Ross D. Merkel

Ross D. Merkel, the current pastor of St. Paul, is the tenth pastor to serve the congregation since its founding in 1887. Ordained in 1978, he is a graduate of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina. Prior to being called to St. Paul in 1982, Pastor Merkel served as a Refugee Resettlement Coordinator with Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest in Phoenix, AZ and prior to that as Associate Pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Phoenix.

A native Californian, he graduated from the University of California, Davis with a Bachelor of Arts and then attended Brigham Young University in Provo, UT where he earned a Bachelor of Science and a Masters of Library Science.