The Reverend Wayne Lucas has been the pastor of Grace Advent Christian Church on Mount Carmel Road for almost 33 years. Originally from Godwin, North Carolina, he attended college at Campbell University and then transferred to Berkshire Christian College.
Rev. Lucas said, “At the age of 16, at Camp Dixie, I gave my life to Jesus and felt a calling to go into ministry. I went into youth ministry, and so it was from there that I went to Berkshire, which was a Christian college. I passed all the comprehensive exams, and three years later I became ordained; that was 1975, and I've served the Lord ever since.”
Recently, Lucas was honored: “This past homecoming, I was surprised; I didn't know it was happening. My children and some people in the church met with the Executive Director, Justin Nash, who’s in Charlotte. He's the executive director of the whole General Conference of the Advent Christian Church. He came down and presented me with a servant's award for 50 years of ordained ministry. And on the same day, the Regional Superintendent, Joe Pritchett, came and gave me an Outstanding Service Award. I was surprised by that and honored and humbled, not worthy of it, but thankful for the fact that they knew where this comes from.”
Lucas credits his success to his spouse of 47 years, Ruth Perkins, originally from Canada. He met her at Berkshire. “My soccer and basketball coach played cupid, and I ended up marrying her, and we have four children: three girls and one boy. The main blessing in my life has been my wife because to be a successful pastor, you have to have a wife that understands and has to be called, as well. Not only is she called, but she's gifted in music. She teaches, she sings, she directs the choir. She plays. She's always doing that, so she's really the best end of the deal.”
Lucas adds, “I just wanted to thank the Lord for her because she just does so much that you know people don't realize.”
Lucas also has a large family, “My oldest daughter is a teacher at Bell's Elementary. My son is an engineer in Charleston for ESP. My middle daughter works at the vet clinic, Shepherd's Care, and my youngest daughter lives right outside of Summerville, and she's a nurse. I have four grandchildren: one that's 14, one that's 11, one that's 15 months, and one that's 18 months. I'm blessed with that, as well.”
Lucas says he was called to come to Grace Advent. “I was satisfied where I was at my home church. I was there with my family. Humanly speaking, I was happy. Eddie Hiott asked me if I'd come speak here, and he was a chairman of the pulpit committee. I told him, ‘Brother Eddie, I'm not really interested’, but I was coming from Florida from a conference, and I stopped and spoke at the church. I told him I'd pray about it (coming to the church), which is what I do. I felt that God was placing me here. I said, ‘Okay, Lord, I'll go if it's a 100% vote.’ I figured I'd take care of it, you know. Well, he called me up and said it was a unanimous vote. I told my family I could feel the Lord speaking to me. The Holy Spirit sent us here.”
Grace Advent Christian Church had its 100th-year celebration back in 1997. That was three years after Lucas came to the church in 1994. He talks about the anniversary: “We invited all the former pastors to come and had a big day. We're a church that tries to follow the simple rule: love the Lord with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. Our mission statement is lead people to Christ, love people in Christ, learn from God's word about Christ, and look forward to the return of Christ. We're blessed to have a lot of young married couples and a lot of sweet elderly people. We like to tell them every Sunday morning, ‘Jesus loves you and I do. too.’ Now, find somebody and say Jesus loves you and make them smile. So that's our that's our approach, and the four mission statements are to lead, love, learn, and look, and that's what we do.”
Grace Advent Christian Church’s Sunday school is at 9:45, Morning worship is at 11 a.m. on Sunday morning, and they have Wednesday night services, which are for youth and a lot of small groups. Lucas adds, “We have camps that we go to in the summer. We just finished Harvest Day and Trunk of Treats; and as we go into the Advent season, we are preparing a musical, a cantata, and a Christmas play for the children. We are a family that loves the Lord, and I think that describes kind of what we are at that point.”
