Bishop Sherman L. Merritt

Bishop Sherman L. Merritt was born July 9, 1947, in Nashville, Tennessee.

He serves as the council's 6th diocesan. On April 3, 1967, Bishop Merritt married the beautiful and personable Vera E. Smith.  Throughout their married life the Lord blessed them with four talented children that they reared and raised well: D'Anbrea, Joselyn D., Sherman L. Jr. (P.A.W International Minister of Music) and Tenia Miles Merritt.

In 1973 he was appointed Assistant Pastor of Greater Christ Temple Church, Nashville, Tennessee.  For 20 years he served faithfully under the pastorate of District Elder W. W. Harris and in July of 1993 he took the helm as pastor of the church.

Although his education began in the Nashville city schools, he furthered it by attending Tennessee State University and majoring in Mechanical Engineering.

Bishop Merritt was ordained in the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc. in 1983.  Later in 1990 he was appointed District Elder in both Tennessee and Togo, West Africa.  He then began traveling to those mission fields imparting the gospel and ministering to the needs of the people of those areas.