Bob Merritt

Bob Merritt is the Senior Pastor of Eagle Brook Church in suburban Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, USA, a megachurch that has seen explosive growth under his leadership. Six years into his ministry, by 1997 the church had attendance of 1,400. According to Outreach Magazine in 2008 this was the 30th fastest growing church in the USA and the 38th in size based on attendance of 10,334. By 2015, typical weekend attendance had risen to 22,000.

Merritt's father was Calvin Merritt, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Neshannock Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. Bob Merritt attended Neshannock High School in the 1970s, then went to Bethel University in Arden Hills, Minnesota, where he obtained a Master's degree in divinity. From 1983 to 1988 he was pastor of the Falun First Baptist Church in Falun, Wisconsin. He then went to Penn State University where he earned a Doctorate in Speech Communications in 1991.

Merritt became pastor of the Eagle Brook Church, then called First Baptist Church of White Bear Lake in 1991. By 1997, when the church took its present name, average weekend attendance had grown to 1,400. The decision to change the name was in part to avoid deterring people from other denominations. Although the church is Baptist in origin, its core belief is in the foundation of the Christian faith and the church welcomes people from all denominations from Catholic and Lutheran to Assembly of God. Merritt led modernization and expansion of the facilities and development of the organization required for a megachurch to operate effectively. After rapid and continued growth, the church now has six campuses in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area. They are located in Anoka, Blaine, Lino Lakes, Spring Lake Park, White Bear Lake and Woodbury. As of December 2015, up to 22,000 people hear his or the other teaching pastors' messages live or simulcast at one of the campuses on a typical weekend.

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