A Lehighton native has achieved her dream following the release of her music video.

Jennifer K. Eckhart and Stained Glass Road recently released “Wounded” from her album “Faithful” that she released in 2020.

Eckhart, who serves as a pastor along with her husband, Cliff Eckhart, at Blue Mountain Community Church in Palmerton, wrote “Wounded” back in 2008.

“It was based on things that people in my life were really going through, really difficult times,” Eckhart said. “I had a friend in a wheelchair struggling, friends in marriages struggling, people dealing with a lot of different things.”

Eckhart, who resides in Franklin Township with her husband, Cliff, and daughter, Bella, 13, explained the impetus for the song.

“The concept that came to me is, are we broken beyond repair? “Jesus is our healer, our savior; he’s able to restore our lives.”

Eckhart said she wrote it and was on the tail end of trying to record another album of original songs in 2008 when her friend, who was disabled, became sick and passed away in 2018.

“We never got to record,” she said. “He passed away.”

As a result, Eckhart said she put the recording to the side and didn’t revisit it until 2019.

Concept for the video

Then in 2024, Eckhart said she and several others ended up getting together and talked about creating a video of a family falling apart, and God bringing them back together.

Eckhart said the first official brainstorming meeting regarding the video happened in September 2024 with Cathy Hawk, Bella, herself, and Javier Ferrer of Epic Film Productions.

“We discussed using several different scenarios with various stories throughout the video, but decided to focus in on one family’s pursuit for healing and peace,” she said. “After our meeting that day, we drove around our area looking at different scenic possibilities including Jim Thorpe and then Beltzville.

“When I showed Javier and Cathy the covered bridge, Javier immediately fell in love with that location. We also used the wooded area on the far end of the park and did one shot on the opposite side of the dam as well.”

She noted that Hawk came up with the idea for the broken family.

“She is the one that came up with the concept that the wife was the one struggling with her faith, the husband was also struggling,” said Eckhart, who added that usually the way it’s depicted on videos, the husband is the person struggling. “In this video, we wanted to show the whole family, that anybody can struggle and anybody can be healed.”

Eckhart said her daughter, Bella, could perhaps identify with her.

“We wanted to show that sometimes teens just hate their life; we wanted to show what teens are feeling,” she said. “Then you also had the woman (Hawk), feeling alone making dinner and maybe going to a bottle, an addiction, and Ed, the husband, coming home wondering what mood the wife will be in; those types of feelings, I think the video can help you.”

Recording the video

Eckhart said that from September 2024 through November 2025, it was over a year of recording when they could.

“We wanted to have shots with every season, started with fall, ended the following fall,” she said. “Everybody was volunteering to do the video.”

In the meantime, Eckhart said she had a major operation and was out for a few months, noting that they finished it this past November, all the rendering, editing, and finalization of that happened in December in 2025.

She said she held a release party at her house with the band and actors in January and released it in February of this year. It’s available on YouTube.

Eckhart said Ferrer was very instrumental in the vision of how it would be recorded, the angles for the cameras, the concept of each scene of the video.

“Javier brought the vision to life and went above and beyond my expectations in his professionalism and desire to make it the best it could be,” she said. “He spent countless hours editing hours of footage to make a powerful 7-minute video that I pray touches hearts for years to come.”

Eckhart said they had three actors in the video, including Hawk, of Parryville; Ed Mehlig, of Nazareth; and Bella Eckhart.

Along with Eckhart, musicians and vocalists included Jessica Neal, of Summit Hill; Jeff Russ, of Effort; Hank Brosky, of Jim Thorpe; Rodney Clouser, of Tamaqua; Alicia Klotz (Jen’s sister), of Lehighton; Lisa Snell Kern, of Palmerton, and Paul Thiessen, of Jim Thorpe. She said photos in the video were captured by Lori Devonshire, of Summit Hill.

Eckhart said the album, “Faithful” came after four attempts to record a CD of original songs, and described what it was like to see her dream come to fruition.

“This was the first opportunity we were given to have a music video; it was just awesome,” she said. “It really brought the lyrics to life and made the foundation of the song, which is Jesus and praying for people; I think a video is worth a million words.”

Singing is in her blood

Eckhart said she began singing at the age of 3 at Big Creek Church (near Beltzville), with “Jesus Loves Me” as her anthem.

“I always had an interest in singing music, writing music; I do like to express myself with music,” she said. “A lot of my songs are stories, concepts of life, things that we might think and may not put into words.”

Eckhart has led music at Blue Mountain Community Church since she was in high school, and started as the Music and Services director in 2001. She was then ordained as a pastor in 2008.

She said she’s been writing songs since the early 2000s, with an estimated 50 songs finished in that time frame.

For Eckhart, her love of music stems from her upbringing.

“My dad (Brian Blose) is an exceptional musician and has played in bands since he was 13.” she said. “He raised me to be myself, develop my own style of music, and use my talents to glorify God. My mom, Kathy Hine, is my greatest cheerleader who also sings and grew up in a musical household.”

Eckhart said she’s over the moon with how the video turned out.

“I love it. It did exceed my expectations,” she said. “Many people said it’s so professional, (that they) think it echoes the song very beautifully.”

Eckhart said she had many people to thank.

“Cliff, my husband, he is extremely supportive, who always encourages me to go after my dreams,” she said. “I share big goals with him, and he always tells me to go for it.

“He was extremely supportive when I went into the studio; he wanted me to see that vision realized. When it came to the video, he was very supportive of that as well.

“I could not have done it without the support of my husband and daughter, my band, Stained Glass Road, all top notch. When they really help, my songs come alive as far as the music.”

Eckhart said the audio was recorded at New Horizon Music Studios in Stroudsburg. The producer was Gary Wehrkamp, whom she said was very instrumental in helping them make “Wounded” sound really good.

Ironically, she said her family used to live at Big Creek, which is where they captured most of the video for “Wounded.”

“So many people have very vivid memories of being there. The covered bridge was actually moved from where it was; it’s now by the swimming area. That was the covered bridge that my family played on,” Eckhart said. “My family had a lot of memories of the lake before and after.”

Eckhart shared sage advice for anyone who feels they’re down on their luck.

“My favorite line in the song is no life has gone so far that you cannot restore,” she said. “People that are struggling with addiction or trials in their life and they feel like giving up, they don’t have to give up because God can always pick them up.”