“I Gave Everything Up”: The Story Behind The Produce Place of Suntree’s Public Witness of Faith

Customers driving down Wickham Road in Suntree can’t miss it. Scripture banners line the fence. Worship music fills the air. Inside, prayer is as common as produce.

At the center of it is Scott Merson and his wife, Angie, owners of The Produce Place, who see their business not just as a market, but as a ministry.

But the Merson’s journey to this point was not simple. Alongside a growing produce business, the family faced years of personal struggle before they encountered Christ in the late 2000s.

“My walk hasn’t been a normal Christian,” Scott said, speaking in the backyard of his produce stand, just behind a storage shed that doubles as his office. “When I surrendered it up, there was nothing… I pictured myself in a room with broken shards of glass everywhere… and I just swept it all in front of Him and said, ‘there it is.’”

What followed was a complete transformation, both in their personal lives and in the way they operated The Produce Place.

I sat down with Scott to talk about his journey of faith and the convictions that led him to see his business as a “front line” ministry on Wickham Road.

Connor Mahoney: Scott, we’re sitting here in the backyard of your produce shop which has been a landmark in Suntree for almost three decades now. Let’s run the conversation back just a bit. How did you end up on the Space Coast?

Scott Merson: So I grew up in a little town called Seminole over near St. Petersburg. It’s mostly grapefruit groves. My cousins lived over here in the early ’60s, so we used to come over and visit. Then as I got older, I’d come over here surfing.

Later I created a sports marketing company. This is all BC for me—before Christ. My family was spiritual as a hammer. Well, I got investors involved and they tried to steal my company from me because it was such a good idea. So I torpedoed it. I sunk their ship, walked away, and got a job down the street working at a vegetable market just to de-stress and work with my hands.

And I liked it. I had a passion for it for some reason… I don’t know. He knows.

I moved over here in ’92 to get away from it all and opened my business. I was in Melbourne on Babcock and Hibiscus for five or six years, then saw this area exploding and moved up here. So I moved up here, went through a divorce. And then that’s when I opened up The Produce Place of Suntree.

I ended up getting remarried and having kids—which I never thought would happen. My mom had given up on me. I didn’t have my first child until I was 40. And after that is when I gave my life to Christ.

CM: Tell me about that.

SM: Do you want a fluffy Christian story or the hardcore version?

CM: Tell me the truth.

SM: Okay, well basically, my wife—and I have permission to share this story—she had a problem with alcohol. I grew up with it too. Our family trees are both basically stumps when it comes to alcohol and stuff that goes with it. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it’s a generational demonic thing that’s passed on to crush your destiny in God.

When I heard my four-and-a-half-year-old say to my wife, “We’re going to call the police and they’re going to take you to jail,” I realized I was doing just as much damage in the family emotionally—through my anger, fear, anxiety… all of it.

I realized I needed help. No matter if she got sober or not, I needed help and my family needed to heal.

So I got into Al-Anon, which is a program for families and friends of alcoholics, and through that I came to believe there was a power greater than everything trying to destroy my family. And then a friend introduced me to Christ.

I gave my life to Him in my truck driving to the market. And it wasn’t just words—it was a real physical experience for me. A washing of the water of the Word. That’s the only way I can describe it now as I look back on it.

And from there, I went to war.

I went to war with everything trying to destroy me, my wife, my kids, the generations. I said it stops here. I’m not passing this on to my children.

CM: Where does that fall in the timeline of the business?

SM: Around 2007 or 2008. When it happened, I told the Lord—I’m not doing this halfway. You get everything.

See, I was raised old school. My dad grew up in the tenements of Chicago. He made it out alive on a football scholarship while most of his friends died in Al Capone’s gang. So I had that warrior spirit in me already, and I believe all of those skills were put in me so that I could apply that kind of warfare against the enemy.

But when I surrendered it up, there was nothing. I pictured myself in a room with broken shards of glass everywhere because that’s all I had left after wearing the God hat and doing a really bad job at it. And I just swept it all in front of Him and said, “there it is.”

And then I changed everything here.

I changed the music. I changed the atmosphere. Worship music 24/7. Witnessing and putting up everything for God. Because this is a front line here.

And it’s been amazing. My wife got sober. My family healed. Grace came in and just restored us.

CM: How did that affect the business and the people around it?

SM: We started using this place as a frontline ministry. If someone’s trying to get sober—drugs, meth, whatever—we’ll work with them. We’ve had so many success stories. It’s just amazing. Dozens of employees have given their lives to Christ here. People getting sober, completely changing their lives.

CM: Do you work with local rehabilitation programs?

SM: No, not formally like that. We work with all the local charities and stuff—probably every single one in Brevard at one time or another.

I got very involved at the beginning of Nana’s House. I met Kim through the shop before there even was a Nana’s House. She had just had the dream, and we connected and I helped in any way I could—picking up furniture with my truck for their thrift store, all kinds of stuff.

I was on the board of directors for like five years until they started getting big, and I said, you don’t need a produce man anymore—you need doctors and lawyers now. So I stepped aside so they could bring in the people they needed. But I’m still involved. I still give to them and help set things up. And beyond that, other charities and churches around here too. Just constant.

In 2018, the Lord had me change the name of our corporate entity that owns The Produce Place to First Fruits Company. And I believe He’s raising up a First Fruits company for a specific reason, at a specific time, to do specific tasks—especially in these times we’re walking in.

CM: I was driving by the other day and noticed the banners and gospel messages. As a Christian, it’s encouraging, but for others it might be unexpected. What kind of reactions have you seen?

SM: When I gave everything up, I gave everything up. What I’ve learned through this—even through the struggle—is that His provision flows from that surrender. It flows from that throne of grace, from that throne of righteousness and justice.

So if you rely completely on that, even when it looks like you’re standing on the edge of a cliff—because He’s taken me there many times—you understand that it comes from Him.

Customer-wise, we didn’t really lose anyone in number that I noticed. But yeah, we got attacked. I get attacked. We still get attacked. There are whole threads online that hate this place. Somebody told me about it, so I looked it up, read a bunch of it, and just typed in, “Y’all need Jesus, man. This is a fruit market.”

Wherever that light is, you’re going to get attacked. I’ve had people come in here yelling at me. COVID was a really crazy time. I had people screaming, coming in here because I had a sign on the door that said we’re covered by the blood of Jesus Christ here.

But at the same time, we’ve had many blessings. So many I can’t even tell you about. We pray for people here. I’ve seen healing happen here. And the crazy thing is, we get all kinds of people in here. Even people you wouldn’t expect to walk into a place that stands for Christ, and they’re not judged. You’re not going to reach them by judging them.

Overall, it’s been very well accepted. We have wonderful customers and wonderful fellowship.

CM: When someone stops by, what do you hope they experience?

SM: I pray over this place all the time. I’m here every day, every night, and I’m praying over this place. I sanctify the ground. I cast out anything that’s demonic every day because so many people come in here, and people bring stuff with them.

And this is something I would love the churches to see. Jesus went from church to church casting out demons for a reason—because they were full of them.

So I pray His Word over this place. I pray that His Spirit dwells here.

I want them to feel something here. I want them to feel the tangible presence of the Lord when they walk on this ground—something they haven’t felt somewhere else. I’ve had many people say that.

I had a young man working here—friend of my son. I knew he didn’t know Christ, but he felt something here. He came back the next summer and worked again, and I could tell he was engaged when I would talk about things. Then later, he gives his life to Jesus Christ. His anxiety is gone. His knee is feeling better. Now the battle begins for him, but now he has a fighting chance.

That’s what I want them to experience. I can’t do that myself. I can pray. I can pray His Word. I can be a vessel for Him to manifest His Spirit here.

I prayed over a woman here who had a massive stroke. She couldn’t raise her arms, couldn’t speak. We called 911, and I just started praying Scripture over her—“By His stripes you are healed,” all of it. Two weeks later, she walks back in here with her hands raised, praising Jesus, completely healed.

That’s not me. That’s Him.

CM: You mentioned you don’t consider yourself an evangelist. I've talked to some other business owners, and, you know, they kind of say similar things. What do you see your role as in the community, and in the body of Christ, as a Christian business owner?

SM: I want the business to be seen as a light of Christ. So in a way, I would consider the business evangelistic. But myself, in my role in the body of Christ, I wouldn’t consider myself an evangelist.

My personal relationship with Him has been really intimate and deep. There are things He’s directing me in that I’m not even talking about, and in my obedience, I guess he’ll move me where I need to be.

I have a friend, and he was my spiritual mentor for a little while. He's what I would call an evangelist. He goes into prisons, speaks to people, and if you carry out his groceries at Publix, he’s going to try to pray the prayer of salvation with you. That’s what I would call an evangelist.

That’s happened here too—praying with employees and people in recovery—but it’s not the forefront of how I operate. The business itself is.

I look at it as a beacon. A beacon of light. Something someone can see while they’re sitting at a light, read the Scripture, and think, “Hey, that makes sense.” You read it, then you look at the world, and it connects. Just catching a glimpse of something you haven’t seen before.

CM: For other business owners who feel a desire to live out their faith more openly, what would you say to them?

SM: I would say go all in. Either you’re all in or you’re not. You give Him 5%, He gives you 5%. You give Him 15%, He gives you 15%. You give Him everything, He’ll blow you away.

This business is a reflection of Christ in me. It might not reflect the way someone thinks it should, but my walk is different. And a lot of business owners are afraid they’ll lose customers.

But I’ll tell you—for every one that runs out of here yelling, God sends in ten more. They know what they’re walking into, and He honors that.

CM: Awesome. Thanks for doing this interview. Any final words for the reader?

SM: Cultivate intimacy with God. It’s so important. If I could give one piece of advice to anybody hearing this, it would be to cultivate intimacy. That’s what He wants.

The Produce Place can be found at 5775 N Wickham Rd. The locally loved grocery stand has offered fresh, locally sourced produce, no-sugar-added smoothies, baked goods, and a rotating selection of seasonal items since 1997.

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