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 for 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. He and Angelica were married in 2019.
In early 2020, the Merritts restarted Samoa’s national Bible college and established a new church in Apia. In early 2024, their appointment was changed to Career Missionary to the nation of Portugal. Their vision for the nation of Portugal is to work alongside the national churches, assisting them with local church growth and church structure, and to implement a strategy for regional church and ministerial multiplication through training and discipleship. Their ultimate vision is to build a team of Apostolic men and women with a burden and vision for Apostolic revival locally, nationally, regionally, and ultimately, globally.