ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Burdened for her hometown friends to encounter Jesus, a teenage Amy Velarde prayed for the people of Lehigh Valley.
Thirty years later, in the same steel stack-covered region, Amy, now a pastor’s wife, saw her prayers answered 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 partners with local churches in the region to complete compassion projects and evangelistic outreach.
by Kaleigh Brodzina
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.
A region rooted in prayer
Amy’s prayer is one of many that has contributed to the spreading of the Gospel in the Lehigh Valley. With deep roots inthe 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 Moravian settlement was intentionally formed to be a Christ-influenced community devoted to prayer and missionary outreach. The Moravian influence has spread across the Lehigh Valley but remains mostly prominent in its founding city.
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, who completed nearly 50 projects.
Projects paved in prayer
Through a facility known as The Comfort Cottage, volunteers helped 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,” Flo Rhue, director of children’s services for The Salvation Army Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware Division.
At the cottage, children and families are greeted by flowers and a spacious yard. At the 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.
Serve Lehigh Valley volunteers spent time painting the cottage inside and outside and deep cleaning the home.
Serve volunteers also 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, it seemed doubtful that the paint job would even get started, let alone finished.
Pastor Don Meadows, executive pastor at Calvary Baptist Church, encouraged the 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 come to life with vibrant colors.
“It just looks unbelievable,” said Laureen Conversano, a school coordinator for Freemansburg Elementary. “They’ve (Serve volunteers) done a fantastic job adding that pop of color, which I know the kids and teachers are going to love.”
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 hosting 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,” said Riverbend Community Church Senior Pastor Joe Velarde.
Velarde was joined at this project site by 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,” Pennington said. “They’ve just been great partners. We’re so thankful we got to come.”
This articled originally appeared at brnunited.org.
