The dream of a church called can be traced back to October 1997.  It was then that a planning group, called the Dream Team and led by Rev. Russell Freeman, began laying the groundwork for the first service of a new congregation.  The Dream Team continued to meet in St. Luke's fellowship hall, and then later in restaurants, and still later in the Academy for Career Excellence, and even the Outpatient Clinic. 

Records show that Church of the Palms was established Palm Sunday in 1998, at which time the name was adopted.  Worship was held first in a school, then in a medical pavilion, and later at the Okatie Business Park.

Church of the Palms was officially chartered as a congregation of the South Carolina Conference on February 25, 2001. Worship services were held in the warehouse in the Okatie Business Park. Presiding Bishiop J. Lawrence McCleskey led the morning worship and delivered the sermon. The membership was 45 families totaling 75 members.