Grace Community Church Pastor Jeremy Benack wanted to buy the church down the street for years.

His father once preached in the former English Congregational Church on West Ridge Street in Lansford, he said.

So did he in his youth, Benack said.

He wasn’t able to swing a deal for the towering brick and limestone building until this year, setting his plans for a community center into motion.

The former church, now the Panther Valley Community Center, at 47 W. Ridge St. needs some work, but Benack said his church is working with Second Harvest Food Bank and others on numerous grants.

“We can’t do this on our own,” he said.

Benack plans to move Grace Community Church’s food pantry into the first floor of the community center, making it more accessible for the more than 120 families who rely on the monthly outreach.

The food pantry also supplies monthly boxes for senior citizens, in addition to family service, he said.

Benack also wants to make office space available to different agencies and organizations, such as CareerLink or Veterans Affairs, to use as satellite offices, allowing people to get services they need in the borough.

Many people aren’t able to get to Lehighton or Jim Thorpe, he said, and the center could provide access to these wraparound services, he said.

Grace Church is already holding Bible studies inside the community center, said Eric Schuetrumpf, a worship leader at the church. Keystone Karate is using space on the first floor for classes as well, Benack said.

The community center isn’t charging rent for use of its space, but asking for a donation to offset its costs, Benack said.

They hope that as the community center gets up and running, it will draw other services and groups into the community, Schuetrumpf said.

“Somebody needs to start somewhere,” Benack said.

The former church’s sanctuary on the second floor will become a multipurpose room, which could be used for theater, dance classes, concerts or even basketball or volleyball, he said.

“Whatever the community could use it for,” Benack said.

The large, colorful stained glass windows which surround the cavernous space could be covered with Plexiglas to protect them, or if someone wanted the windows, the church would consider it.

The stained glass, while beautiful, doesn’t matter to Benack, providing positive activities for the children of the community does.

“At the end of the day, we all die and this is going to be left,” Benack said. “We need to do stuff that’s going to help people in the community and for the kids to be active in a positive place, not glass.”

In the basement, the community center will also focus on health and wellness with a gym, and Benack would like to see a soup kitchen in the back.

“We’re going to use every inch of this building,” he said.

Helping the community with more services and aid has been Benack’s mission for many years.

He had first considered the old middle school in town for a community center, but it needed too much work to bring it back to its former glory, he said.

Then, he set his sights on the former English Congregational Church, and tried to purchase the building three years ago, but it didn’t work out.

He also didn’t have the help he needed then to make it a reality, but he does now, he said.

“It’s all about God’s time,” Benack said. “We’re not a very rich church. We just have a lot of people with big hearts that want to serve the community and help our community.

“So we trust that the Lord is leading, and we’re going for it,” he said.