From 1992 until 2002, I was a part of the now defunct – Word of Life Church in Greenville, SC. When we first arrived there, the church was meeting on some trailer buildings off of Batesville Road in Greenville. After a while, the church moved to 208 Blacks Dr. off of Pelham Road on the eastside of Greenville. The property purchased by the church at some point in the 90’s has seen some major facelifts and changes, since the time I was there. The property is now for sale again. Follow the link here— http://tinyurl.com/6at685w   to the commercial listing for the property. Allow the link to settle and you will be directed to the “Map” feature of the listing. If you select “Bird’s Eye”, you will then see an aerial view of the property. You may need to copy and paste the link into your browser.

    I will explain the changes to the property. First, by posting this link, I am making no comment as to the status, beliefs or doctrine of the church that owns the property now. Second, the present owners added the large sanctuary, the front drive and the parking lots in the rear and side of the building. The drive way cutting between the house and the pool is new. The photo shows the pool covered and you can still see the cemetery under the big trees near the second driveway that leads to the house. In this cemetery is reportedly the first pastor of the first church that was located many years ago, on this property. He was reported as one who started many churches in the area. During my time being attending the church, descendents of this man or others buried there, would come visit the cemetery from time to time.

   

    My years were spent going in and out of the house/meeting building and school building. The house and garage, school building in the back and the storage building at the rear of the property, were the only buildings on the property before 2002. I remember the installation of the power to that storage building. It was called a “work project”. We did use the pool under “church guidelines”. Men and boys swam separately for the women and girls; there were long shorts to or below the knees, t-shirts for the men and long shorts and over-shirts for the women. Dark colors were preferred. Families could go in swimming together, separately from other individuals or families. Where the parking lots are now, was grass and area for the children to run and play.

   One change to note, there was shared use of the driveway with the owners of the property to the back of the church, naturally so, as church members owned that property, at the time. However, now, the driveway has been divided and access for church members cut-off from use of that part of the drive. Wonder why? Another, change, the house to back has had a pool and an addition added to it from the time we were there. That was a nice house; I was in it several times.  

   Word of Life Church met in the basement of the house. I have many memories of the services there. During one service that Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) came to do for us, BC – a leader and Jane Whaley’s adopted daughter said, “You will come to love this basement.” Well, we were there enough to grow fond of it or grow cold one or the other. (The temperature was hard to regulate with all those folks down there!) I can still see the person who most often played the keyboard up front of the meeting area cutting eyes at me while I ran the sound board. He had a high standard of audio performance that many times was higher than the equipment allowed. So, goes life in a small church.

   At first, we met for training center during the weekday mornings from 9AM until about noon and two nights during the week. If I remember right, it was Tuesday for fellowship dinners and Thursday for mid-week service. Sunday meetings were in the morning starting at 9:30 AM. Leadership would meet at 9:00AM in the pastor’s office – also in the basement. There were no Sunday evening meetings. In later years, that would change as we would be traveling to Spindale to be a part of WOFF.  After a while, training center stopped and only Sunday morning and weeknight services with school during the day, of course.

   At least, three families lived in the levels above the basement. That would be the pastor and his wife and two other families, totaling 11 people. During a short time, another family joined them which made 14 total. That number was temporary. The main level had a living room, formal dining room, a study off the foyer and a large kitchen/dining area and hall bathroom as well as a large master bedroom with a bathroom. There was a large laundry room where many folks received haircuts. The upper level had at least three bedrooms and two bathrooms as well and storage area in the eaves. Over the garage was another storage area.

Things have changed since March of 1992.

 Thank you, for taking time to visit and read this blog.  Please, consume the information on this site responsibly. The author is not a licensed mental health professional and encourages those that need professional help to seek it. The intent of the material is to inform and be a resource. Be sure to tell every member that you know at WOFF about this blog. There are readers at WOFF. Comments are invited from all readers, including present or former members. Polls are not scientific and no private information is gathered.

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       (Please, take time to read the Terms of Use for this personal blog. As mentioned, the information about WOFF is from my memories and recollections as perfect as that may be or not be. ) Scripture references are Amplified Version unless otherwise noted. (Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation ) This is post number 241.