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JAMES ISLAND — When Fort Johnson Baptist assembles for worship this Christmas, members will gather in the church’s gymnasium, not the sanctuary.

That’s because a fire destroyed the church’s main worship space in September.

But Fort Johnson’s parishioners understand that the spirit of Christmas isn’t limited to a specific space. The joy and love that accompanies the holiday season can be manifested wherever believers come together.

After all, this wasn’t the first time Fort Johnson Baptist had seen devastation.

A spray-painted wooden sign was used to announce worship services days after Hurricane Hugo in 1989 toppled the church’s steeple. The sign, which had been stored above the church’s ceiling, reemerged after a portion of the overhead surface gave way during the September blaze.

“It’s a good reminder that even after disaster, good things can happen,” said Pastor Marty Middleton, 43.

During the Christmas holiday season — one of the most important times of year for the Christian community — Fort Johnson finds itself attempting to preserve a sense of hope as the congregation continues grappling with the destruction of its house of worship. At the same time, congregants are revisiting what it truly means to be a church, inspired by an outpouring of support from the community and congregations that have faced similar challenges.

A message from the mess

A preschool student was the first to smell the smoke on Sept. 9, telling his mother, “it smells like a cookout out here.” The boy’s mother, a teacher at the church’s preschool, called emergency officials around 8:30 a.m. to report a fire at the church, located at 1473 Camp Road.

Firefighters with the James Island Public Service District Fire Department and other area agencies were able to put out the blaze within an hour. Officials determined a lightning strike hit the steeple and caused the fire. The steeple fell during the blaze, taking about half of the roof with it.

The fire damage is primarily concentrated in the sanctuary. The church’s educational building, which houses the preschool, wasn’t harmed by the fire itself, though it did receive water damage from fire hoses.

Helen Needham grew up in Fort Johnson. Her family served as charter members of the congregation, established by James Island Baptist in 1960.

Fort Johnson’s sanctuary holds precious memories for their family. Needham, her sisters and her daughter all had their weddings in the church’s sanctuary. Needham’s children were baptized there. She held back tears as she recalled the day the building was engulfed in flames.

“When I saw that the church steeple was gone, I cried,” she said.

Standing in the pulpit of the sanctuary earlier this month, Middleton surveyed the rubble. Broken glass, charred wood and other debris was scattered across the floor and atop pews. The sanctuary’s ceiling caved in, leaving a gaping hole that reveals a blue sky. Mold has overtaken many of the walls. The floor was soaked with rainwater.

The destruction is a visual reminder of the messiness that exists in the world, Middleton said. The concept rings especially true this year as we all continue to navigate, with uncertainty, the pandemic.

“Sometimes, when you come to church, your life is a mess,” Middleton said. “But God is in the business of restoring that mess — taking that mess and making a message.”

The church has adjusted, relocating its preschool to a separate campus building and its worship services to the church’s gymnasium, normally used for local recreational basketball games. The pastor anticipates reconstruction will begin in a few weeks, once the church’s insurance company determines whether it will be feasible to renovate the existing sanctuary, or if the church should tear it down and build a new one.

Middleton said his task is to help his congregation stay focused on the church’s mission and to remain positive. His most recent sermon series, “Hopeful Expectation,” tells congregants to expect goodness at the end of this tragedy. This ties into the holiday season, when themes of hope and peace are prominent.

Fort Johnson’s members have been looking forward to positive, yet simple, changes that might come out of fire, such fresh carpet, new pews, and possibly a new sanctuary.

The worship services, though in a nontraditional setting, have been a source of inspiration. Attendance has been steady and a sense of hope permeates the room, Middleton said.

“God’s promises are true,” Middleton said. “So when he says he comes to bring peace and comfort, he’ll do that when we trust in him.”

The tragedy has also taught parishioners at Fort Johnson to focus more on relationships.

Since the fire, church members have come together some Wednesday nights to pray specifically for the restoration process. New relationships are being formed, too. The congregation has grown with the addition of five families who’ve joined the church in the last three months.

For the most part, Fort Johnson has sought to maintain a regular rhythm of Christmas programs and mission activities.

The church’s preschool relocated its annual Christmas pageant to the front lawn. Small children, dressed to depict angels and wise men, retold the biblical Christmas narrative and sang holiday songs. The church continued its involvement in Operation Christmas Child, an initiative where churches buy Christmas gifts for children across the world. The congregation has also bought gifts for a few local families caring for foster children.

“We haven’t let the fire stop us, “Needham said.

Continuing to serve

Fort Johnson has also seen an outpouring of support from the community.

One church donated sound equipment for the church to use during Sunday worship. Another congregation gave Fort Johnson toys and tables to use for the preschool to replace items that had been damaged by smoke. Local businesses donated food for congregants who, on the weekends, had been setting up chairs and equipment in preparation for Sunday worship.

Several other faith communities sent financial donations, including St. Andrew’s in Mount Pleasant, which donated $10,000 to Fort Johnson to express its support.

St. Andrew’s can relate to the difficulties being faced by the James Island group. The Mount Pleasant church lost its entire ministry center to a massive blaze in 2018, leaving the roughly 2,000-member congregation without a place to worship and its day school without a place to meet.

Bishop Steve Wood recalled that the days following the fire involved mostly addressing those immediate concerns. But Wood said he also tried to keep St. Andrew’s focused on its mission of service.

In doing so, he wrote a letter after the blaze that eventually became a regular form of communication, keeping members encouraged and updated on the reconstruction timeline.

“I just told them we’d be OK,” he said.

The church then engaged in ministry outside the building. St. Andrew’s “adopted” a Mount Pleasant fire station and served firefighters baked goods. Lawyers and architects in the congregation offered their skillsets to help the church with its renovation process. Members conducted prayer walks throughout the Mount Pleasant neighborhood where the church sits. Parishioners bought rosebushes for a few neighbors. Congregants began building relationships with teachers at Mount Pleasant Academy, where the church began holding Sunday services.

Wood’s advice for Fort Johnson is to, in spite of the tragedy, seek opportunities to serve others.

“The most challenging thing is that a fire, and these kinds of circumstances, can be so consuming that you miss what God is actually doing in the moment,” Wood said. “Maintain a mission focus. Keep the main thing the main thing. Be attentive to what God is doing around you. He’s mobilizing people around you.”

Reach Rickey Dennis at 937-4886. Follow him on Twitter @RCDJunior.

It’s difficult to snag a seat at popular King Street breakfast restaurant Millers All Day, which opened in Charleston in 2018. Starting Jan. 15, locals throughout the Charleston area will be able to order fried chicken biscuits, shrimp and grits, home fries and other Millers favorites from the eatery’s new food truck.

“We’ve had a lot of people come to the downtown location and ask us to help them in other markets (and) get Millers there,” said co-owner Nathan Thurston. “Putting a brick-and-mortar in different areas is very challenging but we thought that a food truck might be a great way to bring Millers to the people because they’ve asked for it quite a bit.”

The truck will be run by staff members who will eventually work at Millers All Day’s second location in the former Zia Taqueria space in the Terrace Plaza Shopping Center on James Island, Thurston said. After searching for four months, Thurston and Millers co-owner Greg Johnsman of Marsh Hen Mill on Edisto Island found a California-made truck in Minnesota equipped with the tools necessary for cooking breakfast on-the-go.

“Finding one that was right for us took some time,” Thurston said. “The outfit of the truck — the equipment, the layout — was actually a great fit for us.”

The food truck will make its debut 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Jan. 15-16 at Brewlab Charleston (2200 Heriot St.). The truck will serve Millers favorites like its biscuit cinnamon roll; pimento cheeseburger with bacon and pepper jam; bacon, egg and cheese sandwich; and shrimp and grits, a recent hit at Millers All Day.

“We decided to kind of offer our most popular items on the truck,” Thurston said.

The truck will also serve specialty items like lobster fries, a dish Thurston said is their variation on lobster poutine. Millers’ fan-favorite home fries — boiled then fried to create a crispy home fry that’s tender inside — are topped with bacon, Mornay sauce, lobster, scallions and a sunny egg.

“It’s a beautiful dish and people love it, so pretty excited to get that out there,” Thurston said.

The food truck will likely pop up at local breweries following its weekend at Brewlab. Thurston said breweries are a great place to “catapult the truck” by offering brunch at times when food is sometimes not available for folks sampling the area’s craft beer. The truck is also available for private events.

While plans for the truck were being finalized, construction for Millers All Day’s second location at 1956 Maybank Highway commenced in December. Thurston anticipates the renovation will take 10-12 weeks and hopes to open in April 2022.

For Millers All Day’s food truck location and times, follow the restaurant on Instagram or check Street Food Finder.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Jan. 13, 2022) –The Medical University of South Carolina Foundation has received a commitment of $1 million from the Town of Kiawah Island in support of MUSC Health’s Sea Islands Medical Pavilion.

“We are grateful to the Town of Kiawah for its major investment in our mission and their ongoing partnership to help us enable the right care, in the right place and at the right time,” said David J. Cole, M.D., FACS, MUSC president. “This donation will make a significant difference as we seek to improve the well-being of the Sea Islands community, expand access to appropriate care, and bolster connectivity to the state’s only comprehensive academic health system when patients require the most complex care.”

The donation has been designated for a healing, restful green space and garden immediately adjacent to the new facility. Construction on the Sea Islands project is expected to begin in early 2022 and conclude in fall 2023.

“The Town is proud to invest in MUSC's Sea Islands Medical Pavilion and excited about the emergent care services it will provide to Kiawah, Seabrook, Johns and Wadmalaw Islands, and the broader community,” said Town of Kiawah Mayor John D. Labriola. “Our geography has always been a challenge and concern. This new facility will make a crucial difference in life-threatening emergencies and provide the Sea Island communities with greater ease of mind. We are grateful to MUSC for their pursuit of this project, to Kiawah Partners for donating the land, and to the other community partners who have made this possible.”

During the next five years, double digit population growth is anticipated in the Sea Islands community. This growth, along with the islands' geographic isolation, demographics, and community health profiles, has created an urgent need for additional health care services in this part of the South Carolina Lowcountry.

The area also accommodates a large seasonal population of tourists, many of whom have trouble navigating local health care services.

To meet this growing need, MUSC Health is building a new medical facility on Johns Island in the immediate vicinity of Kiawah and Seabrook islands. The facility will provide residents and visitors alike with convenient and rapid access to MUSC Health’s emergency care services, select outpatient services, and some of the nation’s top providers in primary and specialty care.

“People living in this area have to travel 30 or 45 minutes to reach the nearest hospital, sometimes more depending on traffic. That’s a big problem for someone having a stroke or cardiac event,” said Patrick J. Cawley, M.D., MUSC Health CEO and vice president for Health Affairs, University. “This new facility brings that care directly into the community. We’re extremely grateful to the Town of Kiawah and Kiawah Partners for helping to make that possible.”

The project was made possible in part by Kiawah Partners, which donated six acres of land to the Medical University Hospital Authority (MUSC Health), valued at $4.85 million. The project is estimated to cost $24 million. Of that amount, MUSC is working to raise $15 million in private support.

The 22,740-square-foot facility will be located at 1884 Seabrook Island Road, near Bohicket Marina. The ED will include four exam rooms, two trauma rooms, imaging and lab services and a helicopter pad. The medical office will offer primary and specialty care. A telemedicine network will connect the entire facility to MUSC Health providers in downtown Charleston for additional care and consultation, if needed.

In mid-June 2021, McMillan Pazdan Smith (MPS) was chosen to design the project. MPS is also one of two architectural firms working on designs for a new MUSC Health hospital in rural Williamsburg County.

Renderings of the Sea Islands medical pavilion are available upon request.

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About the MUSC Foundation

The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Foundation was chartered in 1966 as a charitable educational foundation to support the education, research, patient care and other programs at the Medical University. The foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, contributions to which are tax-deductible.

Since its beginning, the MUSC Foundation has encouraged such worthwhile academic enterprises as endowed professorships; scholarships; the acquisition and development of campus facilities to serve student, teaching, research or clinical needs; and awards in honor of academic excellence. In addition, it has encouraged achievements in biomedical research.

The Foundation is governed by a 31-member board of directors. The president of the Medical University is an ex-officio, non-voting member of the board. Three members of the MUSC Board of Trustees also serve on the board. The remaining 27 at-large directors are not directly affiliated with the university. Five are alumni of MUSC. The foundation’s funds are invested and managed by professional money managers selected by the foundation’s Investment Committee. This committee uses a professional investment advisor to assist in evaluating its managers.

About MUSC

Founded in 1824 in Charleston, MUSC is home to the oldest medical school in the South as well as the state’s only integrated academic health sciences center, with a unique charge to serve the state through education, research and patient care. Each year, MUSC educates and trains more than 3,000 students and nearly 800 residents in six colleges: Dental Medicine, Graduate Studies, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. MUSC brought in more than $327.6 million in biomedical research funds in fiscal year 2021, continuing to lead the state in obtaining federal and National Institutes of Health funding, with more than $220 million. For information on academic programs, visit musc.edu.

As the clinical health system of the Medical University of South Carolina, MUSC Health is dedicated to delivering the highest-quality and safe patient care while training generations of compassionate, competent health care providers to serve the people of South Carolina and beyond. Patient care is provided at 14 hospitals with approximately 2,500 beds and five additional hospital locations in development, more than 300 telehealth sites and nearly 750 care locations situated in the Lowcountry, Midlands, Pee Dee and Upstate regions of South Carolina. In 2021, for the seventh consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report named MUSC Health the No. 1 hospital in South Carolina. To learn more about clinical patient services, visit muschealth.org.

MUSC and its affiliates have collective annual budgets of $4.4 billion. The nearly 24,000 MUSC team members include world-class faculty, physicians, specialty providers, scientists, and care team members who deliver groundbreaking education, research, technology and patient care.

Charleston remains a popular destination, and the city’s expanding luxury hotel scene reflects that trend.

California-based Auberge Resorts Collection plans to debut its first planned luxury hotel in South Carolina come 2024 in the form of The Dunlin, located within the Kiawah River master-planned community on Johns Island.

In partnership with real estate developer The Beach Co. and private investment and management company McNair Interests, the project is set to have a January groundbreaking.

“The Dunlin will offer an unforgettable escape where guests can immerse themselves in the pristine natural setting of Johns Island and the culturally rich attractions of Charleston,” Auberge Chairman Dan Friedkin said in a statement.

The Dunlin property will include 72 cottage-style guest rooms and suites and 19 villas, as well as a main lodge and porch, great rooms and a library lounge. Amenities encompass a pool with cabanas, full-service spa, community farmstead, and access to the community’s Spring House riverfront swim and fitness facilities.

A riverfront restaurant with outdoor deck will also be available, as will two event spaces, including a 10,000-square-foot indoor-outdoor event hall.

“We are pleased to partner with Auberge Resorts Collection to create The Dunlin, which will be one of the most remarkable new resorts in the country,” Beach Co. CEO John Darby said. “Auberge has a terrific track record of creating the most unique hospitality experiences in the world, and this endeavor’s intimate setting will bring highly personalized service with a coastal experience inspired by the local environment.”

Built into the Kiawah River community, which puts emphasis in natural surrounding elements, The Dunlin will consist of 2,000 acres of land with 20 miles of riverfront nature trails and marshlands. Guests will be able to participate in nature excursions on the property, including fly fishing, crabbing and boating, as well as paddle boarding, hiking and biking.

Architect Robert Glazier was chosen to design the resort, and Amanda Lindroth of Lindroth Design will lead the interior design of the property.

Construction financing was provided by United Bank’s Charleston offices.

Auberge Resorts Collection has 22 other hotels and resorts across the globe, recently winning accolades from Travel & Leisure’s 2021 World’s Best and Conde Nast’s 2021 Readers’ Choice awards.

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | For a teenager in the 1970s, the Boy Scout Handbook offered an escape into a practical world that provided answers to lots of things for a young, curious mind: how to tie knots, start campfires, safely hike and camp in the woods, use a compass, identify trees and track animals. Manuals for merit badges provided more detailed information on everything from survival to citizenship. (In my view, the Boy Scouts’ three merit badge manuals on citizenship – for the community, nation and world – are better than the civics materials provided in school.)

So it came as a surprise that a new book on all things maritime, appropriately called The Ocean, is based on a version of the Handbook, now called a Fieldbook, of nautical skills, as explained by co-author Chris Dixon of James Island.

A few years back, Dixon said he was talking with an old friend for whom he once worked, surfing buddy and laid-back singer/entrepreneur Jimmy Buffett. Over a plate of shrimp and grits, Dixon shared the concept of a new book of maritime skills – a kind of “Poseidon’s bible – a guide to all things ocean that’ll be fun to read in a hammock strung between two palm trees, but will also help save your ass in a pinch,” as he wrote in the introduction.

Buffett chuckled and said, “The stuff you only really learn from time on the water. … When I was a kid, I learned so much from this book called The Sea Scout Handbook,” which the authors then described as an inspiration for their new book.

They ended up sharing scores of practical skills for the water. Get a flavor through some of the subtitles in six chapters of the 350-page book:

Their book, in fact, inspired a cover feature story in the Charleston City Paper that showcases 29 different things regular people can do to help protect the ocean.

In addition to recommendations to get out on the water to learn it and love it, there are suggestions on how you can promote sustainability of the seas, protect local waterways and be good land stewards to help the ocean. Several ideas focus on how to get greener in your life intentionally to make a longer term difference with such actions as eliminating single-use plastics, not using hygiene products with plastic microbeads, properly disposing machine fluids, reducing harmful herbicides and pesticides that might run off into streams, and being careful with sunscreens that you use.

But the story also included practical ways to participate in democracy to make it stronger.

“Never underestimate your power to make a difference, through volunteerism, recycling, political advocacy, sharing via social media or engagement in citizen science projects,” S.C. Aquarium Executive Director Kevin Mills said.

Emily Cedzo of the Coastal Conservation League added, “Take action to protect the ocean. Whether it’s opposing offshore drilling or supporting protections for the endangered right whale, there’s a lot of information out there, so get some help gathering it. You can send emails or make calls to local, state and national officials or speak at public meetings.”

Bottom line: To make a difference in any endeavor in which you’re passionate – from protecting oceans to fighting to ensure fair election lines – get more involved. Connect with groups that share your passion. Vote. Help people register to vote. Interact with people in your neighborhood and get them to help. Donate to organizations that do what you want done. Support elected officials who you support by giving your time or money during campaign season.

As the Boy Scouts taught me, being a good citizen is about being involved. We need more of that spirit today to keep America moving forward.

Andy Brack, editor and publisher of Statehouse Report, also is publisher of the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: [email protected].