Today we’d like to introduce you to Fr. Cameron Crickenberger.
Hi Fr. Cameron, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I was raised in Myrtle Beach, graduating from Socastee High School in 2011. I left the area to pursue a career in academics, never thinking that I would return home. But just over a decade later, after getting married to another Myrtle Beach native, having three children, and living in three different countries, we felt that God was calling us back home to pursue ordination in the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA) and to plant a local church here at home. So, we’ve been back home since 2022, and Church of the Ascension was planted in Carolina Forest in 2024.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There have been numerous speed-bumps along the way! For a long time, I was sure that we weren’t moving back home. It took quite a bit of divine intervention and clear guidance to bring us back. Also, having three kids away from home as you travel around in school is not the easiest thing to do. And living internationally as a student with a family is quite a journey. More than anything, though, it has been a struggle to move home and re-find our place here. Though many have welcomed us back, many things have changed, including us! And so we have had to work intentionally to reform our own self-understanding here as a part of the local community.
As you know, we’re big fans of Church of the Ascension. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
As a newly formed community in the Anglican tradition, we are primarily rooted in our worship. The Anglican tradition has a rich history stretching back to the early centuries of the Church, and we are grateful for the inheritance we’ve received from that history. Our worship is liturgical and sacramental, but also very welcoming and full of the noises of young children! After worship, which starts at 4pm, we all sit down to a pot-luck feast each Sunday. This has been a wonderful way for our community to deepen our lives together and welcome newcomers.
One of the beautiful parts of the Anglican inheritance is a rhythm of prayer that helps to shape our lives around the love of God rather than the concerns of our day. Some of us meet on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for Morning Prayer, and we practice a liturgy of confession and praying for each other when we gather throughout the month.
We also gather at different houses when there is a feast day in the church calendar, such as the feast of Saints Simon and Jude, two of Christ’s apostles, which comes at the end of October. These gatherings help us to reorder our lives according to the story of the Gospel and to continue to deepen our friendships within the church community.
We’d love for anyone interested in worshipping with us and being a part of a small but intentional Christian community to come visit us on a Sunday or feast day, or get in touch with one of our clergy! We meet at Celebration Presbyterian Church (2300 Carolina Forest Boulevard) at 4pm each Sunday.
What makes you happy?
My wife and three children bring me joy as constant reminders of God’s blessing and love. The experience of being a husband and father constantly deepens and heals my experience of God’s love. After that, I love seeing people discover something in the tradition or theology of the church that makes them come alive. On my own, I love to read, to be outside on a cool fall day, to meet someone new at a coffee shop or brewery, or to watch movies with my family.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ascensionanglican.org
