OUR PASTOR
JAIMIE & TERRI PARLETTE |
The Parlette's have been happily married for 40 years. Blessed with seven children, four on this earth and three in Heaven. They both received Jesus as their Savior at Fair Haven Baptist Church in their early thirties. Jaimie started attending evening classes at Midwestern Baptist College in Pontiac, MI, then began full-time ministry at Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries. They both found themselves called to help support ministries in the Appalachian Mountains and in Mexico. While there, God had touched both their hearts to make another choice, this choice was to move to Summersville, WV. Here is were they would rebuild a church community in merely months.
4 years after being diagnosed with an illness that struck Jaimie with vengeance, The Parlette's found themselves moving to Northern Michigan, specifically Benzonia, where his ancestors had settled in the 1870's. From here, it would be several years until God would open up another door, one which they did not foresee. God does not repent of His calling; preaching, teaching, and reaching, was still something Pastor Jaimie felt in his bones. Word got to Jaimie that a local pastor had left, leaving him often being asked to fill in to preach. When the time came, several candidates were interviewed, and Jaimie was chosen by the congregation. With a shell of a building that sat for years, no money in the bank to continue, and one exhausted Pastor, this undertaking seemed impossible. However, with a strong community backing, they began His work with a handful of people and two senior women saints who asked if the church would be done before they passed away (no pressure there!). Men from the church and the community put forth their time, talent, and treasure toward this work. After 17 months of hard work, the new First Baptist Church of Bear Lake was completed, many months before one of those dear ladies mentioned earlier, passed away. Jaimie always praises his sweet wife, Therese, saying, "if it weren't for her, none of this would be possible" What a God! What a Savoir! |