With one Lexington County holiday concert having departed to another church, its previous home is presenting a new show under the old moniker.

Kevin Oliver, who brought in local musicians to Red Bank United Methodist Church for his Christmas at Red Bank concert for 17 years, has moved to another place of worship, West Columbia’s Mt. Tabor Lutheran Church. He’s relaunching the annual series at Mt. Tabor Sunday, Dec. 3, changing the name to Chriistmas on the Mount.

Red Bank UMC, not wanting to leave behind the annual occasion for a musical celebration of the holiday’s significance and the opportunity to bring new people into the church, is continuing on with the Christmas at Red Bank name Saturday, Dec. 2, bringing in some children’s choirs and deploying the in-house contemporary worship band to in hopes of creating a new tradition.

Oliver, a longtime local music journalist away from his main gig as general manager at West Columbia’s Habitat for Humanity ReStore (and a frequent contributor to the Chronicle), explained that his decision to leave Red Bank UMC, where his family had been members for 20 years, and eventually restart his Christmas concert in a new location, had to do with issues causing a schism in the Methodist denomination.

Three churches in Lexington County and 113 statewide voted to exit the UMC this year, as the church continues to be divided on how to handle issues related to homosexuality moving forward. The conservative-leaning churches that have departed are unwilling to wait and see if the UMC will affirm a hardline stance against homosexuality at its General Conference next year.

“The Methodist Church as a whole just was not somewhere that we felt comfortable with anymore,” Oliver said, noting that the issues dividing the denomination are well known. “We’re not talking about the congregation, we’re talking about the church as a whole, the denomination. ... It affects all of the congregations, of course, in different ways.”

As to why his family and his concert ended up at Mt. Tabor, Oliver said Paul Hinson, a member of the West Columbia church and a longtime fan of Oliver’s Christmas at Red Bank, got him together with the pastor to discuss dpomg the show at Mt. Tabor.

Oliver said the format will remain largely the same as it has in recent years, with local musicians coming in to give distinct renditions on traditional Christmas songs with narration (provided by longtime local storyteller Darion McCloud) connecting the music to the Christmas story. 

But the show will feel different, he explained, comparing the contemporary worship hall at Red Bank to the “old-school Episcopal/Catholic’’ feel of Mt. Tabor’s sanctuary and noting that the new room’s high, vaulted ceilings should change up the concert’s vibe. He added that several performers are set to take advantage of Mt. Tabor’s grand piano.

“There’s so much division in society these days, and to be able to present this story in a place that is open, accessible and welcoming to all it’s very important to me,” Oliver said of continuing the Christmas concert, especially with the ongoing schism in the Methodist denomination.

Red Bank echoed this sentiment in explaining why it’s continuing with its own concert. And it shares another commonality with Christmas on the Mount: giving to charity. Red Bank will give to S.E.A. Place (a Lexington County nonprofit that emphasizes “support, education and advisement” through efforts such as GED classes), while Mt. Tabor will give to Central South Carolina Habitat for Humanity.

“Since the program was held at our church for a really long time, a lot of people in the church feel like it’s still a part of our tradition,” said Ashley Reynolds, the church’s director of Christian education, about continuing without Oliver and the thought that went into the new show and selecting a charity. “We wanted to still make sure it happened, but we didn’t want to just copy and paste the previous guy’s show because we didn’t feel like that would be fair to him because he’s doing something new at a new church. So we decided that we wanted to make it more about our community, the Red Bank community.”

As for Oliver deciding to move on from Red Bank UMC, she emphasized there’s no hard feelings.

“People probably have said things they shouldn’t say, I know that it was part of some of the things that led to Kevin not being there anymore,” Reynolds said. “There’s always going to be people who say things they shouldn’t say and have hate in their heart and stuff like that. But I think the majority of us just want to do what the Great Commission called us to do and make disciples.”