​

Overseer-Elect Lisa Marie Merritt-Smith was born on November 1971, in Los Angeles, California.

 

Overseer-Elect Merritt-Smith has an A.A.S. degree in Business Management and a B.S. degree in Business Management, Business Administration and Religion.

 

In 1981, at the tender age of 10, Overseer-Elect Merritt-Smith accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Savior and was baptized at the Green Memorial Church of God in Christ in Sikeston, Missouri by the renowned Bishop Charles Green.  

 

In 1985, Overseer-Elect Merritt-Smith joined the St. John A.M.E. Zion Church in Middletown, New York where she would further her knowledge of the word of God and develop a deeper relationship with the Lord under the leadership of both her Uncle and Pastor; Reverend Dr. Jesse D. Merritt.  While she continued to play the alto saxophone, she began serving in the local youth department. Overseer-Elect Merritt-Smith became very active singing in the choir then assuming the role/ responsibility of Choir Director.  

 

In 1986, Overseer-Elect Merritt-Smith became active on the District level, within the Christian Education Department, attending District Meetings, Quarterly Sessions and Annual Conferences.  At the age of 15, in 1987 Pastor Merritt-Smith was elected as President of the Hudson River District Youth Council, where she would serve for 3 consecutive years, traveling nationwide, speaking, teaching, learning, and being trained as a believer, a follower and devoted servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

In 2000, Overseer-Elect Merritt-Smith became active on the National Level, serving as a member-at-large on the A.M.E. Zion National Christian Education Youth Council.  During this year, she would also Develop and Implement a “Children’s Church” at her home church.   

 

After her Pastor retired and relocated to Buffalo, New York, in September 2006, Overseer-Elect Merritt-Smith would join the St. Paul Baptist Church in Middletown, New York under the leadership of Senior Pastor Bishop Ray A. King.  In the years to follow, Overseer-Elect Merritt-Smith became active in the Sunday School Ministry where she would serve as faithful student, secretary, teacher and superintendent.  In 2007, Overseer-Elect Merritt-Smith was appointed as Pastor’s Administrator, Church Clerk and joined the Pastor’s Aid and Intercessory Prayer Team ministries.  She has also served as a teacher for the Central Hudson Baptist Association Congress of Christian Education and would later teach Mid-Week Bible study at her home church and other churches abroad.

 

In 2008, she finally answered her calling in the ministry to preach the “gospel” and on December 17, 2008, preached her trial sermon where later in January 2011 she would be licensed as a Minister by her Senior Pastor Bishop Ray A. King.  December 2015, she would then be ordained as Elder.  April 2016, Overseer-Elect Lisa was asked and accepted to be the Pastor of Full Gospel Tabernacle, Ossining, NY.  In 2021 Overseer-Elect Merritt-Smith was asked and accepted to be the Overseeing Pastor of Christ Prayer Warrior’s Ministries in Peekskill, NY, where Reverend Quessie Carr is the Senior Pastor.  October 2023, Overseer-Elect Merritt-Smith was elevated to Overseer-Elect by Bishop Ray A. King and a college of Bishops.  Overseer-Elect Merritt-Smith is married to Elder Rodney Smith II and has 3 children and 3 grandchildren.  Overseer-Elect Merritt-Smith pursues the “work” of the Lord, by living according to the word of God, faithful to the will of God, committed as a servant of Jesus Christ and inspired by Philippians 4:6-7 KJV; “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. “