Not Forgotten: Bishop Melvin Clark remembered for 60 years of service & inspiration at Aliquippa church

Editor's Note: Not Forgotten is an occasional series celebrating area residents who have passed away recently but had an impact on their communities in life.

In 1959, the then-Rev. Melvin Clark Sr. visited Aliquippa for the first time, soon conceiving an effort to build a new church at a former garbage dump. Through his indomitable leadership, that vision became the Church in the Round, a popular center of faith in Aliquippa, and an influential community resource.

Charismatic from the pulpit, and a tireless advocate for those in need, Clark rose to the level of bishop, and ministered for 60-plus years in Aliquippa. He died Jan. 20 at the age of 92, leaving behind a legacy of service and a devoted ministry.

"We're sure going to miss him, but the ministry he started still matters and will go on," John Thomas, a superintendent of the Aliquippa School District and prominent member of Bishop Clark's church, said following Thursday's funeral services.

"His love for people and his concern for people was very unique," Thomas said. "The Scripture says, 'I will give you shepherds after my own heart.' Bishop Clark was a pastor after God's own heart."

Everyone attending weekly services at the Church in the Round knew they'd be there for hours, listening to Bishop Clark's inspiring sermons and readings, while being treated to uplifting music directed by Curtis Lewis, a former gospel organist at the Hitsville, U.S.A. recording studio (later famously re-branded Motown) whom Clark hand-picked as his church's music minister. Lewis, an International Gospel Hall of Fame inductee, died in 2017 after 50 years of musical service under Clark.

Also not forotten: Not Forgotten: Don Inman, ‘A gentleman through and through’

Churchgoers knew the story of how Clark, a Norfolk, Va., native, first visited Aliquippa on a guest preaching assignment. He had never heard of Aliquippa before but was immediately drawn to the city. In the predominantly Black neighborhood called Plan 11, Clark spotted a dump site, and said he felt a divine calling to construct a church there.

So, Clark left his Staunton, Va., church where he had presided for eight years, and relocated to Beaver County, taking over the then-First Church of God and orchestrating construction of the Church in the Round. Any doubters were soon convinced, as the church opened as an affiliate of the First Church of God in Christ.

Clark's enthusiastic spirit was contagious, Bishop Bernard Wallace, Clark’s longtime administrative assistant at the Church in the Round, recalled in a 2019 Times interview.

“He changed the culture of our city," Wallace said.

Clark stood on the front lines, as the booming mill town of the 1960s and 1970s plummeted into hardships starting with the closing of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. mill in the 1980s. At that point, Clark knew the mission of his church had changed.

“The Lord told me it wasn’t going to last, and we had to be ready for a drastic change,” Clark recalled in a 2009 Times interview. “We saw that in 1984, when the people in our church began losing their jobs and their livelihoods.”

That year, Clark began buying truckloads of food, paid for out of his own pocket, to feed members of the Church in the Round. That wasn’t enough, Clark felt, so a year later, the church opened the Jubilee Kitchen, which began feeding the jobless five days a week.

Eager for his church to grow, Clark launched an innovative outreach strategy, which included his “Across The Pastor’s Desk" radio show, regular “May I Present Jesus to You” conferences and Commit to Christ crusades.

His influence spread far beyond the Beaver Valley, earning him meetings with four U.S. presidents, foreign leaders, the Pope and South African President Nelson Mandela.

National church elders tapped Clark to serve on the task force mobilizing the construction of All Saints University.

The bishop's optimism, energy and ideas live on in those who saw him preach.

"It's always difficult when a leader is no longer with you," Thomas said. "But he taught us well on how to carry on even after he's gone."

Scott Tady joined The Times as a journalist in 1993 and covers the entertainment and local dining beats.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Not Forgotten: Bishop Melvin Clark of Aliquippa remembered for 60 years of service