The Rev. Jeff Wallace Called as Priest-in-Charge of St. David’s, Cheraw

Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley has called the Rev. Jeffrey Wallace to serve as priest-in-charge of St. David’s, Cheraw, beginning Sunday, October 1. Father Jeff most recently served as associate priest of St. George’s, Summerville, and as chaplain to the Charleston Port and Seafarers’ Society and the South Carolina Port Authority.

The Rev. Mike Bye had been serving St. David’s, Cheraw and the Episcopal Worship Group of Cheraw for the past five years. When St. David’s, Cheraw, and St. Bartholomew’s, Hartsville, returned to our diocese in 2022, Father Mike answered the call to serve as interim priest-in-charge of both congregations. As Father Jeff answers this call to St. David’s, Father Mike will focus his ministry as priest-in-charge of St. Bartholomew’s.

“The Rev. Mike Bye, working with outstanding lay leaders laid a solid foundation for a new season of ministry at St. David’s, Cheraw,” said Bishop Woodliff-Stanley. “Now, as Father Bye moves his full-time attention to St. Bartholomew’s, I am delighted that the Rev. Jeff Wallace has accepted the call to serve as priest-in-charge at St. David’s. Father Wallace is well known and loved in this diocese and in the community, particularly for his pastoral experience ministering to seafarers. His passion for the care of our front-line workers has been a particularly important part of his ministry. His pastoral and administrative skills will be a gift to St. David’s.”

With more than 40 years of experience in parish work at Lutheran and Episcopal churches (including St. Paul’s, Bennettsville), Wallace was ordained to the priesthood in the Diocese of South Carolina in 2007. Earlier this year, after ending his season of ministry with the Charleston Port and Seafarers’ Society, he founded Grace-based Grief Resources for Children (GGRC), a Christian community of volunteers whose mission is to help the “helpers” of traumatized and bereaved children. The organization provides the services of an ordained chaplain or of a certified grief counselor to first responders, children’s ministers, crisis chaplains, hospice caregivers, hospital staff, foster parents, funeral directors, and house parents of group homes. Fr. Jeff hopes to extend the reach of GGRC to the Cheraw area and plans to be visible in the community in other ways.

Fr. Jeff and his wife of 45 years, Stephanie, have four adult children and eight grandchildren.