Faith Temple, Taylors, SC

    (Top left) Doris and James Davis and Pastor James H. Thompson in 1964; (Top right) the bride and groom; (Group photo, front row from left to right) Sarah Porter, Doris and James Davis, Charles Davis Jr., and Pat Kelley, (back row, from left to right) Morris Kelley, Charles Kelley, Pastor James H. Thompson, and Alvin Bayne.   The bride and groom, gaze out the window of their get-away car! Both were 23 years old when they united in holy matrimony just before Wednesday night prayer meeting on Dec. 23, 1964, at Faith Temple, Taylors, SC. Pastor James H. "Jimmy" Thompson led the vows for Mr. James L. Davis and Mrs. Doris Ann Kelley Davis. James’ sister Linda attended Faith Temple. She had begun walking from Pine Log Ford Road (her family's home) as a teenager to be with friends at Faith Temple. Then Pastor Jimmy began giving her a ride to church. So James and Doris asked Pastor Thompson to perform the wedding. “I cut the holly the morning we got married,” says James, ...

Perry and Joyce Yoder   Mr. Perry and Mrs. Joyce Yoder, of Marietta, SC, received Faith Temple Sunday School (SS) attendance awards: Perry for 10 years and Joyce for 32 years. “Perfect attendance” pins indicate at least 50 of 52 SS classes attended each year. “I’ve learned a lot about Noah’s ark and how well classmates pray,” Joyce says. “If you’re home alone, come and join us for Sunday School. I guarantee a smile and a handshake. Bring the kids. We love them.” Joyce is a charter member (Dec. 16, 1956) of Faith Temple, Taylors, SC. Her parents were Mr. Belton M. Rainey (1923-1987) and Mrs. Grace B. Rainey (1924-2000). Her brother is David Rainey, 64. Her son is Mr. Robert Roye. “I’ve learned a lot about the Bible in Sunday School,” says Perry Yoder, raised as Mennonite in Goshen, Indiana. Mennonites, a faith stream within Christianity, use cars, electricity, and phones, but they and the more strict Amish are similar. Yoder is a common surname among the Amish and Mennonites. Per...

            By Kaity Robertson (Pictured) ... as told to Jerry Martin   “Teaching is a calling.” I have heard this said by my professors at North Greenville University in Greenville County, SC, during my time there. NGU has held a special place in my heart for years and so has the thought of teaching the children of tomorrow. I was able to achieve my NGU attendance back in the fall of 2021. It has been a true blessing, getting to experience NCU and its elementary teachers prep program.  It has been hard at times, but when God calls you to something that He intends for you to do, He will provide you a way. I’ve struggled with things during my time at NGU, but God has truly seen me through the past almost three full years. He still continues to provide for me, even now.   I was blessed to have a “student-taught” at my first school this past fall. I was in a classroom full of third-graders and their r...

  Carroll Peterson   I was raised in a godly family. I drifted away from the Lord in my teenage years and my younger twenties, even in my thirties. For quite a while, I don’t know, I just felt like I wanted to be on my own. I’m selfish. I wanted to do my own thing, my own way. I guess we all can comprehend some of that. But I thank God that he loved me enough that he made a way.  I get to thinking about the plan of salvation and what God has done for each and every one of us — the plan of salvation through the covenant that he’s brought to us through his Son, Jesus. What a magnificent thing he’s done. We should all be shouting to the rooftops, and even more. Think just a little bit about what all was done at the cross — how he took all of our sins upon him. Praise God. Praise his holy name. I just thank him. I can’t thank him enough.  The song we were singing, “The Joy of the Lord” (Nehemiah 8:10: “the joy of the Lord is your strength”)… I was reading in Nehemiah, yo...

                       By Mrs. Nell Montgomery (pictured above)           (Mrs. Nell Thompson Adams Montgomery was my first-grade teacher at Mt. View Elementary School. She married Mr. Richard Adams. He passed on, and she is now married to the Rev. Bill Montgomery. She is a sister to the late Rev. James H. Thompson, founding pastor of Faith Temple and attended Faith Temple for many years. — Steve Crain)   My family had a dairy farm in the Double Springs Community, about seven miles north of Greer, SC. I was one of five children: Jimmy, me, Betty, Tommy, and Judy. I was ten years old when I gave my heart to  Jesus in a revival meeting at Double Springs Baptist Church, just across the road from our house. We grew up in that church.  While I was growing up, my dad heard about Pentecost — his heart was open to it, and he wanted us to...