A family crisis first tested Breck Merkle’s faith ñ- and then confirmed it.”Faith has always been a huge part of my life,” said Merkle, a family and mission pastor at First Baptist Church in Black Forest. “I grew up in a Christian home with parents who were very active in the church, and they loved the Lord, so that passion I saw from the very beginning.”Merkle, a Colorado Springs native, is a graduate of Wasson High School; he also attended Palmer High School. He and Candice, his wife of 13 years, met at church while they were in high school. It was also in high school, during his freshman and sophomore years, that Merkle had a defining moment concerning his faith.”I went through a struggling time as to who I was,î he said. ìI was actually anorexic for two years. God just pulled me out of that through a miracle, as he reminded me who I was, who I was in Christ.”After that, he said he committed himself to missionary work “wherever the Lord might lead us.” He attended Southwest Baptist University in Missouri, where he majored in intercultural studies. Merkle then went to Southeast Asia, where he and Candice were church planters in Myanmar ó formerly known as Burma ó for 10 years.”We were the guinea pigs, so to speak, for living outside the capital city,” Merkle said. No foreigners had done so before. In Myanmar, they started a school and then a community development training center called Sowing Seed.While in Myanmar, they also grew their family. The Merkles have four children: Cynthia, age 7; Judson, age 6; Chloe, age 3; and Elijah, age 2. His faith was tested when Candice was pregnant with Elijah.They were visiting stateside when they found out Candice was pregnant. Doctors warned them that Elijah would be born with severe health problems. “The first thought was he wasn’t going to live outside the womb,î Merkle said.They decided for Elijah’s sake to stay in the U.S. ó a tough decision for both.”It was a very difficult time,” Merkle said. “Living 10 years overseas, it’s hard to pull yourself away from that. And then not knowing for several months where the Lord was going to lead us, our faith was definitely tested.”But Elijah, who was born in April 2015, has stunned doctors, Merkle said, “In regard to how well he’s doing and the strength he’s got. … God has been blessing him.” Merkle said they were led to the Black Forest church, where he started as a children’s pastor in late 2015. “That since has morphed into the family and missions pastor role,” he said.In that role, Merkle oversees and supervises the children’s department, from preschool through elementary school age. ìThen, I function as the pastoral person for our kids, so that means when we do children’s worship or elementary, I lead that; I teach that with a great, fantastic team.” He also oversees an overall strategy for reaching families with the gospel.Last year, the church celebrated the completion of its Treehouse Children’s Center. This year, it is advancing its Trailblazers special-needs ministry ó a classroom will be renovated this summer into a sensory processing classroom for those with special needs.Just as schools have individual education plans to help special-needs kids reach their goals, the ministry will help them reach their spiritual goals, Merkle said. “We’re also ministering to parents because they don’t get a break much.”Elijah is a special-needs child, so Merkle is keenly aware of the challenges.”We have that heart, we see the need there and the struggle,” he said. “So we’re able to connect with hurting families in a deeper way.”
