Our Pastor

Pastor Merrill and his wife, Jan, came to East Liverpool First in September of 2007 from the mission field. During 20 years they served on the Asia-Pacific Region of the Church of the Nazarene in the Philippines, South Korea and Micronesia. Their last overseas assignment was pastoring the Guam First Church of the Nazarene.

Pastor Merrill has pastored churches in Louisiana, Texas and Kansas.

The Williamses are originally from Oklahoma City. They have three adult sons—Justin, Joshua and Jordan, and three grandsons.

Our Mission

The mission of the Church of the Nazarene is to love God, love others and make Christ-like disciples.

Our Core Values

We are a Christian People.  We are members of the Church Universal and join with all true believers in proclaiming the Lordship of Jesus Christ and in embracing the historic Trinitarian creedal statements of the Christian faith.  We value our Wesleyan-Holiness heritage.

We Are a Holiness People

God, who is holy, calls us to a life of holiness.  We believe that the Holy Spirit, through a second work of grace, cleanses us from all sin, renews us in the image of God, empowers us to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves, and produces in us the character of Christ.

We Are a Missional People

We are a people called by Christ and sent by the Holy Spirit to proclaim Christ around the world.  Our mission begins in worship, ministers in evangelism and compassion, encourages believers toward Christian maturity through discipleship, and prepares women and men for Christian service through Christian higher education.