The Rev. Hal Hopkins began the program at Lighthouse Baptist Church on June 10, First Responder Sunday, by saying, “ We are so grateful for the services you provide. Know you are appreciated by the church community.

“Everyone here is kind for you. If not, they are not part of Lighthouse Baptist.”

In the front row were representatives from Lehigh County Emergency Management Service, Pa. State Police, Troop M, Fogelsville, Macungie Fire Department, Macungie Ambulance, Lehigh County Field Communication truck and the Lehigh County Sheriff’s Office.

Hopkins said the church has raised more than enough money to dig a well in Zambia. The extra money will go into a fund for another well in 2019.

The congregation and choir then sang “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God All Mighty.”

Cheryl Summerfelt, a Boyertown Area Fire and Rescue team member, introduced who she called a “brother” in the fire service. Ken Davis, firefighter and emergency medical technician, told about his life as a first responder.

Davis said he stood in the church proudly.

“It’s not an easy job. Your life is on the line,” Davis said. “People tend to think it is just a job but there is a commitment first to self and then to the community.”

He became a firefighter in the Philadelphia area in 1975 and worked his way up to captain.

In 1985, he came to this area.

“When you get to a fire you might not come out again,” he said. “You have to keep your cool. Though he began as a firefighter, he liked emergency medical services, so he studied to be an emergency medical technician by studying at night.

One night, he responded to an accident with an ambulance on site. A man’s leg had been amputated but he was still trying to stand.

Davis received his certification in 1988.

He told the story of one night when he was responding to a barn fire where two firefighters had been killed.

“We had to transport them to a Chester hospital,” he said. “That was a most disturbing event. I’ll carry it to my grave – the smell of burnt flesh. I thought it could have been me.”

Davis said he had entered burning buildings when he was young and gung ho but that was what made him decide he preferred the emergency medical services side of first responders.

He also told the congregation of responding in 1989 to an accident along Route 100.

“We transported a body, and in the hospital I saw an autopsy,” Davis said. “It bothered me a little. I even saw how God put a man together.

“It was amazing how the body works. It will work perfectly if you take care of it. God was showing how he created man.”

On another call he had all his equipment except the airpack to enter a burning building and when he was ready the building caved in but they had to look for people who may have been trapped.

“We are sisters and brothers in the Lord,” Davis said. “The Lord has blessed me.”

Davis said he wants to share the gospel wherever he goes.

“I’m retired. I take the Word of God with me,” Davis said.

Each of the First Responders received a certificate and a gift and Lisa Grumbine sang ‘My Life is in Your hands.”

The final song was “Rescue the Perishing.”

Hopkins told the congregation he was a member of the police clergy, a unit designed to help people during emergencies.

“I am a first responder in a spiritual sense,” Hopkins said. “We live in this great pool of humanity that desperately needs help.

“The tragedy is sometimes you lose.

“Thank you first responders for making your lives mean something. Every day your lives are at risk.”