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Cheryl Adamson was in her 50s and happy with her life as a hospice chaplain in Conway, S.C. One day, while driving home from work, she saw a sign on a wooden post: "Future home of Jamestown Baptist Church."

If Jamestown Baptist Church – primarily a white congregation in a community that had become mostly populated with working class African Americans – was moving, what did God intend for the left-behind church building?

Adamson knew the answer. "God was calling me to the site," she said.

Deciding to go see the pastor, Adamson said, "I told him I was praying for his building fund. ‘Why?’ he asked. ‘Because you’re in my church,’ I said. He told me I must have been faithful in small things and that I was an answer to prayer. Within three weeks, he was giving me a key to the church for a Bible study."

Three years later, on October 1, 2006, Palmetto Missionary Baptist Church was formally established. Today, the core group of 35 people continue their mid-week meetings at Jamestown Baptist, but because the Jamestown congregation has not yet moved, Adamson’s church holds worship services in another local church, St. Paul’s Episcopal.

Adamson finds the situation freeing. "We’re virtually a church without walls. Because of [the other churches’] generosity, we can serve the community with our resources. Servant evangelism is our major focus."

Thanks to a $25,000 CBF "It’s Time" grant, volunteers from Palmetto Missionary Baptist now run an after-school music and arts academy for 134 children in the community at a local elementary school. The culturally-enriching program includes character education learning through African drumming and dancing. Volunteers hope to add a guitar lab this year.

During the summer, the church partnered with local organizations to offer character education through drumming, nutrition help and Bible study at a housing project. The church also holds quarterly free yard sales – where furniture, clothing, books and toys are given away. "We are learning to divest ourselves," said Adamson.

CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches who share a passion for the Great Commission and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice. The Fellowship's mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.