Delegates gather for conference

Adam Parker
The Post and Courier

The Rev. Julius McAllister (left), bishop of the AME's 20th District, and Seventh District Bishop Preston Warren Williams II, who presides over South Carolina, lead the Palmetto Annual Conference this week at Hopewell AME Church.

HEMINGWAY — Hundreds convened in South Carolina's farm belt for the Palmetto Annual Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church's Seventh District, which got under way at Hopewell AME Church on Monday.

The week-long conference, the first of six, draws delegates of AME churches who live in the state's eastern region.

Presiding was Bishop Preston Warren Williams II, reappointed last month to a second four-year term. Also attending was the Rev. Julius H. McAllister, pastor of Mount Zion AME Church of Florence, who was appointed bishop of the 20th District, which encompasses Zimbabwe, Malawi, Uganda and Tanzania.

The location of the conference was designed to emphasize Williams' determination to enlarge and empower rural congregations, officials said.

After a Tuesday communion service, Williams said Christian education remains his foremost concern. He plans to broaden education programs, provide youth with opportunities to gather and invite seminary professors to lead sessions to fortify the religious knowledge of clergy and laity, he said.

The church also remains dedicated to strengthening existing partnerships and forging new ones, Williams said.

A new Department of Juvenile Justice youth facility in Columbia has been funded in part with $100,000 from the church, he said. Counselors and teachers regularly are sent to prisons to work with inmates. Now, the church is seeking 1,800 volunteers to join a program designed to help just-released prisoners integrate into society, an effort to be coordinated with the Juvenile Justice Department, Williams said.

Kabrina Bass, Christian education director for the Seventh District, is overseeing a summit geared toward children ages 6 to 15, to be administered by individual congregations. A new leadership program will help to keep high school students on a path to success, Bass said.

The church also has reached out to the Hispanic community, Williams said. The district now has three Spanish- speaking congregations.

Established four years ago, the 20th District presents the AME Church with intense challenges, McAllister said.

He said he will live and work in a hotel until a church residence and office can be built. His goals include raising money in the U.S. to fund building projects, health care and education initiatives.