Stephen felt the call of God to become a missionary when he was just fourteen. He enrolled at Gateway College of Evangelism in 2006 and graduated in 2008. In 2010, he was approved on the Associates In Missions program and served in Austria until 2013 when he transferred to Samoa to work as a Bible school teacher. Stephen was appointed as an Associate Missionary to New Zealand in 2014 and later became the National Youth President over both islands of New Zealand. In 2019, he married Angelica.
In early 2020, the Merritts restarted Samoa’s national Bible college. They also established a new church in Apia with a congregation of thirty-five to forty members. The church has grown to sixty attendees per week, with a record attendance of eighty-one. They have outgrown the current building, and have moved to a new location that can seat up to 130 people. Almost all members of the church have received the gift of the Holy Ghost, baptism in Jesus’ name, and the revelation of the oneness of God.
Their ultimate vision is to build a permanent brick and mortar national Bible college campus in Upolu and start remote campuses in Savaii and American Samoa.