Our Story

HOW IT STARTED

This church was an idea of Pastor Sherrod Barfield, Pastor Jamie's Father, of the River of Life Church of God. He wanted to start a second service, but it had to be totally different from the other. Enter Pastor Jamie Barfield. Pastor Jamie has always been the “do it a different way” type of Christian, and it shows in the church. This church is under the Church of God in Cleveland, Tenn. We have complete freedom, but we are still accountable to our denomination.

The original name of the Church of God was International Christian Fellowship. It started with the intentions of allowing people from every background to gather together in a church and not feel intimidated by religious jargon. Our main goal is for you to feel the love of Christ. We want our actions, words, and service to make you feel right at home. We believe it’s not how we dress or how our hair is styled that makes a difference in the way God see us. We believe God looks through the outward appearance into the heart, as Samuel said about David. It doesn’t matter if you were brought up Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, atheist, or any other religion. We were all raised with different beliefs, but the centerpiece must be Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made on the cross to save us.

Together, we believe that we make a unique family called "the church," and this family can bring a value to your life that will give you a purpose for living beyond yourself.

WHERE WE ARE HEADED

Since this may be our one shot at giving you something to remember, our goal is to show the love of Christ to you in this service. Maybe through something you hear or see you will want a relationship with Him. All He desires is a one-on-one, eye-to-eye relationship with you. Allow me to introduce Him to you: Jesus is madly in love with you, knows everything about you, is the creator of the universe, owns everything, yet all He wants is you. The best part is, all you have to do is say, “I want you too, Jesus.” It’s the absolute easiest relationship you will ever have, with the One who has it all.

In the years since then, the church has grown numerically, spiritually, emotionally, and physically. As of the Fall of 2021, we decided that it was time to look into purchasing a new facility. We purchased and have moved into our new facility at 2901 Fantasy Way in Myrtle Beach in December 2021. This move has opened up so many doors for ministry and has allowed us to have plenty of room for growth. We moved from a 350 seat auditorium to a 2000 seat auditorium with incredible facilities and amenities that has allowed us to do things on a new level of excellence.

In 2022, we relaunched in campus ministry, planting a campus in our facility we had just left. That started us on a journey following the plan of God and saying "Yes" to the opportunities He has blessed us with. As of February 2025, we have launched 6 campuses. We have campus ministries in Socastee, Aynor, Clemson, Southern Illinois, J. Rueben Long jail ministry, and our Spanish speaking campus, Iglesia Palmetto Pointe! We are thankful for the doors of ministry God has continued to open and can't wait to see what's next!

COME BE A PART OF OUR STORY