The History of MERCYhouse

MERCYhouse was founded in 1999 and was initially planted upon a simple concept found in God’ Word:

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

Romans 10:14-15

God’s glory in the faithfulness of His people.

The initial core team that planted this church felt called to be the ones to preach the Good News so that people here could hear and believe the Gospel. Amherst, with only one Bible-teaching church in its borders at the time, was and continues to be a highly “unreached” population. The story of MERCYhouse involves many people over many years, both present here and far away– all with the purpose of bringing the Good News of the Gospel to those who have never heard it before.

Two Couples Important Couples

• Joe and Wendi Green were actually already here at the time. They were newly married and natives of Western, MA. 

• Robert and Melanie Krumrey were originally from Texas, doing college ministry in a local church right next to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK. 

While at Oklahoma State University (OSU), Robert met a Christian named John Ramirez. John had been doing campus ministry at OSU and had gotten to know Robert because of their similar hearts for college students and a friendship was forged. 

John Ramirez moved to Boston, Massachusetts where he would be a part of a church planting network to see churches planted in New England through the Baptist Convention of New England (now Baptist Churches of New England) or the BCNE which we are now affiliated with.

John connected these two couples and thus the planting of MERCYhouse began. These two couples got to work doing two things:

PRAYER:  Colossians 4:3,4

“And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.”

They spent a lot of time walking and praying everywhere on each campus and in all the towns. 

ENGAGE. Colossians 4:5,6 

“Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” 

They spent time connecting with the people of Amherst and serving at several major community events including the Taste of Amherst and the Fourth of July Celebration. It gave them the opportunity to develop meaningful relationships with the local community.

As summer ended, it was time to formalize a core team! Joe, Wendi, Robert and Melanie spent time on the UMass Amherst campus tabling to let students and faculty know about what they were doing. 

Extra Workers Arrive to Help

John Ramiraz connects with another Christian from Kentucky named Keith Inman. Keith had joined John out here on a “vision tour” where ministers from the southern states toured a regions of the U.S. that had significantly fewer Christians than places like Kentucky. The purpose of these tours is to encourage ministries who have 100’s of college students and resources to get excited about partnering with ministries who are just getting off the ground– like MERCYhouse.

Keith walked and prayed over our Five Colleges with John Ramirez and Joe Green. When Keith got back to KY, he pitched this idea at an enormous student conference that they should all transfer from their current campus to Umass for the purpose of helping plant MERCYhouse. And from that, three students (John, Danette, and Jocelyn) approached Keith that day and said they were interested in doing it. 

Not much longer, their transfer was processed and they came to live in Amherst to be a part of what God was doing through MERCYhouse. They all three lived in residence halls and spent much of their time inviting people to come and check out this new church plant.

The First Sunday Service

The first Sunday Service was finally set for, September 12, 1999. The hope was for 10 people - meaning the Krumreys, the Greens, the three exchange students: John, Danette, and Jocelyn and then maybe three new ones.

There ended up being about 25 people in the room at that first meeting. The room that was rented seated roughly 20, so it felt packed out and everyone seemed excited about the prospect of a new church plant. 

Reaching Community Members

This core team was happy to serve. There were events for movies for students, door to door giveaways, local events, lots of prayer walking, bottled water handed out on the bike trail, anything to ENGAGE new people. 

The result was that every time there was an event using students as volunteers, they brought their friends to serve with them. Families and other community members were engaged at the events but when Sunday rolled around, the student friends showed up and no one from the community. Over the course of the next six months, it became obvious that at least for this season in the life of MERCYhouse, the church was going to be made up of primarily students. 

This has made a significant impact on our church that you see even today. We continue to be a church that has a large number of college students-- because that’s the dominant “crop” here in this area.

We do also have a growing number of families that you will see at MH. Many of these were at one point students themselves, who met and married here and are now raising their families and fulfilling their ministry and careers in the Valley. Part of our DNA will always include having an eye on these local campuses and being part of working that plentiful harvest.

Finding a Home for MERCYhouse

Unbeknownst to the core team at the time, the story of getting the building started back in 1999 when a student, Jessica Sachs, showed up at our church. 

Jessica was the only New England Baptist student that we had and she had actually been praying that a church would be planted before she graduated from UMass. 

Jessica was an extremely committed member of the core team in those early days. She showed up, she helped with worship, she went door to door, she did it all; and she loved it. She graduated in May of 2001 and got a job in Boston with the accounting firm Price Waterhouse Coopers. 

On September 11, 2001 she boarded American Flight 11 in Boston that was outbound to L.A. It made a sharp detour toward NYC and she was in the first plane that crashed into the World Trade Center that day.

MERCYhouse was devastated and mourned her loss. We were a part of several services to remember her. There was a Umass memorial service full of School of Management professors and school friends. We also held another service at her home church in Billerica, MA.

Jessica’s life was a beautiful testimony of the Gospel. Students, professors, work colleagues, complete strangers heard about the hope that was found in Jesus in spite of all the heartbreak and loss.

Jessica’s family asked that ALL donations given in her memory would be given to MERCYhouse. This was a humbling time and an overwhelming gift. We made sure these gifts were saved in a separate account for something significant which we hoped would be a facility one day and we would wait for that day to come. (Learn more about Jessica Sachs)

In the fall of 2004 (5 years later), MERCYhouse had reached about 200 in attendance on average and was meeting in a lecture hall at Umass. It was an exciting time of growth for our church. The only problem was that we were having a harder and harder time finding places to meet. First it was the Lord Jeffrey Inn, then the Jones Library, then Stirn Auditorium at Amherst College and then Morril Science Center at Umass. This was extremely frustrating not have a permanent meeting place and yet somehow people kept finding us and attending and wanting to seek Jesus. 

We knew this problem of a meeting space had to be fixed. At this time a church building came up for sale just off of the UMass campus. We asked the realtor what we had to do to move forward on the $1.2 million dollar purchase and they said we needed to make an offer and also put down non-refundable earnest money to the tune of $40,000. 

One way we knew this was the time to move forward for this property was because this was the exact amount that we had laid away which had been given in memory of Jessica from 100’s of people (friends, family, strangers, American Airlines, etc.). So in faith, we wrote the check. 

Then we started raising the other $160,000 needed to complete the down payment. Something that seemed destined to fail. A church made up of mostly college students, young marrieds, a few families, trying to raise a seemingly astronomical sum of money and to convince a bank that we could pay a mortgage once we closed the deal.

Money is never a hinderence to the God who owns the universe. Students and parents of students gave generously and sacrificially. There was a large fundraiser that students put on. Our young adults, young marrieds, alumni and outside givers all dug deep into pockets and out of what the Lord had blessed them with, they invested into His Kingdom to be here in Amherst. We closed the deal in September of 2005 and by God’s grace we haven’t missed a payment yet.

A New Season

In the fall of 2021 after 22 years of faithful service, MERCYhouse’s founding Pastor Robert Krumrey and his wife Melanie were returning home to Texas. During this time, Tommy Moore was serving as an Associate Staff Member of MERCYhouse and stepped in as the interim Pastor to help lead the church through the changing of seasons.

During this time the church continued to grew and matured in many ways. The Lord was faithful to provide critical help in the form of brothers and sisters in Christ to serve as Elders, Deacons, and faithful lay members. Although it was not the original plan, in August of 2023, Pastor Tommy Moore joyfully accepted the position of Lead Pastor where he continues to serve today.

“I am humbled to serve a church that served me for so many years. It feels like yesterday that I was just a student sitting in the back, being ministered to by God’s Word. It is a great privilege and honor to spend my days laboring to return that blessing to my church family whom I love so dearly.” -PT

There are thousands of stories we could share…

• Many students who have come to know Christ here, many who have been baptized, made disciples and sent out all over the world. 

• Many who have met their spouses here and are now having children and raising them to love Jesus and participate in His Kingdom work. 

• Other community members have walked through those doors and found themselves connecting in deep fellowship and making friends with people they never thought they would.

• Countless hours of volunteer work at town events and shelters. 

• So many prayers prayed, tears shed, and joy on top of joy from new life found in Christ. 

MERCYhouse is a HOUSEHOLD of FAITH,

being BUILT by the MERCY of God.

This has always been true. We’ve always been a work in progress. MERCYhouse has always had its fair share of messiness. But it’s always been led and cared for by our merciful God. And the story isn’t over.

We hope that you’ll be a part of this story. God has uniquely made you and equipped you, with experiences and gifts, that are meant to help build this body up.