Home Care In Cowpens, SC

SPARTANBURG CO., S.C. (WSPA) – A sign in front of a Cowpens church is getting a lot of attention on social media. Its message reads: “Pray for our president.”

This comes after the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump last week.

7 News spoke with the pastor of the church about why he put this particular message on display.

While driving along I-85, on their way to their holiday destinations, many folks will pass a big, glowing sign in Cowpens.

And among the many wishes of a Merry Christmas that appear on that sign, another message is shared.

“Pray for our president,” Pastor of Mountain View Baptist Church, Steven Griffith, said.

The message was added to the sign’s rotation of graphics last week after President Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives, and it’s gotten a lot of reactions from the community.

“We didn’t do it to get a reaction,” Griffith said.

Pastor Griffith told 7 News the decision to post those words on the church’s sign was a no-brainer for him, and he received nothing but support from his congregation.

“If the churches of America do not speak out, who will?”

But there are folks who don’t agree with the church’s sign. One man, who didn’t want to be on camera, told 7 News he is in the process of being ordained and said the sign is not something he would have displayed at his own church, saying he believes it’s divisive and doesn’t believe it’s a church’s job to endorse a politician.

“What could be wrong with that? How could that hurt America?” Griffith asked.

The editor of popular evangelical magazine “Christianity Today” recently posted an article, saying he believes Trump should be removed from office.

Griffith told 7 News he’s aware of those not in favor of President Trump, or of his church’s sign, but he said it doesn’t bother him.

“We’re willing to take it. We’re not worried about it,” he said. “We support the things that we feel are positive for this nation.”

Griffith told 7 News he believes prayers for the president are always needed–regardless of who’s in office–and said it’s his Christian duty to do so.

“I’d say that if it were Barrack Obama,” he said. “If they’re continually harassing him, it still doesn’t matter. We’re commanded in scripture to pray for those in authority.”

Pastor Griffith told 7 News he plans to keep the message up and running throughout the holiday season and possibly longer.

Photo By Michael Mascari | Dr. "Jay" Boyd instructs students from the Chaplain's Basic Officer Leadership Course...

All good things must come to an end. Dr. John “Jay” Boyd, United States Army Chaplain Center and School (USACHCS) Historian, made the most if his last day on the job. Boyd led a Chaplain Basic Officer Leadership Course (CHBOLC) class on a staff ride at the Cowpens National Battlefield near Cowpens, S.C. “I am trying not to get emotional, but I went out the way I wanted to,” Boyd said “As a military historian, the way I wanted to spend my final day was to be out in the field, on a staff ride, on a Historic Battlefield, with troops.” Boyd began his military career as an Enlisted Soldier but commissioned into the Infantry. Having a Masters in History, Boyd had his first opportunity to ply his first love as a Military History Detachment Commander following a Bosnia Deployment. He served nearly 30 years as a Soldier in multiple components of the US Army, retiring at the rank of Colonel. Boyd, armed with many years of experience, a love for history and a Doctorate parlayed these tools into a position with the 81st Division, then known as the 81st Regional Readiness Command in Birmingham, Ala., before the Command relocated back to Fort Jackson, S.C. He left to become the US Army Reserve Command (USARC) Historian in 2014 before making one last move in to take over as the USACHCS Historian in 2016. Despite leading many staff rides in his career, Boyd says he hasn’t seen it all. “What never ceases to amaze me is that there is always something new to learn. There’s always something a student brings to the fore. One student discussed the overconfidence of leaders, which dovetails to an article I recently read about overconfidence and how it can sometimes suppress ideas from junior leaders. It can result in executing a plan flawlessly that turns out not to be the best plan. That was brought out today.” That student, 2nd Lt. Channing Blake, played the role of Banastre Tartleton, famed British General defeated in the Battle. Blake, a Chaplain Candidate for the 98th Training Division, learned several lessons from her study. “It’s really important to seek counsel, to seek advice,” Blake said. “Take the time to receive it when you have the time before you dive in, especially when you are the one bringing the battle. If you are on the receiving end, when the battle’s being brought to you, that may be different. Had Tarleton taken the time to properly plan, and taken advice from his officers, the trajectory of the battle might have been different.” Boyd led the students through the battlefield with the assistance of Allen Skinner, 81st RD Historian, as he often does, teaching leadership and tactics training. Students prepare for the event by studying famous battles, with each one taking a specific role or topic to present to the class. They take the role of leaders or staff to discuss logistics, strategies, intelligence, planning and other facets of operations. For a Chaplain Candidate, the lessons extend to what they will face in the field, to include morale, tending to wounded Soldiers and P.O.W.s and death. Boyd said these and other lessons will enable leaders to make better decisions that might result in victory on the battle field and lives saved. He said it was a great way to finish his career. He appreciated the enthusiasm of the students and said he was glad to be able to work with his friend and colleague for the finale. The feeling was mutual. “It’s always great to work with Dr. Boyd,” Skinner said. “We’ve worked together as colleagues for a while, almost four years, and we work well together. We can accomplish a lot more than we can separately. I will definitely miss him. He’s a great colleague, a great person, and it will be very hard to replace him.”

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COWPENS, S.C. (BP) — A fire raged through the buildings of Cowpens First Baptist Church on Saturday. More than a dozen local fire stations responded, but ultimately the sanctuary and the attached education building were declared a complete loss.

The fire, which started Saturday afternoon, was noticed by a church employee who notified authorities. By the time firefighters arrived, the blaze had engulfed the church buildings. The fire department was unable to save the sanctuary and education building because of concerns over structural integrity, but successfully prevented the fire from spreading to other parts of the campus, salvaging the church’s family life center.

Dozens of church members and residents from the community, along with interim pastor Kermit Morris, stood down the street and watched helplessly as the once pristine worship center became a pile of charred rubble.

“This is a devastating loss for our church,” Morris said. “It’s heartbreaking to see the building going up in flames. My first thought was, ‘this is so sad,’ but my immediate second thought was, ‘where are we meeting tomorrow?’ I knew it was critical for us to gather as a family on Sunday.”

The church, founded in 1878 and located in the Spartanburg area of upstate South Carolina, held services Sunday at a local high school. They plan to meet at the Broome High School Fine Arts Center again this week before returning to the church campus Jan. 10 for services in the family life center.

“We’ve had so many pastors and churches reach out offering to help and to pray for the church,” Morris said. “Area churches are providing chairs, a sound system and other needs as we shift to meeting in the family life center.”

This is not the first time the sanctuary at FBC Cowpens has suffered a fire. In Dec. 1987, while renovations were taking place, a fire caused major damage. Though not a complete loss, the sanctuary interior was severely damaged. The building reopened in 1989. Further renovations to the sanctuary were completed in 2016.

Now, all that is left are memories.

“We stood on the sidewalk for 5 hours and watched it burn,” Morris said. “I told them, ‘That’s not the church. That’s a bunch of buildings. The church is meeting tomorrow.’ We will always have the memories, but we are starting fresh and moving forward. God has big plans for us and we will move forward with those plans.”

Morris said a team will reenter the buildings as soon as

possible to recover anything salvageable before they are demolished. After the first of the year, the church plans to begin working with construction and architecture companies on rebuilding.

There are many important dates in American military history that most are familiar with. However, there is one date that receives little attention, but is one of the most important in securing our nation’s freedom.

It was January 17, 1781. The new republic was teetering, her knees were wobbly, and her back was against the wall. People were hungry, commerce had almost come to a halt, and our currency had been greatly depreciated. Furthermore, on the battlefield, the British had taken Charleston and Savannah and just a few months before had soundly defeated the Southern Continental Army at the Battle of Camden, one of the bloodiest battles of the American Revolutionary War.

Just two days before on January 15, 1781, General George Washington wrote to his friend John Laurens, who had just been appointed to our mission in France, about our military’s “sufferings, for want of clothing, for want of provisions, for want of pay.” Washington’s letter went on in great detail to explain the plight of America and the dire straits it was in both from a military and civilian perspective.

But then, just two days later on January 17, 1781, something happened. The Scots-Irish of the backwoods of South Carolina came together to turn the tide of the American Revolutionary War and rout the British at the Battle of Cowpens. These rugged pioneers, who had come to America seeking a better life, set in motion a chain of events that would ultimately lead to the British surrender at Yorktown in October of that year.

Led by General Daniel Morgan, a brilliant military tactician, the American forces conducted a “double envelopment” of the British which, in fact, would be the only double envelopment of the war. A double envelopment, also called a pincer movement, is a military maneuver in which forces simultaneously attack both flanks of an enemy formation.

At the Battle of Cowpens, the British were led by “The Bloody Butcher,” Banastre Tarleton. Tarleton was known for his ruthless tactics, including slaughtering American soldiers after they had surrendered in a previous battle.

The American victory at the Battle of Cowpens was actually depicted in the movie "The Patriot." In fact, Mel Gibson’s character, Benjamin Martin, is a composite portrayal of General Morgan and Francis Marion (the “Swamp Fox” and father of modern guerilla warfare). Daniel Morgan was one of America’s best military minds. While his accomplishments have been honored with the naming of Morgan Square in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and the new Daniel Morgan Graduate School of National Security in Washington, D.C., he still remains one of our most underappreciated battlefield commanders.

Although the National Park Service is postponing the Battle of Cowpens anniversary due to the government shutdown, that isn’t stopping the descendants of those who fought at the Battle of Cowpens and others in the community from commemorating this historic event. Wofford College, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, is located close to the Battle of Cowpens and will present a Battle of Cowpens commemoration designed to educate both students and the public alike on the significance of what occurred at the Battle of Cowpens. It will take place this Friday at the college. Education is a national security issue, and events like this are important.

President Reagan reminded us that, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” He went on to say, “We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

God has blessed America over the years by giving us men and women who exemplify the spirit of those Scots-Irish pioneers at the Battle of Cowpens. They put America above self, put on the uniform, and are willing to give their lives for their country. This week, let’s honor those early American pioneers who helped give us the freedom we enjoy today.

Van Hipp is Chairman of American Defense International, Inc. He is the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Army and author of “The New Terrorism: How to Fight It and Defeat It.” He is the 2018 recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II September 11 Garden Leadership Award for National Security. To read more of his reports, Go Here Now.

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Five Star Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electrical surprised Army veteran Herbert Johnson at his home in Cowpens Wednesday.

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COWPENS, S.C. —

Herbert Johnson is an Army veteran who served in the '70s and currently lives in Cowpens with an American flag flying outside of his home.

Johnson lives alone, and he said for more than a decade, he's had to "get by the best he can" without certain additions to his home that many would consider to be necessities.

"I've been struggling with issues for a number of years, about 12 to 15 years," Johnson said. "Heat, air conditioning, water problems and water pressure. I tried repairing it myself when I was able and I tried, but I never could get it quite right."

Johnson currently deals with limited mobility, pushing through severe arthritis in one leg and a torn ACL in the other. To get around, Johnson utilizes a walker, a wheelchair at times, and a ramp outside of his home to make accessing the ground easier.

"In this day and age, you just have to get by the best you can, and that's what I've been doing. I don't have heat or air inside," Johnson said. "Sometimes I just put the unit in the window, and the toilet basically works when it wants to. It always runs. You can't use the toilet and the kitchen sink at the same time."

Due to his health, Johnson felt it was time to finally call a professional to come out and take a look at what repairs needed to be made. He called Five Star Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electrical, or Five Star Today.

"I was here at the home a few days ago," said Stephen Burdett, who is a plumber at Five Star. "We had a service line going into the house that had several leaks. His water service was in excess of 50 years old. That being the case, with a lot of pressure and weaker pipes, it gives over time. The valves in your toilet will continue to run. You’ll start having leaks in your faucet. You can have pinhole leaks in all of your piping under the house.”

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After Five Star's first visit, Johnson said the price tag was something he just couldn't afford.

"The price was running about $13,000," Five Star General Manager Ingrid Verseeuw said. "Stephen also noticed there was no air in the home, and that it was a veteran. We're always looking to see how we can help the community here. He brought it to my attention that there was no way he could pay for it. Everybody came together from my team and the suppliers, and we're just happy to be able to help."

A large team from Five Star showed up unannounced to Johnson's home Wednesday morning to surprise him with free services, to honor Johnson for his service to the country.

"You know what, I was watching the 700 Club, and a miracle had just happened on that show this morning, and this felt like a blessing," Johnson laughed. "A miracle to me. I thought I saw one truck. Then I came out and saw five, six trucks and I said, 'What are they doing? Do they think I'm going to sign a contract or something?'"

Five Star spent several hours at Johnson's home letting him know how much they appreciated his service and how happy they were to be in a position to provide a blessing.

"Five Star is providing (a) new water supply line for this home, as well as a new heating and air conditioning system free of charge," Verseeuw said.

Johnson said he's forever grateful for the company's generosity.

"They realized I was in serious need for repairs," Johnson said. "They showed up and told me they were going to take care of it. Just goes as a reminder for everybody that there’s always hope no matter how bad your situation is. As long as you believe in God, our country and our freedoms, things can get better."

Johnson said he's excited to have his house return to feeling more like a home.