EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated.
BISMARCK, N.D. (BP) – The Dakota Baptist Convention Executive Board voted unanimously on March 21 to call Lee Merck as its new executive director.
Merck, senior pastor of Dauphin Way Baptist Church in Mobile, Ala., is a Mississippi native who spent nearly 12 years as a pastor and church-planting catalyst in Montana through the North American Mission Board. He begins his new role on June 1.
“My heart’s desire is to see revival in the Dakotas and frontier states,” said Merck. “Returning to the area is certainly exciting. I’ve loved working in that culture in that part of the country.”
Merck graduated from William Carey College in Hattiesburg, Miss., before earning his Master of Divinity with Biblical Languages from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2003. He continued his studies at Liberty University, graduating from the Rawlings School of Divinity in 2024 with a Doctor of Ministry with Distinction in Evangelism and Church Planting.
Merck gained ministry experience in several churches during college and seminary. In 2013, he became the founding pastor for Church of the Rockies in Red Lodge, Montana. Beginning in October 2021, he was the lead re-planter and transitional pastor at The Church at Four Corners in Bozeman.
Several points of his ministry have included assisting churches that have gone through a difficult experience and need a time of recovery and refocus, he told BP. That requires skills in building relationships, something he has sharpened over the years and can be quite useful in the expansive and sparsely populated Dakotas.
“Montana was the same in that regard,” he said. “It’s important to connect with pastors in different regions and to find the opportunities to plant churches while revitalizing others.”
Matt Hadden, associate pastor for Creator’s Fellowship in Porcupine, S.D., and a member of the DBC executive board, made the calls to Merck’s references.
He said the references spoke highly of Merck’s work.
“They all wished he wasn’t coming here, because it meant they wouldn’t get to work directly with him anymore,” he said. “We’re real excited about Lee. We had a lot of good candidates, but he stood out from the start, and we’re blessed God led him to the Dakotas.
“In our team meetings, you could tell Lee has a pioneer heart, and this is a rugged, pioneer state. We’re excited to see him here.”
Merck had his wife, Christie, have been married for 31 years. They have four adult daughters and three grandchildren.
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