A church that sits on the outskirts of Palmerton, but has been the rock for hundreds of area residents past and present for decades, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this weekend.

Blue Mountain Community Church, located at 25 Oak St., has been the heart of its fellowship since Jan. 3, 1981, when the Rev. Rick Collins and his wife, Nancy, started the Sonlife Full Gospel Fellowship after God spoke to Rick about beginning a church.

The name changed to Blue Mountain Community Church in 2004, but the Collins’ message and devotion to Christ has remained the same these last four decades.

The church, now under the direction of the Rev. Jennifer Eckhart and her husband, the Rev. Cliff Eckhart, has a strong leadership team made up of the Collins, Eckharts, Tedd Leininger, Brandon Wagner, Yvonne and Lloyd Stoudt, Alicia Klotz, Judy Eckhart and Lori Schaffer. This team has helped the church weather many storms and build a solid foundation for its members.

“As a community church, we care for you and your family,” Rick Collins said on the church’s website. “It is our goal to help one another maintain Biblical, spiritual values in a secular culture as well as reach out to our friends and neighbors who also need encouragement.”

“We have been a part of this church since we were kids and grew up in a place where people are authentic and the truth of God’s Word is taught,” Cliff and Jen Eckhart wrote on the church’s website. “Those two things are what caused us to be planted here and call BMCC our home and family.”

Blue Mountain’s mission is simple, “help today’s generation come to know, love and serve Jesus.”

History of Blue Mountain Community Church

After God spoke to Rick in 1980, the Collins took the leap of faith and placed an ad in the newspaper for a church service on Jan. 3, 1981.

The service was held in a Bowmanstown cottage with nearly 30 people attending.

The services grew and so did the needs of the fledgling church.

In 1982, the first church building was constructed on property owned by the Collins.

By 1985, the congregation had grown to 150 strong.

The church’s history shows several milestones along the path, including the construction of a new sanctuary in the late 1980s and a children’s wing being built in the 1990s.

In 2000, Sonlife’s congregation decided to become an outreach church and relocate the Christian school that it had formed within its services provided.

From 2003 to 2007, several renovations totaling $500,000 were completed by the congregation to make the land and church what it is today.

In 2008, Jen Eckhart, who had been a member of the church since 1985, was ordained and became the full-time assistant pastor and creative arts director.

The church continued to grow over the next 12 years to over 500 strong.

It also welcomed Cliff Eckhart as the full-time executive pastor and watched as Pastor Rick semi-retired.

Times are changing but God is forever

Since 2020, the church has adapted even further, now including livestreams of its services on its website, as well as podcasts by Pastor Cliff Eckhart.

The church will celebrate its anniversary at 8:45 a.m. on Sunday, but due to the pandemic, the service will only be streamed. The speakers for the service will also be Pastor Rick and Nancy Collins.

For more information on Blue Mountain Community Church and what it has to offer, visit the church website at www.bmcc.cc.