2003-2004 Bill 5357: Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church - South Carolina Legislature Online

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 115th Session, 2003-2004 3 4 H. 5357 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 House Resolution 9 Sponsors: Reps. Parks, Allen, Altman, Anthony, Bailey, Bales, Barfield, Battle, Bingham, Bowers, 10 Branham, Breeland, G. Brown, J. Brown, R. Brown, Cato, Ceips, Chellis, Clark, Clemmons, Clyburn, 11 Coates, Cobb-Hunter, Coleman, Cooper, Cotty, Dantzler, Davenport, Delleney, Duncan, Edge, Emory, 12 Freeman, Frye, Gilham, Gourdine, Govan, Hagood, Hamilton, Harrell, Harrison, Harvin, Haskins, Hayes, 13 Herbkersman, J. Hines, M. Hines, Hinson, Hosey, Howard, Huggins, Jennings, Keegan, Kennedy, Kirsh, 14 Koon, Leach, Lee, Limehouse, Littlejohn, Lloyd, Loftis, Lourie, Lucas, Mack, Mahaffey, Martin, 15 McCraw, McGee, McLeod, Merrill, Miller, Moody-Lawrence, J.H. Neal, J.M. Neal, Neilson, Ott, Owens, 16 Perry, Phillips, Pinson, E.H. Pitts, M.A. Pitts, Quinn, Rhoad, Rice, Richardson, Rivers, Rutherford, 17 Sandifer, Scarborough, Scott, Simrill, Sinclair, Skelton, D.C. Smith, F.N. Smith, G.M. Smith, G.R. Smith, 18 J.E. Smith, J.R. Smith, W.D. Smith, Snow, Stewart, Stille, Talley, Taylor, Thompson, Toole, Townsend, 19 Tripp, Trotter, Umphlett, Vaughn, Viers, Walker, Weeks, Whipper, White, Whitmire, Wilkins, 20 Witherspoon and Young 21 Document Path: l:\council\bills\dka\3965dw04.doc 22 23 Introduced in the House on May 25, 2004 24 Adopted by the House on May 25, 2004 25 26 Summary: Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church 27 28 29 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 30 31 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 32 5/25/2004 House Introduced and adopted HJ-14 33 34 35 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 36 37 5/25/2004 38 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A HOUSE RESOLUTION 10 11 TO RECOGNIZE AND CONGRATULATE MT. ZION A.M.E. 12 CHURCH IN PROMISED LAND ON THE COMPLETION OF 13 THEIR FAMILY LIFE CENTER ON JULY 30, 2003, AND TO 14 EXTEND BEST WISHES TO THEM IN ALL OF THEIR 15 FUTURE ENDEAVORS. 16 17 Whereas, in the early 1800’s, the people of Promised Land 18 worshipped in a brush arbor, and in 1875 James Fields sold one 19 acre of his land to the African Methodist Trustees for forty dollars 20 and this became the site of the future Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church; and 21 22 Whereas, in 1883, the congregation of Mt. Zion completed a new 23 church facility and in 1887, James Fields and Wells Gray made 24 available small lots from their farms on which the church could set 25 aside land for two schools, making Mt. Zion a symbol of education 26 as well as religion by the early 1900’s; and 27 28 Whereas, throughout the next couple of decades, the Mt. Zion 29 Church worshipped in the wooden sanctuary and in 1958, they 30 began to build a new “block” church, which was completed in 31 1960 and dedicated in 1961 after the church repaid its loan; and 32 33 Whereas, in the mid-1970’s, under the leadership of the Reverend 34 Robert L. Higgins, the church began the task of renovating and 35 expanding the block structure, with the members seeing a need to 36 brick the church and to build new Sunday School classrooms and 37 an enlarged fellowship hall; and 38 39 Whereas, during the renovations that took place in 1979, members 40 of the church and the community came together during the week 41 and on Saturdays to work on the church and in 1980, a loan was

1 [5357] 1 1 finally secured to aid in finishing the renovations and to install 2 heating and air conditioning units in the church; and 3 4 Whereas, in October of 2002, the Mt. Zion church broke ground on 5 the building of a new Family Life Center, a vision of the Reverend 6 James E. Speed, Sr., and it was completed on July, 30, 2003; and 7 8 Whereas, the ribbon-cutting ceremony and first worship and Holy 9 Communion service was held in the Family Life Center on 10 September 7, 2003, bringing the church quite a long way from its 11 beginnings as a brush arbor; and 12 13 Whereas, the community of Promised Land and the members of 14 the Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church congregation have been provided an 15 additional place to worship and join together in fellowship and 16 their community is sure to grow strong in God’s love for many 17 more years to come. Now, therefore, 18 19 Be it resolved by the House of Representatives: 20 21 That the members of the House of Representatives recognize and 22 congratulate Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church in Promised Land on the 23 completion of their Family Life Center on July 30, 2003, and 24 extend best wishes to them in all of their future endeavors. 25 26 Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to 27 the congregation of the Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church in Promised 28 Land, South Carolina. 29 ----XX---- 30

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