South Carolina H 5701: Columbia Evangelical Church 75th anniversary

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 5701 Text of Previous Version (May. 13, 2026) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 5701

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

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.

Whereas, 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

Whereas, 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

Whereas, 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

Whereas, 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

Whereas, 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

Whereas, 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

Whereas, 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

Whereas, 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

Whereas, 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,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

That 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.

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

----XX----

This web page was last updated on May 13, 2026 at 05:59 PM