Welcome!

 

Calvary Lutheran Church exists to bring the hope, love and grace of Christ to the City of Charleston. We do that by being a bridge for people to Jesus, his family, and his ministry.

 
Please join us this Sunday morning! Our Sunday service is held at 10:00 a.m. in the Sanctuary. 
 
An adult Bible study starts at 8:30 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall with a time of coffee and conversation, followed by our study of scripture beginning at 8:45 a.m.
 

Children’s Sunday School classes begin at 8:45 a.m. with one class for elementary age children and one for middle school and high school age children.

For anyone who cannot attend service in person, services are live streamed on our YouTube channel, Calvary Lutheran Chs, during worship time.  Past services are available on the Sermons page and on YouTube.
 
For a complete list of scheduled activities, please visit our Events page.
 
 
 
 
 

Ministries at Calvary

 

Kids for Christ

 

Kids for Christ is a group ministering to kids aged 1st through 5th grade. Monthly meetups involve fun, fellowship and food for the entire family, so be sure to join us!
 
 
 
 

 

 

Youth Ministry

 

Calvary Youth is for all 6th through 12th graders looking for a place to connect. There are monthly meetups for fellowship, bible study, and community. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

JOY Fellowship

 

JOY is an outreach ministry of Calvary, providing a place for the women of the church and their friends to grow in love for Jesus and for each other.                                                    
 
 
 

Our Pastor

Interim Pastor Ed Grant

Pastor Ed and Sue Grant

Pastor Ed Grant earned his Master’s of Divinity (MDiv) from Christ Seminary, Seminex in 1979. He and his wife, Sue, took their first call to serve Redeemer Lutheran Church in Newton, New Jersey, as mission church developer and youth worker. As the mission congregation, grew, the family of three to relocate to Blairstown, New Jersey, and the mission became Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd. Pastor Ed served the congregation for 11 years, during which the couple was blessed with three additional children. The Grant family was then called to serve Resurrection Lutheran Church, located in Queens, New York City, where they lived for three years. Once again Pastor Ed felt the call to work in the mission field and accepted the call to serve Family of Faith, a mission congregation in Middletown, New York. He served there for 16 years, meeting first in a movie theater, then a barn before finally constructing their own house of prayer.
 
Although Pastor Ed and Sue thought they would eventually retire in Middletown, New York, Pastor Ed began to feel that God might be calling him to serve another congregation. In April, 2009, he felt the very strong call to serve Calvary Lutheran Church in Charleston, South Carolina. God spoke very clearly to Pastor Ed, saying, “I have called you to be a bridge builder.” In July, 2009, Pastor Ed and Sue moved to the Charleston area and began their ministry at Calvary.

In the summer of 2019, Pastor Ed retired from full-time ministry while remaining a member of Calvary Lutheran Church and working with multiple non-profit ministries and participating in international mission trips.
In June, 2021, after the current pastor accepted a call to another church, Pastor Ed graciously agreed to act as Calvary Lutheran Church’s interim pastor as the congregation moves through the call process.

Our Staff

 
Tammy Matthews
Church Administrator
 
Charisma Glinka
Kids for Christ Leader
 
Amy Plott
Youth Leader
 
 
 
Upcoming Events
 
 

Hands of His Mercy

Typically meets monthly.

Volunteers perform home repairs for those in need in the local community as well as occasional week-long mission trips to help those suffering from natural disasters. See the Ministries page to learn more.

 
 

Friends of Bartimaeus

Dinner is typically held the last Friday of the month from 6-8 p.m.
 
Friends of Bartimaeus provide a home-cooked meal, fellowship, and other services to the blind or visually impaired.

 

 

JOY – Women’s Fellowship 

Typically, the fourth Sunday of the month at 5 p.m.

JOY Fellowship, Calvary’s women’s ministry, encourages women to grow in their love for Jesus and each other.

 

From the Pastor’s Desk

A Time of Revival

By Pastor Ed Grant
 
My very dear friends in Christ, as our newsletters are sent out quarterly, this may be my final one to you as pastor (interim).
 

Many of you have echoed my observation – and an exciting one – that the Holy Spirit is up to something special among us! And not only among us, but in our community and throughout our country. While the media reminds us continually about the increasing lawlessness, violence, and the foolish trashing of biblical values, revival is breaking out on numerous college campuses.

As the Apostle John declared in the opening chapter of his Gospel: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:4-5. The darkness will never overcome or extinguish the Light of the world, but “many who sit in darkness are being drawn to the Light” through our witness.
 
In 1973 Billy Graham led a crusade to South Korea in which 75,000 people were saved. Out of this revival, the largest congregation in the world, the Yoido Pentecostal Church, with 800,000 members, was formed. In thanksgiving for the revival they experienced and out of concern for the darkness they see in the U.S., they will send 40 prayer teams to the U.S. the first week of May. As you have already heard, they will be at Calvary Friday, May 5. I hope you plan to join us for this important event! 
 

I am also very excited about the number of new people God is bringing to the Calvary family. There is no need for me to encourage you to introduce yourselves to them or to make them feel welcome. The report I hear again and again is that we are a very welcoming and friendly congregation. My encouragement is only that we see ourselves as magnets through whom the Holy Spirit is reaching out to friends, family, and co-workers by inviting them to worship and our other activities, through which they can experience genuine worship and fellowship.

Finally, our time of searching for a new pastor, which is approaching two years and a huge time investment by the call committee and a prayer commitment by the congregation, may be over on April 16. A morning meeting, followed by a call service at 6:00 pm, will culminate with a vote for one of two candidates. And, perhaps by sometime in June, I will find myself retired again and serving among you as a pastor emeritus. Ministry will change but, as you well know, will not end! Neither will the relationships Sue and I have enjoyed with you for almost 14 years.

 


Read more...

Joy From the Ash Heap

By Pastor Ed Grant
 
About 23 years ago while serving a mission congregation in Middletown, New York, we decided to raise funds for missions, the youth, and for our building fund. (We were meeting in a drafty barn at the time.)
 
Pooling our talents we produced six different cards and sold them in packs of twelve. While the artistic among us drew the covers, collated, and packed the large baggies with cards and envelopes, I was responsible for the poetry and the greetings.
 
As the rest of the world puts the Christmas decorations
away for another year and considers how to address the
credit card debt, God’s people continue to bask in the afterglow of Christmas, in the fresh joy of the heavenly 
Father’s love, and in the continual hope inspired by the
Spirit’s presence in and among us. This contrast finds expression in the poem. 
 
“Joy from the Ash Heap”
Words without voices, notes without tunes,
Songs from a world by its struggles consumed;
Lonely though many, empty with much,
Aching for friendship yet fearful of touch,
Wanting a reason to trust. Light pierces darkness – shadows take flight.
Heaven has sent us a herald this night!
Words borne by voices, clear and so sweet;
Melodies ringing, choirs repeat: God sends His own Prince of Peace! 
Praise in the highest, sing all the earth!
Praise the One born now bestowing new birth!
Love fills the vacant, life floods the heart,
Heavenly hope to the waiting imparts; Spirit reviving each part.
E. Grant, 1995
PS: I’ll gladly share copies of the other poems to all who request them.

Read more...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Want to Become a Member?

 
Everyone is welcome at Calvary Lutheran Church! Contact us at 843-766-3113
or click on the link below for information about joining our church.