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August 2010 issue
Features
Elizabeth Hunter
Story by
Elizabeth Hunter
At 6:33 p.m....
One congregation knows what all of its members are doing

Every day around 6:33 p.m. Eastern time the cell phones and watches of members of Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Lexington, S.C., go off.

Air Force Lt. Col. Tim Wessel first heard it as a newcomer, visiting the congregation before moving to South Carolina, where his family had already set up residence.

Heads bowed and eyes closed, members
Heads bowed and eyes closed, members of Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Lexington, S.C., pray at 6:33 p.m. as parishioner and photographer Lewis Ziegler takes their photo. At 6:33, he often takes photos to "pray with [his] eyes," he says.
"I'm military, so I move around a lot. I was coming in new to the [congregation's] oyster roast when more than 100 people — all ages — stopped in place and were completely silent for a minute," he said. "After that, they went right back to what they were doing. I'm thinking, what just happened here? Then my wife explained [it] to me."

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