Leadership Team

Bishop Esaias Merritt

Born in Augusta, Georgia, Bishop Esaias Merritt attended the Richmond County Public Schools. At an early age, he acknowledged God’s calling on his life and diligently began his work in the ministry at the New Testament Church of Jesus Christ under Apostle James Garner Glover. His passion for serving is evident through his work as a Youth Minister, Youth Counsel Board Member, Minister of Music, Christian Education Minister, Chief Musician and Director of Worship and Arts, and Single Ministry Overseer. Pastor Merritt was licensed in 2000 and was ordained in 2002 by Pastor Glasper Nero at Spirit Creek Baptist Church. After serving the Lord in assisting other Pastors and serving as a planting pastor, God elevated Pastor Merritt to the honorable office of Bishop. On October 31, 2014, the Honorable Bishop Howard E. Franklin consecrated him through Independent Churches United as Chief Consecrator. He received Eastern and Western Apostolic Succession in January 2023 through Bishop Johnathan Alverado of Grace International Fellowship of Churches Incorporated. He serves as Senior Pastor of Macedonia Church of Grovetown and 1st Assistant to the Presiding Prelate of Independent Churches United International, Inc. He received an honorary doctoral degree in Pastoral Counseling in 2022.

His cutting-edge leadership skills were groomed in his 17 years in Corporate America, where he worked as a general manager, an operations manager, a business analyst, a presidential liaison, and an Executive Account Manager. He was noted for building aftermarket networks to support a $2.3B industry, reshaping a nation’s perception of a product line, and countless other accomplishments.

Bishop Merritt attended Voorhees College and received a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Management. He studied Music Education at Alabama State University, where he was a Kappa Kappa Psi Music Fraternity member. He later continued his studies in Theology at the Augusta Theological Seminary and Erskine Theological Seminary and graduated from City View Seminary with a Master of Divinity.  Bishop Merritt earned a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and a Doctorate in Theology in December of 2023 from FMI Biblical Studies and Seminary. Bishop Merritt considers himself a life student and consistently furthers his education through symposiums and training with the Joint College of Pentecostal Bishops, the Society for Pentecostal Studies Congress, and the Greater Atlanta Theological Seminary.

As a family man, Bishop Merritt is blessed with a beautiful & humble helpmate, Minister Greta Bennett Merritt, and two exceptional children, Zachariah and Jade. His extended family includes a host of Godchildren and all the young lives he has touched during the growth of the Grovetown Ministry through robust youth and teens ministry. He is affectionately known to some children as “Pastor Daddy,” a term coined by his daughter Jade, and called Uncle Bishop, a term coined by Caleb Murray.

Bishop Merritt believes in Kingdom building through Christian education, fulfilling the community’s needs, and building families. Macedonia Church of Grovetown, established in April 2009, is a ministry built on the foundation of Jesus Christ for family, hence the ministry’s theme: “Taking families for Christ and making families whole again.” The ministry aims to become a community staple where individuals of all ages can learn, grow, flourish, and give back what they have learned. A place where everyone feels loved and knows this is a place of peace, comfort, and enrichment. The ministry has touched over 800 families in its first decade and fed more than 106,000 people since The Father’s Hand Food Pantry started in 2020 and continues to serve the community.

Because of the successful impact of Bishop Merritt’s ministry work in the community with gangs and families and free family counseling and mentorship, the City of Grovetown deemed November 1st as “Bishop Esaias Merritt Day’ in 2014, and He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Pastoral Counseling in 2022.  As a result of Pastor Merritt’s belief that God has more significant plans for us all, he lives and embodies ministry from a Jeremiah 29:11 perspective, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” “The best and the rest is yet to come.”