Our Leaders:
Our Pastor:
Rev Andy Sidden - 
A native of Winston-Salem, N.C., the Rev. Andy Sidden was called in March 2003 to serve as pastor of Garden of Grace United Church of Christ (formerly MCC Columbia). Ironically, his pastorate in South Carolina's Midlands began on his birthday!
Pastor Andy worked as a reporter and copy editor for newspapers in the Carolinas and Florida before entering the professional ministry. He worked more than eight years in Rock Hill, SC, where his son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren live.
As a child, he joined Mock's United Methodist Church in Advance, NC. He attended Methodist Churches in the Carolinas and, shortly before returning to South Carolina, he served as an administrative assistant at Harvester United Methodist Church in Land O' Lakes, FL.
Pastor Andy entered the professional ministry in 1991 after serving in lay ministries at Metropolitan Community Churches in Charlotte and Raleigh, NC, and in Tampa, FL. He served as assistant to the pastor and later as associate pastor of MCC Tampa.
From 1994 to 2002, he served as pastor of Spirit of Life MCC in New Port Richey, FL, which grew during his leadership by more than 500 percent to become the 25th largest MCC in the world. During his pastorate, Spirit of Life completed a $350,000 building program and started a satellite mission in Spring Hill, FL. In 2002, he was MCC's first-ever nominee for regional elder.
He and his life partner of more than 20 years, Dr. Kevin Dove, share their home with three cats, a beagle, tropical fish, and a greenhouse filled with plants. Avid gardeners, they love to watch living things grow!
Under his leadership, Garden of Grace has nearly tripled in size and has built a $500,000 worship center.
Our Associate Pastor:
Rev Candace Chellew-Hodge - The last of five children born to a Southern Baptist minister and his wife, Rev. Candace Chellew-Hodge felt God's call on her life from as early as she can remember. The Greensboro, N.C. native always knew that God wanted her to minister to others in some way, but being raised in the Southern Baptist church, her options were limited. Those options were further limited when she came out as a lesbian at age 16.
When she was 17 she began a career in journalism after being offered an opportunity to work at a radio station in Buford, Georgia where she spent much of her childhood. Her journalism career spanned nearly 20 years and included jobs at several Atlanta radio and television stations including WGST radio and CNN.
In 1996, she combined her journalism skills and that persistent call from God to serve and founded Whosoever (http://www.whosoever.org), the first and only exclusively online magazine for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians. The bimonthly magazine provides inspiration, guidance and information and explores many topics of faith from the GLBT perspective including grace, spiritual self-defense, loving one's enemies and living a life of integrity. More than 500,000 people visit Whosoever each year.
Whosoever brought up new questions for Chellew-Hodge about her spiritual walk as a lesbian and a Christian - and readers of the magazine challenged her to explain how one can be both gay and Christian. This led her to enter seminary in 1998 to deepen her own understanding of the Christian faith and how it meshed with her sexuality. She received a Master of Theological Studies degree from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in 2002.
Despite the magazine and the degree, God continued to call Chellew-Hodge deeper into ministry. She answered that call and was ordained as a minister of the gospel on December 7, 2003 by Gentle Spirit Christian Church in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2007, she became a licensed UCC minister. Her ordination was recognized by the UCC in September 2009.
She and her partner Wanda moved to South Carolina in January 2003 and searched for ways to serve God in a new state. The first church they attended was MCC Columbia (now Garden of Grace UCC) and they were so impressed with the warmth and love they received from the congregation, they decided to make it their church home. Chellew-Hodge was made assistant pastor in July 2004 and associate pastor in 2007. She is honored to be both a member and minister at Garden of Grace.
Her first book, Bulletproof Faith: A Spiritual Survival Guide for Gay and Lesbian Christians was published by Jossey-Bass in September 2008.
She and Wanda live in Camden with their furry children - the dogs - Loki, Sadie, Jack, and Bandit and the cats - George and Xena.
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Choir Director:
Andy Farmer - (bio not submitted)
Board of Trustees:
- Cora Davis, Vice Moderator - (bio not submitted)
Chuck Fagg, Treasurer - (bio not submitted)
Andy Sidden (Moderator) - (See Bio Above) 
Carol Smith-Dailey - (bio not submitted)
Lenore Stackhouse, Clerk - (bio not submitted)
Lay Delegates:
Jennifer Spears -Jennifer Spears has been a member of Garden of Grace since July 2005. In that time, she has served the congregation in various capacities.
She is currently serving a 2-year term as one of the congregation’s lay delegates to the Georgia/South Carolina Association and the UCC’s Southeast Conference. In 2009, she completed a 2-year term on the Board of Trustees for Garden of Grace, where she was the clerk. During this time, she also chaired the church’s 2008-2009 project of restructuring its bylaws and formulating a constitution.
Jennifer previously served as one of two lay delegates from 2005 to 2007, during which time the congregation moved from the Metropolitan Community Church denomination to the United Church of Christ.
In addition, she is currently an in-care student, working toward licensed ministry within the Association, and is supervised and guided by Pastor Andy Sidden. She was formally accepted into in-care status with Garden of Grace in May 2009, and then at the Association level in January 2010.
She also serves as the local coordinator for the Southeast Conference’s Theology Among the People (TAP) program, which trains people as lay ministers, and is due to graduate the course in the summer of 2011.
Jennifer has also been a member of Garden of Grace’s choir. As well, she aids the church sexton in the cleaning of the GOG facility.
She has been privileged to attend three national events of the United Church of Christ: two General Synods (in 2007 and 2009) and the National Youth Event in 2008. She presented workshops on transgender issues at NYE ’08 and General Synod 2009.
A journalist by trade, Jennifer has garnered multiple awards over the course of her 36-year career. She has been recognized on the local, collegiate, state, regional and national levels for her writing and design work. She serves as a senior editor of 31 years’ standing with her local newspaper.
In addition, she is an honorably discharged veteran of the United States Air Force, serving during the Cold War era.
Happily married for 23 years, Jennifer makes her home in Orangeburg with her wife Lois and their two cats, Silly Sally Lightfoot and Little Girl. She has two children and six grandchildren, all of whom are a delight to her.
Richard Morris - (bio not submitted)
Care Circle and Small Group Leaders:
- Jho Carter - (bio not submitted)
JoAnna Crowder - (bio not submitted)- Jana DeHoff - (bio not submitted)
- John Faulkner - (bio not submitted)
- Mike Grello - (bio not submitted)
- Patricia Grello - (bio not submitted)
- Dan Greshel - (bio not submitted) - Care Circle Leader and local artist.
- Jan Hogan - (bio not submitted)
- Barbara Johnson - (bio not submitted) - Care Circle Leader
Brandon Jones - (bio not submitted)- Patrick Parker - (bio not submitted)
- Linda Renner - (bio not submitted)
- Carol Smith-Dailey - (bio not submitted)
- Joy Smith-Dailey - (bio not submitted)
- Lois Spears - (bio not submitted)
Church Leaders:
- Christine Walker, office minister - (bio not submitted)
- Kevin Dove and Mike Hughes, musicians - (bio not submitted)
Richard Kiraly, web site minister - The design and ongoing maintenance of the Garden of Grace UCC website is a donation of labor, time and talent by Richard Kiraly, member of Garden of Grace, and Frank Richards Beverage, a locally gay-owned and operated member of the SCGLBG and your community. Richard volunteers in the community with SCGLPM and Town Theatre (Stage Manager for Little Shop of Horrors, The King And I, Dearly Departed, Something's Afoot), Workshop Theatre (Les Liaisons Dangereuses) and other community theatres, is on the board for T.O.S.S. (Timmons Organization For Sarcoidosis Support) and is Webmaster for The Leather Order of the Midlands. Richard Kiraly also administers the Garden of Grace Facebook page and other web-presence for Garden of Grace UCC.