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Staff

Richard A. Germaine Mark High Bill Filmore

Richard A. Germaine
Richard A. Germaine has thirty-eight years of pastoral experience, the last thirty as the Senior Pastor of the First Congregational Church, Hopkinton, Massachusetts. He came to Hopkinton as the result of a prayer he prayed in the mid 1960’s, that God would prepare him for the day when He could put him in the pulpit of a mainline, Liberal, New England church so he could see the power of the gospel in his lifetime. He saw First Congregational come from a position of theological liberalism, confusion, division, decline and unbelief to a position of vital, alive faith in and commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ with ten full and part-time staff and a variety of significant ministries. FCCH is now recognized as a leading Evangelical church in New England. In the course of these thirty years Dick has faced and dealt with just about every challenge that can come to today’s pastors and church leaders.

He is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute, Wheaton College, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Fuller Seminary, where he earned a Doctor of Ministry degree in Church Growth in 1984. He has conducted Church Growth seminars for churches and associations in Vermont, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Ohio.

He has taught seminars and led conferences on Effective Leadership, Ministry in A Changing Culture, Pastoral Renewal, Personal Spiritual renewal, Becoming A Purpose Driven Church, Developing Intimacy With God, Unity In The Local Church, and many different ones on personal and corporate prayer life.

He led the elders of FCCH on annual retreats dealing with Long Range Vision For the Church, Community Transformation Through A Transformed Church, Learning To Lead, Developing Perspective & Character, A Church For The 21st. Century, Developing A Life of Prayer, and Characteristics of A healthy Church.

He has also led several week-end retreats for FCCH lay people on Developing A Life of Prayer, and has written the materials for and taught extensively in the area of Spiritual Gifts, Healing In the Local Church, The Person & Work of the Holy Spirit, Romans: A Mission Mandate To The World, Prayer As A Way of Life, Christian Identity: Discovering Who You Are In Christ & Living By This, What Christians Believe & Why, Spiritual Warfare & Breaking Strongholds, and other subjects.

In January 2003 Dick stepped down as Senior Pastor to begin Barnabas Ministries, Inc., the vision of which is to “Equip pastors, lay leaders and congregations to experience spiritual renewal, congregational growth, and the unity Jesus prayed for in John 17, leading to transformation of lives, ministries and communities.”

Dick was born in Michigan in 1936, married Jay in 1961, and was ordained in 1965. They have four adult children, Rick, Shep, Kreh and Jana, and seven grandchildren. They reside in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.

Mark High
Guided by God in 1Peter 3:18, Mark believes passionately that he has been called to assist Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to bring people to God. He strives to live his commitment to this belief through the model of ministry so effectively demonstrated by Jesus, and spoken of by Paul in 2Timothy 2:2, that of investing his life and faith into the lives of other faithful people, who will in turn invest their lives and faith in others.

Mark’s vision is to see churches sharing Christ with the world, actively helping believers become disciples, then equipping those disciples to become workers in the harvest that God has prepared. It is this relationship-driven model of ministry that brought Mark into the John 17:23 Fellowship, and now invigorates his call to help encourage, support and equip pastors in the work of God’s Kingdom.

He is a graduate of Clark University, where he completed a B.A. Degree in Philosophy, with a minor in English Literature. In the year 2000, he graduated with a Master of Divinity Degree from Andover Newton Theological School.

From 1999 to 2007 Mark served God as the Pastor of Woodville Baptist Church in Hopkinton. In this ministry he helped the congregation ground its life and outlook in God’s Word, discover God’s call upon their fellowship, God’s vision for their ministry and God’s purpose for their gifts. Mark helped the congregation restructure its by-laws, reorganize its ministries and renew its relationship with God and each other. Mark has also served God as the Protestant Chaplain at Fairlawn Rehabilitation Hospital and as an on-call Chaplain at UMass Medical Center, both in Worcester.

Committed to the John 17:23 Fellowship, Mark knows some of the steep challenges faced by pastors without the spiritual support and fellowship offered by a community of believing pastors, as well as the greater blessings of the godly spiritual support and fellowship offered in John 17:23. Mark openly credits his own small group fellowship with being used by God to help keep him faithful to his call and his ministry, with continually challenging him to lay aside the sin that so easily clings to us all, as well as with providing healthy relationships that keep him focused on things above.

For 20 years Mark has been richly blessed by God through his marriage to Robin. They receive joy from God through their two children, Timothy and Jessica, as each grows into committed disciples of our Lord Jesus in their own right. They currently reside in Sutton, Massachusetts.

Bill Fillmore

Bill Fillmore brings 36 years of ministry experience and a passion for serving his fellow pastors to Barnabas Ministries. He has served in a variety of capacities, from youth pastor to associate pastor to senior pastor, in churches around New England and across the country.

He holds a degree from Florida Bible College, and did his graduate work at Biblical Seminary in Hatfield, PA, and Dallas Theological Seminary where he earned his Masters Degree. He has also done post-graduate studies at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

After serving most recently as Senior Pastor of CrossWinds Fellowship in North Muskegon, MI, Bill felt God’s call on his life to begin transitioning back to New England to minister to pastors. For the past 20 years, he has maintained a strong connection with the region by working on the retreat staff of The Leadership Center in Wolfeboro, NH ministering to couples in ministry. At the TLC Retreats, Bill and his lovely wife, Debbie, lead worship and provide personal encouragement to clergy couples, as well as contributing to program development.

Bill’s vision for ministry is to “come alongside and encourage, coach, mentor and support pastors and their families in the hope that they not only survive, but thrive in pastoral ministry.”

He and his wife Debbie were married in 1971, and have two children and five grandchildren. Bill and Debbie currently make their home in Slatersville, RI.