Meet Merrick Deans | Lead Pastor & Organizational Strategist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Merrick Deans and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Merrick, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
The most important factor for not only my personal success, but for success in general, is service. Those who serve the needs of others well, will find success; not simply because they are helping others, but mainly because they are creating and disseminating true value.

It is often said that the best entrepreneurs are those who develop products and provide services that solve problems. This is true to an extent. The reality is, problems like people are constantly shifting and evolving and yesterday’s solutions often contribute to today’s problems. Blockbuster, at one time, solved a distribution problem for consumers; people didn’t have a way to see the movies they wanted to when they wanted to, but by allowing people to come to a store and pick up multiple movies at one time, Blockbuster was a true problem-solver. However, as society adapted to having access to movies in stores, it created a convenience and availability problem; many people’s favorite moves weren’t in stock, they had to drive to a brick and mortar to pickup and return the movies, etc. This new problem opened the door for Netflix to find success by solving those emerging problems.

Understanding that problems constantly evolve, I have always advocated for people and organizations to be in the service business, rather than the problem-solving business. It’s the difference between focusing on the people or the temporal problem the people are having. When you set out to serve then you aim to address the ever-changing issues of those you are serving; you innovate and shift, in order to keep meeting their evolving needs. Conversely, if you only aim to fix a current societal problem, you will likely achieve many things that have a semblance of success (e.g., money, notoriety, influence, etc.), but that is likely not sustainable or deeply impacting.

My personal and professional success has been and will continue to be hinged on utilizing my God-given resources to address and help alleviate the needs of the individuals and organizations I have been called to serve. This is not only a measure of success, but a guiding light in my decision-making; it has helped me to determine which opportunities to pursue and which to decline, as well as who to work with or not. When service is your foundation you will easily be able to identify those who share your heart; being able to create positive and impactful change with other service-oriented people is what produces lasting success!

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
For 15 years I worked as a management consultant for the Federal government. I spent the last four of those years operating as an self-employed contractor and essentially running my own business. As a contractor on a government project, it’s hard to differentiate yourself because our value is determined by how well we can work with our clients and competition to support the organizational mission in a unified way.

The majority of the time those who we were working with, often weren’t the people we were working for; in other words, the executives would award the contracts and the staff would manage them. This presented an interesting dynamic that created an environment where intensions could be easily identified. You could tell which contractors cared about supporting their clients and which ones cared solely about extending and/or expanding their contracts. Those who were revenue-oriented were focused on the input of their efforts, what work they did; but those who were mission-oriented were focused on the outcome of their efforts, what their work produced!

If I learned anything working in this environment, that I still carry with me today, is that those who are focused on the mission will always be in position. You will never have to tell your value to a client if you are truly valuable to them and when you provide real, tangible value, people will work to keep you connected to their organization. Value providers have the ability to connect with their clients in a way that enables them to identify, understand, and effectively address their clients’ needs and objectives. People and organizations will always make room and provision for value-providers (i.e., those who truly get it and who can get it done).

I have recently made a career change and have gone into full-time ministry. Professionally, I work as a Special Projects lead for a mega-church in the D.C. metro area. Additionally, I am the Lead Pastor of Heart Church, which is a new church plant in northern Virginia. Though I have made a career shift, providing measurable value, that is outcome, not input-focused, is still what excites me and what I aim to do; it is still my benchmark and intended differentiating factor among my colleagues.

What I love about the concept of providing value is that value is not relegated to one factor alone. If something has a low price, but is also low quality, it has little value; likewise, if something is high quality, but extremely expensive, it still has little value. In order to provide real value, something must offer two or more benefiting factors. As it relates to organizational improvement, value is not realized when people only do good work; it is realized when they do good work, while working well with others to produce a desired outcome that would otherwise not be obtained if they worked in isolation.

As a Lead Pastor, I strive to provide value by working well with my volunteer leads and congregants to produce some amazing outcomes. We also strive, as a church, to provide value outside our walls by working with the community and other churches to make a collective impact. Providing value is what differentiates us from other churches; we aren’t in the box-checking business, rather we aim to estimate and measure impact based on our ability to bring multiple benefiting factors to help meet needs and fulfill our organization’s mission.

By doing so, we don’t look to throw money at initiatives that really require volunteers and political representation; or look to send volunteers to address needs only skilled and trained staff can handle. Because we are value-centric, we’ve been able to effectively assess and identify our areas of improvement and recalibrate so we can get the most out of and do the most with our dollars, people, and network. Heart Church’s value proposition, to those who connect with us and through who we serve, is at the core of our brand; we believe all are valuable, not because they are perfect individually, but because those with the right heart have the capacity to work with others to produce God-inspired outcomes of value.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I enjoy a good steakhouse, my favorite is Mastro’s, but Flemings, and Eddie V’s are also on my list. The D.C. Metro Area (i.e., the D.M.V.) has a ton of interesting places you can work from or meet up with people for good conversation; some of my favorite places are Sir Sandwich Co., T.G., Morton’s on Connecticut Ave., and a number of hotel lobbies. Certain ares I enjoy are the National Harbor, they have entertainment, shopping and multiple places to eat (my favorite is Grace’s Mandarin).

Of course, being a pastor I would recommend going to church while in the area. It’s no secret that Heart Church is at the top of my list, but there are some other prominent and enjoyable churches to attend, including Kingdom Fellowship AME Church, Alfred Street Baptist Church, Union Church, Life Church, First Baptist Church of Glen Arden, Zion Church. and others. You can’t be in the DMV without going to brunch. That said, a couple of my favorite brunch places are J. Gilberts, Ella Grace, Nooshi, Matt and Tony’s, and many more. Those in this area know that breakfast and brunch are two different meals, since breakfast is my favorite, I have to tip my hat to Executive Diner, Pancake House, and Milk & Honey.

For entertainment you can go to any major sporting event (i.e., the Wizards, Commanders, Nationals, or Capitals), catch a ton of shows at the Kennedy Center, or do group activities like Top Golf, Swingers, Lucky Strike, or iPic movie theater. Finally there are a ton of places to shop from outlets (e.g., Potomac Mills, Tanger, and Leesburg), to regular malls (e.g., Springfield Mall, Pentagon City, and Tysons I), all the way to high-end shopping (e.g., Tysons II and City Center).

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
It is hard for me to identify one person or piece of literature that has helped to shape me into the person I have become and supported me in my success journey. I am an amalgamation of many different influences, which I am proud of and truly thankful for. That said, I can point to a group of individuals and shout out my family!

My family includes my family growing up; my parents, brothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all had a hand in instilling a deep work ethic and a commitment to those who God had sovereignly selected to be my family. My grandparents gave me a sense of ancestry, understanding that our illustrious story didn’t start with me; my parents helped to shape my worldview and develop a belief in myself and who God made me to be; my younger brothers challenged me and helped to hone my leadership capabilities, all while my extended family cheered me on by celebrating my accomplishments.

As I got older my definition of family expanded. My best friends became my brothers and sisters and their success inspired me to pursue my own. My Pastor became my spiritual father and later my father-in-law; his mentorship, example, correction, and commitment to my personal and spiritual growth grounded me as I heeded God’s call on my life. My mother and brother-in-law have been sources of calm and laughter in uncertain times. Now my new immediate family consists of my incomparable wife and two amazing daughters; they provide an unending source of support, motivation, love, and balance that fuels my daily pursuit of purpose.

My heavenly Father and my family have afforded me a life that is full in all the meaningful ways; that is why I have to shout them out and never stop telling them “thank you!”

Website: heartchurchva.org

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