“The Wake Up Rise Up Live 4 Peace Concert,” Sept. 21, which is International Peace Day, will feature performances on 30 stages around the world. It is expected to be seen online by millions of people.

The first Peace Concert in 2021 began in Ghana and ended on variois stages more than 24 hours later in Dallas. Last year, there were stages in Nigeria, Gambia, Portugal, Finland, the United Kingdom, Canada, New York, Philadelphia and the Lehigh Valley.

It’s the fifth year that the Lehigh Valley has participated, but for the first time the filming will be done at a free concert, “Wake Up Rise Up: A Global Peace Concert,” 1 p.m. - 6 p.m. April 26, Cedar Crest College.

The concert is to conclude with the “We Are the World,” a 1985 song written for “USA for Africa,” originally recording by music superstars.

At a diner in Whitehall, Steve Jones explains how the concert is organized and Doug and June Payne give its history. Payne, a retired Philadelphia school teacher and performer, was concerned about losing students to gun violence.

“I was going to a conference when I heard a Bob Marley song on the radio,” he says. “I wrote down the words, put them in the glove compartment, and then forgot about it.” However, it later inspired him to write his own song.

“I’m not used to writing message songs, but people would ask, ‘When are you going to work on this song? The violence is getting bad.’”

He wrote “Wake Up Rise Up (Our Lives Matter),” with a concept like “We Are the World,” and produced a video with four singers, a choir and dancers. It included a recitation of the Bible verse of Second Chronicles 7:14. Payne’s wife June tells why that was included:

“I was working with a choir in Philadelphia. A few seconds after I got through the door, shots rang out in front of the church. There were bullets in the brickwork, and in the pastor’s office. One of them penetrated the Bible at Chronicles 7:14. I decided that is the verse that the song needs.”

Chronicles 7:14 states: “God says, ‘If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.’”

Doug’s involvement in an online forum led to the idea for a virtual concert. He found volunteers from many cities and eventually overseas. The focus changed from anti-gun violence to world peace. Payne found more support for the latter, even though he emphasized the violence, not the guns, and did not oppose Second Amendment rights.

Steve Jones runs “Rocking the Valley,” which fields podcasts, radio shows and recordings. He and Shaun Tonks of the United Kingdom are co-coordinators of the stages for the September concert.

“People send in files from around the world, and we edit them for the concert. After it is over, performances from the various stages will be available from the website on demand,” Jones says.

“We have 70 or so people involved at Cedar Crest. There are seven acts scheduled. They include music people who usually perform alone, but for the show everyone is paired up with someone else,” says Jones.

Scheduled performers include Bryan Kibler, Jordan White, Daimon Price, Sheri Bayne, Steve Jones, The Just Imagines, Family of Strangers, Urban Sky, Loretta Liegel Band, Mark Jones, Kelal Shuford, Angelo Medja, Cruz Rodriguez, Andy Brusk, Lydia Jones, Kamau Kenyatta, Greg Stanton, Craig Sailor Project and Pat Foran.

Nonprofit organizations planning to participate include Mammy’s Angels, which provides meals and gifts to the needy around the holidays; The Friends of Johnson, Camel’s Hump Farm, a nature preserve in Bethlehem; Bushkill Park Historical Society; The Planetary Society, and St. Jude’s Children Hospital.

“Wake Up Rise Up: A Global Peace Concert” 1:30 p.m., April 26, Alumni Auditorium, Cedar Crest College, 100 College Drive, Allentown