On Saturday, March 14, young people in Camden flocked to experience the start of something spectacular; a STEM program was launching in a church building that had once been abandoned.
“Anything that makes energy flow is a conductor,” proclaimed Pastor Tim Merrill to a group of students that clustered around him in the Genius Lab of Imani Hope Center. Pastor Merrill would know, since he himself is a master in creating new pathways for energy to flow.
After Bethel UMC closed its doors in the fall of 2023, Pastor Tim Merrill, during a walkthrough with Rev. Dennis Blackwell and Rev. Glenn Conaway, former District Superintendent for the Delaware Bay District, saw beyond the crumbling plaster and the leaky roof to possibilities for ministry yet to be realized.
Since that fateful day in 2023, the church building that was once Bethel UMC has been transformed into Imani Hope Center. Through Merrill’s leadership, the blood, sweat and tears of the community, and support from neighbors across the Delaware Bay District, the once empty building has become a bright and colorful community hub. Today it hosts martial arts and music classes during the week and a Bible study on Sunday morning.
The Genius Lab represents the next step in embodying Imani Community Fellowship’s belief that transformation happens when people are not merely served but empowered. Children and youth are encouraged to see themselves as thinkers, leaders, and creators—capable of shaping their own lives and contributing to the common good.
For decades Rev. Merril has lived out that vision, dedicating more than 30 years to mentoring youth in Camden and leading multiple leadership development initiatives.
His time as a fellow at the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative and Harvard Innovation Lab helped inspire the Genius Lab. As Merrill sat and listened to students at Harvard pitch innovative projects, he realized, “My kids in Camden are just as smart. They just don’t have exposure.”
Motivated by that insight, he researched the importance of early STEM exposure and became convinced this was his next calling. He envisioned a program that would spark imagination while equipping young people with practical, lasting skills that could never be taken away from them.
Pastor Merrill explained, “A lot of STEM programs get kids building robots, but don’t help them understand what is an amp, an ohm.” The Genius Lab was designed to help students gain foundational knowledge of the science, mechanics, and engineering behind the projects, so that they could apply that knowledge in future settings.
With funding from colleagues and friends from the Harvard Advanced Leadership Institute, as well as from churches in the Delaware Bay District, the vision became a reality.
On the day of the grand opening, the sun shone brightly, reflecting the sense of new possibility. The Imani Hope Center welcomed neighbors to explore the newly created space, complete with modern technology, including multiple 3D printers.
The day began with students taking a baseline STEM assessment on computers. From there, the focus shifted to hands-on learning through real-life experiments.
Pastor Merrill beamed as students gathered early around the table for their first activity. Using a small diode powered by a safe electrical current, he demonstrated how circuits work. Students held hands to complete the circuit and watched the light turn on—then off again when the chain was broken.
They experimented further, observing how insulators disrupted the current and how water, a conductor, allowed the light to remain lit.
He explained “Anything that makes energy flow is a conductor. Take a hand. That’s electrons flowing through all of us.”
After learning the basics, students built their first circuits using breadboards, multimeters, and wire strippers. Adults and volunteers helped small hands learn how to strip wires and thread the wires through the breadboard to the LED lights, multimeter, and batteries. Cheers erupted as one by one each team got their diode to light up.
Parents and community members looked on with excitement. Ms. Shakera Holmes watched as her son worked on his breadboard, reflecting on the value of spaces where learning becomes tangible. She remarked, “It’s good to have something positive to do. I’ve been sitting here for an hour already, learning something myself. Cultivating that sense of curiosity in community is so, so, important.”
She was not alone. The Genius Lab was full of adults like her who were passionate about equipping a new generation with tools they would need to thrive in the information age.
Merrill was joined by former mentees and community partners, including Wali Palmer, a Rutgers graduate and coding expert. Palmer gushed about what the project meant to him, “If you expose kids to STEM education it can open new doors. It can change the trajectory of a child’s life… I didn’t know you could do that, by just doing this… That’s a skill set that you can never take from them.”
He wasn’t the only one who was excited to be there; a whole team of volunteers were on hand ready to help, including Theo Robinson who shared, “A STEM program like this is hard to find. It gives them a head start. I find it really fulfilling to have a hand in that.”
Miles Cream agreed, “One of the things about communities like ours is there aren’t always people to encourage young people to learn new skills that transfer to adulthood. Seeing those skills be taught at an early age is amazing. It’s a beautiful thing.”
District leaders also attended the opening, including Rev. Kate Monahan, District Superintendent for Delaware Bay District and Rev. Glenn Conaway, the former District Superintendent. Monahan was elated:
“The establishment of the Imani Hope Center is a God-sized dream come true on the Delaware Bay District, several years in the making… I am so proud that as a district we decided to steward our gifts this Christmas to raise $5,000 to help Imani launch their computer lab. The Genius Lab is going to give new generations in Camden, NJ the essential skills to become future leaders in technology and computer coding. I could not be more excited or hopeful than when our United Methodist connection chooses to work together to invest in the next generation of faith-informed leaders for our world. Ministry like this is why I get up in the morning!”
And Conaway agreed, “This was one of the dreams, to just get this far.”
The grand opening of the Genius Lab ended with food, as all great Methodist gatherings do. As the inaugural session came to a close, Merrill asked God to bless the food and all the young people gathered.
“God thank you for the geniuses that came today. Thank you for all the things they were able to learn.”
Friends, both old and new, shared a meal, laughter, and stories, reflecting on a day filled with discovery, connection, and hope. The program continues through June 2026. To connect with the Imani Hope Center and learn more about The Genius Lab visit imanicamden.com.