A native of Columbia, Missouri (Go Tigers!), Pastor Gerike attended Concordia University Wisconsin ('09), and then Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana. He served his vicarage in Plymouth, Indiana. After graduating from the Seminary in 2014, he spent a year doing coursework towards a Master of Sacred Theology in historical theology. He successfully defended his thesis and graduated in 2019. He received his call into the Office of the Holy Ministry from Mount Calvary in 2015 and has served as pastor here since. He has been married to his wife, Shayla, since 2010 and they have been blessed with six children.