"There’s a Light in the Low Country"

By Jerry  Durgan
(Article published in the
Advertiser-Herald Newspaper
May 14, 2008 edition)

Tucked into a small, neat home on Lemon Creek Road is a plethora of digital equipment that would make any technocrat envious, from music recording and burning CDs to video, audio and graphics publishing.

James and Marty Banfield have hitched themselves to the wide-wide world of internet publishing with their online magazine, The Light of the Low Country, essentially a magazine that gives readers the positive sides of life. “There’s so much bad news out there these days, from television to newspapers, that it’s hard to find stories that are interesting, informative, and ‘from the heart,’ so we decided to bring out a publication with a Christian outlook … not  JUST a Christian magazine, per se,” she explained last week, “but one that tells the stories of and by  regular folks, a vision of a magazine, which the Lord has given,  to be a shining light,  a beacon shining forth from the State of South Carolina,  from the SC Lowcountry, and to  shine the light of Jesus Christ forth into all the world.”

And that’s exactly what they’ve been able to produce … creatively, with superb graphics and excellent writing and editing.

James is an accomplished musician, singer and writer, a disabled vet, that anyone would recognize immediately from his “going grey” beard to his ever-present western style hat.

Marty, most folks know her as Marty Clayton Banfield, is an accomplished writer, poetess, singer, photographer and videographer, who maintains and continually updates and edits the online magazine.They started out with a quarterly slick, beautifully layed-out, colorful hard-copy publication of The Light of the Low Country back in October of last year, but because of the “high costs of printing,” had to revert to an on-line magazine, Marty explained.  Their web site,
www.thelightofthelowcountry.com
is equally as readable, and an even more “user-friendly” publication than could ever have been accomplished in a hard-copy issue of their magazine. 

Both James and Marty are avid historians and amateur archeologists currently interested in doing in-depth research on St. Bartholomew Parish Church.  In 1706, St. Bartholomew's Parish was one of the ten parishes established in Coastal Carolina by the Colonial Assembly; and became the basic unit for local government with civil as well as ecclesiastical responsibilities, and became the official government from 1706 until the American Revolution. In the northern part of the parish a church was established called St. Bartholomew Parish. This church was established officially in 1750 and is presently Bamberg County's own Mt. Pleasant Luthern Church of Ehrhardt.  The first pastor was none other than John George Bamberg, grandfather to Maj. William Seaborn Bamberg (the City of Bamberg is named after him) and Gen. Francis Marion Bamberg  (Bamberg county is named after him).  "We are putting together an expedition to re-discover the original church site which is located somewhere south of the present day Mt. Pleasant Luthern Church".

April Campbell, Marty’s daughter, does the graphics for the magazine & and web site, and is a contributing writer. However, Marty maintains the website & it's content on a weekly basis.

An intriguing part of  The Light of the Low Country is the site’s “Forum” where readers can contribute their own stories, poems, recipes, news items, Bible discussions, and advertisements at superb rates. “In our forums  you can read online, but to comment, you MUST be a registered user- before you can comment on articles, features, and ask questions. You will also have the chance to meet Christians from all over the US and in many different countries as well. All of this is possible ONLY because of the world wide web,” said James.

”In our member forums, there is a room for ladies, and a room for men, as well as online local Bulletin Boards in our local areas, and even a forum to sell your  items, by giving ebay links or email or phone numbers(s). to sell them to other members,” Marty added. As of last week the site had had over 2,000 “hits” – that is folks who have logged in to the web site, and “it’s growing every day,” said Marty. You can log in to the Christian/community magazine at www.thelightofthelowcountry.com and register. You get free membership into the online FORUM, so be  sure to go to our  Forum page to get registered for free.