Session starts Monday in Hemingway

7th District bishop will serve another term

AP

Bishop Preston W. Williams II

The Palmetto Annual Conference, the first and biggest of six conferences of the AME Church's 7th District, convenes its 98th session Monday in Hemingway. The weeklong meeting brings church clergy and laity from the Mount Pleasant, Kingstree and Georgetown districts together, representing a total membership of about 50,000, according to church officials.

Hopewell AME Church is hosting the event, at which participants will discuss a variety of issues, including church and family life, Christian education, temperance, evangelism, women's and youth ministries, social action and prison and hospital outreach.

In July, the international AME Church convened in St. Louis for its 48th session of the General Conference, held every four years. Delegates attend to church business and elect or reassign bishops at the meeting. The 7th District's Bishop Preston W. Williams II was re-elected to serve the state of South Carolina for an additional four-year term, according to church spokesman Benjamin Harrison.

"I'm so thankful to God for having, four years ago, brought Dr. (Wilma Delores Webb) Williams and me to serve the great state of South Carolina," Williams said in a statement. "During my previous administration, the entire 7th District AME Church, in partnership with numerous agencies and organizations, has worked diligently to uplift the physical and spiritual well-being of South Carolina's communities. We now stand at the beginning of a new quadrennial season, which brings opportunities to further the work which we have begun, as well as explore new and exciting programs and partnerships."

At the General Conference, the Rev. Julius H. McAllister, pastor of Mount Zion AME Church in Florence, was consecrated the 129th bishop of the international AME Church.

The 145th session of the S.C. Annual Conference will begin Sept. 15 at Campbell Chapel AME Church in Bluffton. For information about the conferences, visit www.ame7.org.