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Volunteers walk away ‘good tired’ from inaugural Serve PA/SJ weekend 


ERIE, Pa. (BRN) – In the northern corners of Erie, rows of grapevines consume field upon field, filling the air with the sweet aroma of produce ready to be plucked. In the southern pockets of the city, the metropolitan region sees both high class sail boats docking at Bayfront and run-down warehouses sitting vacant on impoverished streets. 

In addition to the divine beauty of vineyards and lakefront views, there also exists a noticeable brokenness in the city that is home to the fifth poorest zip code in the U.S.  

This stark difference was evident to the 294 volunteers who came to Erie Sept. 20-21, to participate in the inaugural Serve PA/SJ weekend, hosted by the Baptist Resource Network (BRN) of Pennsylvania/South Jersey.

Volunteers gather at Erie City Mission in Erie, Pa., to receive their Serve PA/SJ project assignments.

The Serve PA/SJ initiative was a dream sparked by Send Relief’s Serve Tour Philly effort that took place in Philadelphia last year. 

“It was always a hope that our churches could partner together and do something in a collaborative way that would make an impact … so the Serve Tour in Philly just absolutely set the spark that created the fire,” said BRN Executive Director Dr. Barry Whitworth.

After a year’s worth of planning and plenty of conversations between Whitworth and Buff McNickle, BRN director of compassion ministry and partnership development, the first tour under the Serve PA/SJ banner, Serve Erie, came to fruition.  

During the two-day mission effort, the BRN partnered with three of its local churches in Erie – Millcreek Community Church, Harborcreek Community Church and Walnut Creek Baptist Church. The BRN also partnered with Erie City Mission, one of the leading ministry organizations in the city.  

“We wanted to come alongside them and really just enhance their impact [and] their influence in their community for the gospel of Jesus Christ,” McNickle said. 

Thirty-one churches, 27 of those being BRN affiliates, and seven partnering organizations participated in the effort, including Southern Baptists from Florida and South Carolina.  

Over the course of two days, 19 projects were completed, 306 Gospel conversations took place and 3,448 people were served. 

Many hands make light work 

Eben-Ezer Camp, SBDR Blue Hat Don Boore and his team of volunteers helped care for the campgrounds by cutting down 12 trees, all of which measured 80-100 feet. 

During the first day of projects, volunteers completed tasks assigned by the partnering churches in Erie. 

Near Millcreek Community Church, some volunteers built beds for foster families, while others spent the day at Grover Cleveland Elementary.  

At the school, volunteers added a fresh coat of paint to the teacher’s lounge and tended to the playground. Millcreek also used the opportunity to bless teachers and support staff with a free lunch from Chick-fil-A. 

Just down the road at Elk Valley Elementary, Walnut Creek Baptist Church introduced volunteers to the Elk Valley Community Closet. 

This treasure trove of clothes, coats, food and more allows students to stock up on items they may need for the weekend or the impending winter season. Volunteers came alongside Walnut Creek to help organize the pantry and clothing closet. 

“The teachers were just blown away, all the teachers, staff, faculty, the principal – everybody – was just blown away by everything that we were able to help them with yesterday,” said Walnut Creek Senior Pastor Denny Adkinson. 

Heading north from the city, just 20 minutes away from the New York border, volunteers partnered with Harborcreek Community Church to serve Brevillier Village Assisted Living and Home Care Facility. 

Brevillier is a community staple that is near and dear to Harborcreek elder Tom Osborn. 

“My mother passed away in 2019 and she was at Brevillier,” Osborn said.  

Volunteers spent a Saturday cleaning up a homeless emampment in Erie. A local ministry found new housing for the 30 or so people who had been living here.

“I have 10 siblings [and] as my mother was passing, they put her in a large room where we could all gather around her. Then they brought us breakfast – coffee and danishes, orange juice – and throughout the day, they just kept checking in on us.”  

The home care facility didn’t stop there. When they saw the extent of Osborn’s family and their desire to remain by their mother’s side, they offered the family their newly renovated wing as a place to stay. 

“Locally, we are absolutely indebted to them for the way they care for our old … it’s a really great facility,” Osborn said. 

At Brevillier, nearly 30 volunteers worked to restore some of the village’s grounds and courtyard areas. 

South of Harborcreek, in Girard, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers were busy with their own kind of “landscaping.” 

At Eben-Ezer Camp, SBDR Blue Hat Don Boore and his team of volunteers helped care for the campgrounds by cutting down 12 trees, all of which measured 80-100 feet. 

“They were anywhere from 12-16 inches in diameter, and they were dead. So, they were danger trees, constantly dropping branches,” Boore said. 

After felling the trees, the DR team chopped up the wood and distributed it to different firewood stations around the camp. 

Miracles every week  

Day 2 of Serve Erie kicked off in the heart of the city at the Erie City Mission. 

Dating back to 1911 and the ministry of 20th century evangelist Billy Sunday, Erie City Mission has consistently cared for locals struggling with addiction, poverty and homelessness, all while keeping the Gospel at the core of its message.  

“I always convey to them, God sent us to you, [and] you need to know that He wants you to know that you matter and that you’re important to Him. … I witness miracles every week of my life doing this,” said ECM Chaplain Rob O’Connell. 

On Saturday, O’Connell led volunteers to a homeless encampment located between Liberty and Popular Street, directly behind Erie Tool. 

The tree tented area appears inconspicuous, especially next to the daunting warehouse, but a few steps up the brief, inclined, dirt path and the wooded area quickly becomes more than meets the eye. 

Piles of clothes, blankets, stuffed animals, mattresses, wooden pallets, shopping carts, sleeping bags, plastic chairs, tents and tarps, abandoned play kitchens, windchimes and additional remnants of a home dot the former encampment. 

“[It’s] very humbling and eye opening. I’ve lived in this area for quite a while and I didn’t know this existed … or the extent that it existed,” said Harborcreek member Christina Gross. 

Christina and other volunteers worked alongside O’Connell to clear out the previously evicted encampment. 

“This is not a good place for anybody to spend the winter, so we’ve worked with the people in this encampment to get them housing and get them treatment, and now we’re honored to clean it up,” said Brian Johansson, CEO of Erie City Mission. 

At the encampment’s peak, it was home to 30 residents. Around the city, there are at least a dozen active encampments. 

Making noise for Jesus  

In addition to the homeless encampment clean up, Serve PA/SJ volunteers partnered with Erie City Mission to complete several other projects, including the Mission’s first ever block party. 

The party gave ECM the opportunity to serve this low-income community by connecting them with nearly 30 local vendors and providing free food, showers, haircuts, flu shots and prayer. 

After the block party, the Serve Erie weekend culminated with a celebration rally at Walnut Creek Baptist Church. 

During the rally, Whitworth recognized the efforts of the volunteers, noting that everyone was a “good tired.” 

 “It was truly Kingdom work with Kingdom impact…we used our hands, our feet and our mouths to elevate Jesus,” Whitworth said. 

“We went into Erie to make some noise for Jesus on behalf of our churches, and I would say mission accomplished.” 

The next Serve PA/SJ mission effort will take place in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pa., June 27-28, 2025. 


This story originally appeared at BRNUnited.org. See a photo gallery of Serve PA/SJ here.