Posted on June 2, 2017

‘I am White and I Used to be a Terrible Racist’: Black Church in South Carolina Receives an Apology and a $2,000 Check From an Anonymous Donor

Matthew Wright, Daily Mail, June 1, 2017

A church with predominantly African American members has received a donation from a very unlikely source.

Nicholtown Prebyterian Church in Greenville, South Carolina was heartened by an anonymous letter sent by someone claiming to have been racist in the past and who also made a $2,000 donation.

‘First, I am white and used to be a terrible racist,’ reads the letter sent on May 13 to the church.

‘Thanks to Jesus and the Holy Spirit acting through the Presbyterian Church, I have been cleansed of that.’

Reverend Michael Sullivan – a preacher at the church for just around 15 months – commented that the congregation normally collects donations but they were pleasantly surprised by the gesture and the message.

‘Hearing his testimony… in a sense he had been changed from a particular mindset,’ said Sullivan to Fox Carolina.

The rest of the letter explains the life the sender lived before he changed his thinking.

‘I am appalled at my former thoughts and words. I send this donation as a heartfelt apology to the African American community.

‘If you were ever looking for proof that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are alive and well today, and that miracles, just as in Biblical times, still happen today, this is it!

‘Apart from Jesus and the Holy Spirit, acting through the Presbyterian Church, this transformation never would have happened.’

The sender would then add that the donation could be used ‘for any purpose you see fit’.

‘It’s like a miracle,’ Beverly Kelly, pastor of the Mattoon Presbyterian Church and moderator of the session for Nicholtown Presbyterian Church, shared with the Greenville News.

According to Kelly, funds at the church were depleting as the church was in the process of requesting a $1,400 grant from the Presbytery so that they could transport children to church on Sundays and have a nice breakfast.

‘That mission has been something from Sunday to Sunday, and we always find some way to feed them,’ she said.