Pastor released from Russia tells his story

CONWAY --- A South Carolina pastor preached his first sermon since being released earlier this month from a Russian prison.

Pastor Phillips Miles didn't give a traditional sermon Sunday at Christ Community Church, but talked about his experience in prison and hope and love.

Mr. Miles said he planned to spend the next few days with his family.

The Moscow City Court reduced Mr. Miles' sentence to 10 months and ruled in late June that he should be freed from custody without serving all of it. He had been jailed since Feb. 3 after security officers at a Moscow airport found a box of .300-caliber cartridges in his luggage.

He said he brought the bullets for a Russian friend and didn't know what he did was illegal.