Lehigh Valley Project
Allentown, Pennsylvania was once a burgeoning 18th century city at the center of the Industrial Revolution. Today it is a diverse region of almost one million, including many who commute daily to the New York City area!
Richie Merritt is an Allentown native who will be leading a new church launching in the Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton region of eastern Pennsylvania. The plant will focus on the western Allentown/Macungie area. This area has the largest projected growth through 2012 and is easily accessible by three major highways. Richie and his wife Karen are house hunting and will be moving to area soon.
Richie has been serving for several years in Virginia Beach, VA, as he worked with Forefront Church. He is a recent graduate of the Ministry and Leadership program of The Londen Institute, and was ordained at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY in 2007.
Additional staff have been hired as well. Mike and Nicole DeSelm will be moving to the Valley in April to serve as worship and family life leaders. Mike will be leaving the Navy as a hospital corpsman after over 10 years of service in the Lehigh Valley.
A temporary website for the project is www.lvlegacy.org. This project is a partnership between Orchard Group and Keystone: Church Planting Network (formerly Christian Evangelizing Association of Pennsylvania). To check out the progress of this new plant, follow their blog atwww.leghighvalleyproject.