Arielle J. Taylor Nov.

18, 2013 Feature Story Assignment Following the loss of a marriage and troubles during his upbringing, Esaias Merritt discussed the importance and role for family in a recent interview on Friday in Augusta, Ga. Merritt discussed different events in his life that led to the foundational beginning of Macedonia Church of Grovetown as well as his life as a pastor. He explains how navigating through the hurt, pain, and rejection of his upbringing and a failed first marriage showed him the true value and importance of family. To me, family has become important because of the family dynamics I had growing up, Merritt said. I grew up in a Christian religion, but it was quite dogmatic. Merritts father, who was also a pastor, followed the doctrinal teachings from Matthew 16:24 and Luke 14:26 from the Bible. If any man loves Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me, and If any man come to Me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Instead of the teachings Jesus intended to be taken from these Scriptures, a different interpretation was followed. They did a literal translation of that, and they encouraged everybody that joined the ministry to leave their families behind, Merritt said. So, I grew up as a child with no

connectivity to my heritage. That scarred me quite a bit. I didnt like that very much, so when I grew up, I vowed to stay connected to family. Merritt decided to search his family history for answers. As an adult, I started reaching out to my grandparents, learning more about them, and also my fathers parents, learning more about them, Merritt said. Just trying to get connected to all the people that were a part of my family. Merritt also discusses the failure of his first marriage, explaining how it hurt a lot to lose a wife and lose the connectivity of a family unit. You actually mourn it like a death, Merritt said. Its almost like you had some great thing and it died. It also hurt to not have that level of connection with my children that I had initially, where every time Id come home, theyd come running and be at the door. Matter fact, the dog even ran to me at the door. Through the aching pain of divorce, and necessity to move forward, Merritt tried to adapt to coming home to nothing. It was a devastating thing, and when Id search around the city to find people who could help me through my grieving process, I didnt find very many programs that could relate to me, Merritt said. Not even the church. So, that really sparked a desire for me to become a conduit for people who are disenfranchised, or theyve lost their families, and thats the most important thing to me because of my experiences, the family unit in every aspect, no matter where we are in life, we are still a part of some kind of family.

It was eight years before Merritt remarried, but through his life experiences and the passion he had grown for families, came the strong Christ-centered foundation of Macedonia Church of Grovetown. I believe that when people are in that lost place, that disenfranchised place, you gotta have someone thats strong enough to grab you, really pull you back to a reality that life, although youve had bad experiences, life isnt necessarily bad and you can recover from anything, Merritt said. Just because you dont succeed the first time doesnt mean you wont succeed the next time. So, that became my mandate in the church, in ministry. It birthed the ministry of the church, actually. And I actually believe with everybody, what is most passionate to you, that is your ministry.

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