WESTFIELD – On June 5, the Westfield Evangelical Free Church at 568 Southwick Rd. celebrated Pastor Dave and Lisa Young’s 40 years of ministry with an outdoor supper followed by a celebration service in the sanctuary.

Young was the founding pastor of the church, which met for its first eight years in the Westfield Woman’s Club on Court Street. The church purchased six acres on Southwick Road in the fall of 1984 for $60,000. Construction of a church began four years later at a cost of $425,000, and on Sept. 10, 1989, the first service was hosted in the new church.

Subsequently, three more additions and four more acres were added to the location as the church grew. Young said the church has doubled in size over the last 13 years. When asked how he survived all of the building programs, he said that he likes to say that pastoring the church has been like pastoring three or four different churches.

The most recent building, which is 18,786 square feet, includes a 625-seat sanctuary, a cafe and gathering space for fellowship after the service, classrooms, an administrative area, a rehearsal area and new restrooms. It cost approximately $3 million, according to church treasurer Pam Peters. Young said the membership of the church is 250, but the average attendance is 450.

The new building was dedicated on March 25, 2007. Young said the church was able to pay off the mortgage during the middle of the pandemic, after just 13 years. “I’m so grateful for that. There have been many, many, many blessings,” he said.

At the celebration service, current and former pastors who served alongside Young spoke about his ministry and the impact he had on their own lives.  A video of leaders in the New England association of the Evangelical Free Church also spoke about his perseverance and dedication, one saying the average length of service for a pastor is four years. 

Mayor Donald F. Humason Jr., who attends the church, also spoke about its importance to his and his family’s life and presented Young with a proclamation from the city.

Also speaking in a surprise video were Super Bowl-winning coach Doug Pederson and Hall of Fame quarterback Randall Cunningham from the Philadelphia Eagles.  Young, who is originally from Mount Holly, NJ, is a lifelong Philly Eagles fan.

Cunningham, who said he is a pastor himself for the past 16 years, thanked him for his service and for being a lifelong fan. “It’s time to ride off in the sunset – I tried that twice,” Cunningham said. 

In another surprise video, Pastor Jeff Jones, one of four that serve the church, imagined Young
in a different profession, that of a movie star.  He then showed bits from many well-known moves, including “Top Gun,” “Dumb and Dumber” and “Gone with the Wind,” among many others, with Young’s face superimposed on the leading men.

The Youngs’ three grown daughters sang at the request of their father, something they said they hadn’t done in many years, and gifts were given by the congregation to both Dave and Lisa Young to thank them for their service.  The Youngs are planning to retire in August and move to Iowa to be closer to their children and grandchildren who all live in the Midwest.

In a recent interview, David Young was asked what some of the highlights of his ministry have been, “We’re still here. A lot of other churches in the last 40 years have come and gone,” he said. “We’re still here, touching lives.”

Young talked about the many mission teams the church has sent out around the world, naming China, Kenya, and Mexico. He said he has gone on 10 of the mission trips himself.

The church in Westfield has also housed the start of other churches in the area. The Russian Baptist Church first started meeting there. Currently, the Nepali congregation meets in the old sanctuary, which is also a youth group space.

A new church plant in Southampton, the Christ Community Church of Hampshire County, just moved into the former Opa Opa restaurant under the leadership of Chad Patterson, a former youth pastor at the Westfield church. Patterson also thanked Young for his investment and encouragement in his and his family’s life.

After the many testimonies, David and Lisa Young thanked everyone for being there. “We’ve been talking about God’s faithfulness – I want to thank all of you that have participated in being faithful yourself,” Young said, adding, “How can I forget this church. We were married one year before we came here. There are a lot of parallels in this church and our marriage. We want to make sure God gets the glory for all of it,” Young said.