ALLENTOWN, Pa., (BRN) – Burdened for her hometown friends to encounter Jesus, a teenage Amy Velarde dropped her head, folded her hands and prayed for the people of Lehigh Valley.
Thirty years later, in the same steel-stack covered region, Amy’s prayer proved to be oil in the machine for June 26-27 as more than 500 volunteers from across Pennsylvania, South Jersey and beyond participated in Serve Lehigh Valley, the third installation of the Baptist Resource Network’s (BRN) ServePASJ Initiative.
Sparked by Send Relief’s 2023 Serve Tour in Philadelphia, ServePASJ strives to accomplish compassion driven projects and evangelistic efforts by partnering at the local level with churches in Pennsylvania and South Jersey.
This year, the BRN partnered with five churches in the Lehigh Valley, including Amy’s church, Riverbend Community Church, where her husband serves as the senior pastor. Along with Riverbend, the BRN partnered with Misión Vida, a Hispanic church plant, The Vine Calvary Chapel, Calvary Baptist Church, and 1427 Church, another church plant in the Lehigh Valley.
A region rooted in prayer
Historically, Amy’s prayer is one of many that has contributed to the spreading of the Gospel in the Lehigh Valley. With deep roots to the European Movarian movement, Bethlehem, Pa., was founded on Christmas Eve 1741 when missionaries David Nitschmann and Count Nicolaus Zinzendorf came from Europe and settled along the Lehigh River.
The newly established American Moravian settlement was intentionally formed to be a Christ-influenced community devoted to prayer and missionary outreach. Throughout the years, the Moravian influence has spread across the Lehigh Valley but remains mostly prominent in its founding city.
In addition to its prayerful heritage, the Lehigh Valley is the third largest metropolitan area in Pennsylvania, behind Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. It consists of three different cities — Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton — and is home to nearly 860,000 residents.
During Serve Lehigh Valley, the bustling region welcomed volunteers from more than 50 churches and six different states.
Serve volunteers completed nearly 50 projects around the Valley, with work ranging from landscaping and painting to prayer walking and evangelistic outreach.
These projects not only met needs for the five partnering churches, but also community partners and local organizations.
Projects paved in prayer
Through a facility known as The Comfort Cottage, volunteers lent a helping hand to Lehigh County Children and Youth Services and The Salvation Army Eastern Pennsylvania Children’s Services.
Opened in 2016 as a joint effort between the county and the Salvation Army, The Comfort Cottage serves as a family engagement center for foster children and birth parents.
“It’s really unique to what a lot of organizations in the state of Pennsylvania do. Most county children and youth agencies rely on the use of their government center as a visitation place,” said Director of Children’s Services for The Salvation Army Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware Division Flo Rhue.
At the cottage, children and families are greeted by blooming flowers and a spacious yard. When they step into the quaint house, they have access to a full kitchen, a sitting room equipped with toys, a screened porch and several other amenities that make the visitation center feel like a home.
During Serve Lehigh Valley, volunteers spent time painting the cottage, inside and outside, and deep cleaning the home. Tasks that often only get accomplished by volunteers.
“When people are coming together for one purpose, just to make kids and families feel like they’re cared about, it really is just life-changing,” said Rhue as she reflected on Serve Lehigh Valley.
In addition to The Comfort Cottage, Serve volunteers completed landscaping and painting projects for several local schools, including Freemansburg Elementary.
The task at Freemansburg Elementary was to paint classroom and office door frames. However, with only one volunteer signed up just days before the project, it seemed doubtful that the paint job would even get started.
Pastor Don Meadows, executive pastor at Calvary Baptist Church, encouraged the slightly discouraged project leader to wait and “see what God does.”
On the day of the project, a dozen volunteers showed up to the elementary school with paint brushes in hand, ready to make the school hallway roar to life with shades of blue, purple, green, orange and, of course, Freemansburg red.
“It just looks unbelievable,” said Community School Coordinator for Freemansburg Elementary Laureen Conversano, who also served as the project leader.
“They’ve (Serve volunteers) done a fantastic job adding that pop of color, which I know the kids and teachers are going to love.”
Two days ahead of Serve Lehigh Valley, another set of volunteers were hard at work, when several local fire companies responded to a six-alarm fire at a former factory building in Allentown.
Following the devastating fire, a project already in place to thank local first responders in Schnecksville, Pa., quickly became more timely. Ian Noll, a member at The Vine Calvary Chapel and local volunteer firefighter, helped organize a blessing for first responders.
“I like this project a lot. We’re (first responders) out there in the cold, the rain, the snow, when it’s 100 degrees outside to help whoever needs help. We’re there when everybody’s running out or people are in trouble, so to give back to that is close to my heart,” shared Noll.
Volunteers serving out of The Vine helped host a community meet-and-greet with a local firefighter and served the Schnecksville Fire Company by spreading stone at their station.
A continued spirit of partnership and prayer
Along with digging in dirt and dipping paint brushes, Serve volunteers also completed a variety of evangelistic projects, such as prayer walking local college campuses and hosting several outreach events, including a trilingual block party in Bethlehem.
During the second day of Serve, Riverbend Community Church and Misión Vida partnered with a Brazilian church to provide a block party in Friendship Park. Despite a rainy forecast, the local churches persevered.
“Really being out in the park is the best way for us to engage with the community…I’m just grateful for the way God’s working, even despite the rain and the challenges. He’s done such a great work this weekend,” remarked Riverbend Community Church Senior Pastor Joe Velarde.
Velarde was joined at this project site by Dr. Jeff Pennington, pastor at Smyrna First Baptist Church in Georgia, and his family. Pennington and Smyrna FBC have supported Velarde since his early church planting days in the Valley.
“We have been praying for Lehigh Valley and for our good friend Joe Velarde and Riverbend Church for a long, long time. They’ve just been great partners. We’re so thankful we got to come,” said Pennington.
That spirit of partnership was also evident as Pastor James Taylor of 1427 Church, led volunteers, many from Philadelphia-area churches — Great Commission Church, Calvary Christian Church, and First Haitian Metanoia Baptist Church — to assist in the 30th anniversary celebration of The Caring Place, a ministry to community youth in downtown Allentown.
The full day included activities for children, games, musical guests, testimonies from recipients of The Caring Place’s ministry and a visit from the Allentown mayor. Taylor credited Mrs. Mary Griffith, the executive director of The Caring Place, for encouraging him to start his new church in the city.
Following Serve Lehigh Valley, many of the participating pastors hope to sustain a spirit of partnership and prayer. Specifically, Pastor Velarde has challenged local churches to come together to cover the Lehigh Valley in prayer through a one-year initiative called Lehigh Valley Prays. The heart behind the initiative is for local churches to adopt one day a month, over the course of a year, and spend those 24-hours in prayer for the Valley.
Next year, volunteers will travel to York County, Pennsylvania, to participate in the 2027 ServePASJ tour. An area that BRN Director of Compassion Ministries and Partnership Development Buff McNickle describes as rich in history and opportunity.
“[There’s] over 471,000 residents (in York County) that we get the opportunity to engage with the Gospel of Jesus Christ through both word and deed,” said McNickle.
Serve York County will take place June 25-26, 2027.
Check out additional coverage from Serve Lehigh Valley: View a full photo gallery here and video testimonies here. To support future Serve endeavors, click here.
