Love. Build. Send.
On a stretch of Oliver Road in Erie, Pennsylvania, a multi-generational congregation has been telling the same story for more than eighty years. Erie First Assembly of God, a member church of the Assemblies of God, gathers each week under a simple motto - Love. Build. Send. - and an equally simple purpose: to love God and His people, build Jesus-centered lives, and send out Spirit-led disciples. The doors open on Sunday mornings at ten o'clock at 8150 Oliver Road, and visitors are welcomed as part of a family that spans infants in the nursery to longtime members who remember the church's earliest decades.
Lead Pastor Nichole Schreiber frames the church's identity in terms of a Kingdom Story: a community that produces life change through the preaching of the Gospel and the grace of Jesus. That posture shapes everything else - the children's wing at The Ark, the Wednesday night youth service at The Summit next door, and a robust Kingdom Builders missions effort that ties the local body to projects on six continents.
Sundays at 10am on Oliver Road
The Sunday gathering is the rhythm around which the rest of the church's life turns. Services begin at 10:00 a.m. in the main sanctuary at 8150 Oliver Road, with the worship team leading contemporary music and the preaching team - composed of pastors and guest teachers - working through extended sermon series. Communion, also called the Lord's Supper, is observed regularly, usually once a month, as a way of remembering Jesus' death and resurrection.
Recent teaching series walk visitors through the minor prophets (Habakkuk, Micah, Amos, and Hosea under the banner Minor Prophets, Major Truths), the paradoxes of prayer in Prayer Paradoxes, a study of the names and ministry of the Holy Spirit called Sacred Names, the Hebrew vocabulary of praise in Language of Praise, and the strategic vision of Everyone Everywhere. Past series have ranged from Holy Spirit and Ridiculous Faith to Love in Action, Five Crowns, and Gospel Shaped Life. The mix of narrative preaching, scripture exposition, and practical application runs throughout.
Visitors who cannot make it in person can join the livestream on the church's YouTube channel. Video of the same services is published to the same channel each week, so anyone catching up later can watch on demand.
Erie First Kids: Birth Through Fifth Grade
Children's ministry at Erie First is organized around the principle that the youngest among the congregation are a blessing to the whole church, not an interruption of it. Erie First Kids serves families with children from birth through fifth grade, and the programming is broken into three age groups: nursery for ages zero to two, preschool for ages three through kindergarten, and an elementary program for first through fifth graders.
Check-in happens at The Ark, located to the right of the sanctuary as families enter the building. From there the Kids Team guides children to their assigned room. Nursery and preschool classrooms are designed to be comfortable and safe, with volunteers engaging the children through songs, simple Bible stories, and age-appropriate games. Older children gather in the Kids Chapel, a dedicated space where the curriculum - a whole-Bible scope - is taught in an interactive, energetic way that fits how elementary-aged kids actually learn.
Two features make Erie First Kids particularly welcoming for families with younger children. The Parent Lounge is open to any parent whose little ones cannot sit through the main service, and the Nursing Mother's Room offers a quiet place to nurse; both rooms carry a live audio-video feed of the sanctuary so parents do not miss what is happening in the room next door. In addition, Erie First Kids operates a Sensory Room staffed by trained volunteers for elementary-aged children with special needs. The Sensory Room is open every Sunday during the ten o'clock service, giving children a calm, supportive environment in which to encounter Jesus at their own pace.
Parents and other adults who feel called to children's ministry are invited to apply through the volunteer form on the church's serving page.
Erie First Youth at The Summit
Middle and high school students have their own weekly gathering at The Summit, the youth space at 8160 Oliver Road, just steps from the main building. Erie First Youth meets on Wednesday nights from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., a deliberate choice that gives students their own midweek touchpoint apart from the Sunday service.
The Summit is staffed by Youth Pastor Howie Sweitzer and a team of adult leaders. Programming is designed to help students build friendships, wrestle honestly with scripture, and grow into a faith of their own. The youth ministry also maintains an active social media presence on Facebook and Instagram at @eriefirstyouth, where families can follow announcements, devotional content, and student stories throughout the week.
First-time visitors are encouraged to fill out a short connection form so a leader can follow up personally, answer questions, and make sure the first Wednesday is a smooth one.
Kingdom Builders: Local, Domestic, and International Missions
Missions are not a sidebar at Erie First; they are woven into the church's identity. Kingdom Builders is the umbrella name for the congregation's international, domestic, and local outreach, and every dollar given to the initiative is directed to yearly projects. Beyond those projects, Erie First also commits ten percent of every tithe to ongoing monthly support for missionaries and partner organizations around the world.
On the international side, Kingdom Builders currently partners with the International Sports Academy, which uses sports as a vehicle to reach at-risk youth in Masai villages and slum communities through medical clinics, sports programs, and children's ministry; Indonesia Teen Challenge, supporting women overcoming addiction and a local orphanage; Hope Alive Church in Tokyo, a church plant pastored by Brian Lusky through Converge Missions; the Live|Dead church plant in an unreached city on the western coast of North Africa; Project Rescue, an anti-human-trafficking effort in India; Extreme Love Ministries in Cambodia, focused on employment assistance, educational sponsorships, and aftercare for women and children; and the Jerusalem School in Bethlehem, where funds go toward Christ-centered education and facility expansion.
Domestically, Erie First continues its partnership with the Philly Dream Center, contributing to construction, kids ministry, Vacation Bible School, street evangelism, and medical outreach in Philadelphia. The church also supports the Cornerstone Global Youth Foundation, helping construct youth facilities in Tok, Alaska, and backing Vacation Bible School outreach among Indigenous communities there; a Jacksonville, Florida church plant sent out by Allison Park Church in Pittsburgh; BGMC (Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge), an Assemblies of God initiative that helps children around the world access the gospel through curriculum and humanitarian aid; and Speed the Light, which equips missionaries with vehicles and ministry tools.
On the local level, Kingdom Builders partners with Erie City Mission, supporting a new housing development for homeless moms and children and the mission's ongoing street outreach; Keystone Family Alliance, funding CARE Teams that sustain foster families across the region; Erie City Moms, supplying meals for monthly Moms Night Out gatherings that serve hundreds of families; Interchurch Ministries, providing emergency food vouchers for families facing food insecurity; the City Hope Center in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, an after-school and trauma-care community resource; Camp Judson in North Springfield, Pennsylvania, helping maintain a Christian retreat and camp center; Community of Caring, which provides summer meals for the homeless in Erie; Fresh Hope, supplying resources for mental health awareness and support; local Nursing Homes Outreach to seniors; and a Kingdom Builders Crisis Fund that lets the church respond quickly to emergencies in the community.
Each year the missions team organizes short-term trips and project teams for those who want to serve in person, both domestically and internationally. Local opportunities are listed on a regularly updated serving calendar, and a Kingdom Builders newsletter keeps supporters informed throughout the year.
What We Believe
Erie First's statement of faith opens with the Bible, which the church teaches is God's Word to us, written by human authors under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. Because it is inspired by God, it is treated as truth without error, including in matters of science and history, and as the supreme source of truth for Christian beliefs about daily living.
The church confesses one God who has eternally existed in three coequal persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - the Creator and Ruler of the universe. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is confessed as fully God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, who lived a sinless human life. He offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all people by dying on a cross, physically rose from the dead after three days, ascended to Heaven, and will physically return to earth to reign as King.
Human beings are made in the spiritual image of God, but all are marred by sin, an attitude of disobedience that separates people from God. Salvation is a free gift, received by turning from a self-ruled life and trusting in Jesus Christ; eternal life begins the moment a person receives Christ by faith. Good works and self-improvement cannot earn it.
In keeping with its Pentecostal heritage, Erie First teaches that, in addition to the Holy Spirit indwelling every believer at salvation, there is a baptism in the Holy Spirit as a subsequent biblical experience available to every believer who asks. The gifts of the Holy Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 12-14 are expected to be active in the life of the local church. The church also teaches that Jesus' death on the cross provided physical healing and that God's miracle power for healing is freely given as believers pray in faith.
Two ordinances mark the church's life. Communion is practiced regularly, usually once a month. Water baptism is by full immersion of adult believers, with teens encouraged to participate (those under eighteen need parental permission), and is administered in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Baptism is not required for salvation but is a step of obedience to Jesus' command.
On family and marriage, the statement of faith holds that marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman, intended for a lifetime of faithfulness, love, and mutual help, and that the family is the first and most important classroom for society, with God's best vision rooted in a marriage covenant that gives children the effective presence of both a father and a mother.
The Staff Team
Nichole Schreiber has served as Lead Pastor since February 2017, when she was named to the role by the Erie First congregation. She joined the staff as Executive Pastor in October 2016 and had previously served on Erie First's preaching team. Before moving to Erie, she and her husband Joel served more than ten years in college ministry with Chi Alpha Campus Ministries; Joel is now the District Chi Alpha Director for Pennsylvania and Delaware. Nichole is a graduate of Southwest Missouri State University in English Education, holds a Masters of Theology from the University of Valley Forge, is ordained with the Assemblies of God, and serves as the Specialized Ministries Director for the Network of Women's Ministers with the Assemblies of God. She and Joel, high school sweethearts, have three daughters.
Scott Dutcher serves as Operations Pastor. Daniel Brooker serves in Family & Discipleship and is a regular voice on the preaching team. Danielle Frano is Outreach Pastor and leads much of the church's external ministry, including the Kingdom Builders missions emphasis. Jonathan Dutcher is the Worship Director and oversees the music ministry that leads Sunday worship. Kahyla Collazo is the Kids Pastor, with responsibility for Erie First Kids from nursery through fifth grade. Howie Sweitzer is the Youth Pastor and oversees Erie First Youth at The Summit. Jason Bennett is the Media Director, and Kim Graziano is the Connections Director, helping newcomers and regular attenders alike find their place in the life of the church.
Sara Musser serves as Office Manager, Susan Schuette oversees Finance, and Susan Hall coordinates Hospitality and Prayer. Office hours run Tuesday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with a general inbox at info@eriefirst.org and a phone line at 814-868-4876.
Sermons, Podcast, and Livestream
Every Sunday service is recorded and made available across multiple platforms. Video is published to the Erie First YouTube channel, where the Sunday gathering is also livestreamed live. The same teaching is released as an audio podcast, distributed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other major services under the title Erie First Assembly.
The audio archive reaches back years, with hundreds of messages tagged by topic, book of the Bible, and series. Visitors looking for a starting point will find substantial playlists built around prayer, the Holy Spirit, generosity and stewardship, the minor prophets, marriage and family, end-times theology, and missions. Recent series tags include Anchored Teaching, Prayer For Every Household, Resource Every World Region, and Worship in Every Zip Code, each capturing a recurring emphasis of the church's teaching.
A weekly email and the church's media page make it easy to follow along, and anyone can submit a prayer request through the dedicated prayer page.
Small Groups and Serving Teams
Sunday worship is the gathering point, but the church's life is intentionally lived out in smaller circles throughout the week. Erie First's Small Groups ministry organizes groups that meet in homes and around the community for Bible study, prayer, friendship, and mutual encouragement. Groups are signed up through the church's online directory.
For those who want to put their faith into practice, the church maintains a wide network of Serving Teams. Whether someone has the gift of teaching, a heart for children, a knack for hospitality, a willingness to set up chairs, or a desire to welcome newcomers at the door, there is a place to serve. Volunteering with Erie First Kids, Erie First Youth, worship and media, hospitality, or any number of other teams can be initiated through a short online form.
The Connections team, led by Kim Graziano, exists to help newcomers take their next step. From a first visit to plugging into a small group, joining a serving team, getting baptized, or exploring membership, the team walks alongside anyone wanting to go deeper.
A Church With a Wide Reach and a Local Heart
What holds Erie First Assembly together across generations and programs is the simple refrain of its motto: love God and His people, build Jesus-centered lives, send out Spirit-led disciples. From the nursery on Sunday morning to a Teen Challenge center in Indonesia, from a Bible study in someone's living room to a church plant in Tokyo, the same conviction runs through it all - that the Christian life is meant to be lived in community, in step with the Holy Spirit, and for the sake of others.
For more than eighty years, Erie First has been a fixture on Oliver Road, and the conviction that drives it remains the same: that the Kingdom story God is writing in Erie is bigger than any one building, and that everyone - everywhere - is invited to be part of it.