Shouts of joy and praises to the Lord echoed across an empty field in Orangeburg on Sunday afternoon as St. Paul Baptist Church members celebrated the church's next chapter.

"Except he build the house, they that labor, labor in vain," St. Paul Baptist Church pastor Rev. Charcey Priester Sr. told the church members and guests gathered for the new church campus' groundbreaking ceremony. "We pray that His glory will continue to be on this land. It is going to be on this church, on this building. It is going to cause a supernatural explosion in Orangeburg, South Carolina."

St. Paul, which has tripled in size in the past three years and outgrown its Windsor Street location, will build on approximately 46 acres on U.S. 21/Rowesville Road across from The Okonite Co.

Using Ezra 3 as a point of departure, Priester said like the children of Israel, the children of St. Paul Baptist Church are laying the foundation of the temple.

"And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was being laid," Priester said. "This is a seventh month ... as the year of jubilee. Jubilee is the time of celebration and restoration; jubilee is a time of debt cancellation."

To shouts of joy, Priester blew a shofar marking the occasion, and the church's praise team performed.

"It has been a long time coming," St. Paul Deacon Samuel Boneparte said. "There were those who said it would not happen. There were those who said there was no way

it could happen. But those of us who had the faith and trust in God know that He will make a way out of no way."

With the help of South Carolina Community Bank, the church purchased the Rowesville Road property two years ago. Construction on the new facility began Monday and is expected to be complete within eight months. Worship services are scheduled to begin at the new location in April 2010.

The new St. Paul Baptist Church, which will be built in the shape of an octagon, will be of a traditional steeple-shaped design. The brick-and-stucco facility will seat approximately 700 parishioners and feature a 70-seat choir section. There will be approximately 150 parking spaces located behind the church.

In addition to the church, a fellowship hall and sanctuary classroom will also be built. Fountain Inn-based Medlin Builders Inc. is the project's contractor.

Some $1 million has been raised so far, with the first phase of the building project expected to cost nearly $3 million.

The second phase will include a family life center. There are also plans to build a charter school, a 75-person senior housing complex and a graveyard.

Margaret Darby, who has been a member of St. Paul for nearly 50 years and currently serves as its secretary, described the day as one filled with mixed emotions.

"I think about from whence we came," she said. "It is almost like moving out of an old house to a new house. It is almost like I am leaving a place where I was almost born and bred. It is a new beginning."

But she said the moment is sweet.

"I am happy that I lived long enough to see the change," she said. "There was a time that I dreamed it would never happen. But the dream is coming true."

While the church has worshipped at the Windsor Street location since its inception, Priester said a bus ministry helps get those with no transportation to church.

When Sarah Gardner, 71, was born, St. Paul Baptist Church was immediately a part of her life.

"This is a wonderful, wonderful blessed thing," she said. "I am tickled pink. This is something that I have looked forward to for quite some time."

Gardner said the sanctuary has been crowded.

"Sometimes, we have to put chairs down the aisle or go in the back of the church," she said. "We need more room."

But for Gardner, who has worshipped on Windsor for so long, it will take some getting used to.

"I will learn to love this one," she said. "I will miss that spot when I think about this spot, (but) I will get over it."

Eva M. Legette, 73, said as a little girl living on Glover Street, St. Paul Baptist has been like her second home and family.

"My mother took me when I was a baby, and I joined when I was 12 years old," Legette said. "I have seen choirs, gospel choirs come and go. It is a happy time to see the church growing. We have two services now on Sunday, and both are packed."

The seed of St. Paul Baptist began when a small group of believers gathered in 1905 for baptism in a bush arbor. A short time later, the congregation moved to Windsor Street and named the church St. Paul Baptist.

The congregation started under the leadership of the Rev. C.D. Salley, who served as its pastor for 42 years. The Rev. Dr. Henry Timothy Williams Sr. arrived to the church in December 1954 and served the church for more than 45 years.

As with many churches, trials have not been lacking. In 1956, the church was destroyed by fire. Then-superintendent of Orangeburg schools, R.T. Ashley, allowed the church to hold its worship services in the auditorium of the historic Riverside School, which was at the corner of Glover and Maple streets. In 1957, the church was rebuilt at its current location at 760 Windsor St.

T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached by e-mail at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5551. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com

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