Jeff and Karen Merry

Jeff and Karen Merry have over thirty years' experience leading, coaching, teaching and encouraging worship leaders and teams in hundreds of churches in the U.S. as well as Romania, Hungary, Bosnia and the DRC.  Jeff is the author of Focusing Worship, a strategic leadership development system for worship leaders consolidated from training materials he has presented over the past 20 years.   After working for 12 years as a  worship specialist for Church Resources Minstries (CRM), Jeff served as the Worship Pastor for Moon Valley Bible Church for 13 years, leading that church through the challenging transition of a two-church merger.  He has also served in pastorates in Washington, Northern and Southern California.   For almost twenty years Jeff has served as the Executive Director of WorshipNet which has included coordinating Worship!Arizona, a network of worship leaders throughout the greater Phoenix area.   Jeff  holds an MA from Talbot Theological Seminary and has participated as an engaging speaker and worship leader for retreats, conferences such as CMS Southwest,  and other events,  In addition to mentoring and coaching worship leaders and teams, Jeff consults in the areas of church renewal and transitions, new church development, and strategic prayer ministry.

Karen Merry, MA, LPC, NCC is the co-founder of North Pointe Counseling Center in Phoenix, AZ.  With a Master of Arts in Professional Counseling from Ottawa University, a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Trauma, Abuse and Deprivation, and a Certificate in Biblical Counseling, Karen provides compassionate and supportive counseling for individuals, couples, and groups in the areas of: healing the wounds of traumatic/abusive life events, present or past; broad issues of sexuality, intimacy, and connection; grief and loss; depression and anxiety; spiritual needs; and wounds from unhealthy church environments. With over 30 years of vocational Christian ministry experience in church and parachurch organizations, Karen also has a unique understanding of the needs facing clergy families and those in Christian leadership.

Jeff and Karen have been married since 1977 and live in the Phoenix area along with their children and grandchildren.

WorshipNet, International

Our mission:

 WorshipNet exists to connect people to God so that each believer will reflect the redemptive character of Christ in the arenas of life in which God has placed them.

In 1992, the Greater Phoenix Worship Leaders’ Network was formed to meet the needs of local worship leaders under the direction of Jeff Merry, then a Worship Specialist with Church Resource Ministries, and several worship pastors from the Greater Phoenix area.

Over the next several years, this network became a micro-expression of a global need for the understanding and reconnecting of the roles of worship and evangelism in the life of the local church.

In order for the Church to be equipped to carry out Christ’s mandate to disciple the nations, worship leaders need to be trained and empowered to lead their congregations in life-changing expressions of worship that will go beyond the walls of the church and into the daily lives of each believer, so that each believer will reflect the redemptive character of Christ in the arenas of life in which God has placed them. For this purpose, WorshipNet was established.