Pallbearers will be Antonio Tolen, Corey Bell, Stanley Vkadike, Keith Gilcrest, Chris Lipe, Brandon Hightower, Eric Penfield, James Fleming, Scotty Lipe and Antway Morton.
The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Monday from 6 to 8 p.m.
The family is at the home of her parents, 115 Annette Way, Greenwood.
Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.harleyfuneralhome.com
PAID OBITUARY

Nancy Chiles Speed

HERNDON, Va. — Nancy Chiles Speed, 56, of 2610 Meadow Hall Drive, wife of the Rev. Jonathan Speed, died Friday, Aug. 12, 2005 after an extended illness.
She was a daughter of Samuel and Carrie Chiles.
Survivors include her husband; her parents of McCormick; three daughters, Kimberly of Leesburg, Va., Kendra of Charlotte, N.C. and Krystal of Herndon; three sisters, Vonzella Johnson and Martha Tucker, both of McCormick and Tina Chiles of Duluth, Ga.; two brothers, Allen Chiles and Thomas Chiles, both of McCormick.
The family is at the home of her parents, Bellfield Road, and home of a sister Vonzella Johnson, 200 Gilchrist Heights, both in McCormick.
Services will be announced by Walker Funeral Home, McCormick.

Kevin Vines

NINETY SIX — Kevin Reid “Goob” Vines, 28, of 107 Epworth Camp Road, died Saturday, Aug. 13, 2005 at Palmetto Health Care in Columbia from injuries sustained in a automobile accident. Visitation is 7-9 Tuesday at Blyth Funeral Home. The family is at the home. Services will be announced by Blyth Funeral Home & Cremation Services www.blythfuneralhome.com

Sad times for the state and for Campbell family

August 15, 2005

Former Gov. Carroll Campbell told South Carolinians in the fall of 2001 he had Alzheimer’s disease, a degenerative disease of the central nervous system. Symptoms are disruptions of memory, attention and orientation, and, changes in personality and speaking ability.
Now the family has announced he has been admitted to a residential treatment facility for full-time care.
Carroll Campbell, of course, played a significant role in South Carolina, both as a member of Congress and as governor. He helped solidify the S. C. Republican Party to the point where it now controls both houses of the Legislature and the governor’s office.

GOVERNOR CAMPBELL WAS a supporter of the late President Ronald Reagan. Mr. Reagan, of course, is credited with helping confine the Communist Soviet Union to the trash bins of history. And therein is a painful irony. He, too, was a victim of Alzheimer’s, one of the most unmerciful diseases that many South Carolinians have come to know too well.
In such sad times, there is no Republican and Democrat, liberal or conservative. We’re all just South Carolinians who offer our prayers and best wishes to the Campbell family in a difficult time.
There are many things that could be said, of course. Four words, though, speak loudest about Alzheimer’s. They are short and simple, and nothing could be more painful or more frustrating. Those words? There is no cure.