Michael Mercer
I’m Michael, and I’m excited to join the staff as a new student pastor here at Fellowship. I’ve been married to my wife, Leah, since April 2003. We have identical twin boys, Dylan and Brody, and a daughter, Brynn Leigh, all at Conway Public Schools. Leah teaches Kindergarten at Woodrow Cummins Elementary School. I was called to ministry in the summer of 1995 and began year-round ministry in early 1996. I graduated from Abilene Christian University in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Theology with an emphasis in youth ministry. In 2004 I went back to school while working a full-time student ministry job and in 2010 graduated from Abilene Christian University with my Master’s of Divinity. While working on that graduate degree, I secured enough educational credits in youth ministry to assist in teaching youth ministry at the college level.
Experience
I have had student ministry experience in Houston, TX, at Clear Lake Church from 2000 to 2006 and at Highland Church in Abilene, TX, from 1996 to 2000 and 2006 to 2012. In 2012, Leah, the boys (Dylan and Brody), and I moved to Conway, Arkansas, to be the lead pastor for a local church. It wasn’t long after coming that Brynn Leigh was born. She is our native Arkansan, calling the hogs since she was a year old.
In 2018, we decided to transition out of vocational ministry. During the past six years, I have had the great opportunity to engage the community through real estate sales and public school teaching, as well as engaging a continued call to pastoral care through Shepherding full-time pastors through Standing Stone Ministry. In 2022, I entered a chaplain residency program at UAMS, where I completed (2023) 4 units of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) through the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy.
Make it stand out
Following my graduation from the UAMS chaplaincy residency program I began working for Arkansas Hospice, then Gentiva Hospice as a full-time hospice chaplain. In December of 2024 I completed all requirements and passed my boards to be a Board Certified Clinical Chaplain through CPSP. It has been a great honor to serve as a clinical chaplain especially in hospice care.
Through it all since coming to Fellowship Bible Church in 2018 I have been a dedicated volunteer for the student ministry where all three of my children participate. In 2024 with the absence of a full-time student minister I was able to take on a part-time role with Fellowship Student Ministries. That experience led me back into my original passion of student ministry and I’m excited to be back on staff with a church as a student pastor. One of the biggest benefits is to be the student pastor for my own children. I’m excited to be here to give spiritual and pastoral care to students and their families and join God in the work He is already doing in the world around us.