Mike Bartholomew grew up in Buffalo, NY and came to Northern, NY after receiving employment with the NYS government in 1972.  During the ensuing months, he was dramatically converted to Christ and the entire direction of his life was changed and claimed by God.  Saved with an immediate call for ministry, Mike began serving in various leadership capacities in local churches, while developing ministry gifts.  After working for the state of NY for 10 years, he became an Assistant Pastor at Faith Fellowship (FF) in 1979, followed by a call to full-time pastor at a small church in Brier Hill, NY.  Mike returned to FF in 1983 to serve as an Associate Pastor.  Eventually, he became the Senior Pastor in 1991 and has pastored at FF ever since.  Married to Connie Bartholomew since 1974, they have raised two children for the LORD.  Jonathan and Nicole effectively serve the LORD JESUS today!  Pastor Mike is committed to knowing Jesus and making Him known to everyone who comes among us.  His passion is to build disciple makers for Christ!

Connie Bartholomew

          I went to church faithfully on Sundays, as a young girl growing up in Northern, New York.  I felt love from my family and friends and always believed God was watching over us, although we faced hardships like every family.  When I was eight years old, my family experienced an extremely difficult tragedy.  My eighteen month old sister had been napping on my parent's bed and suddenly woke up and started to play with the venetian blind chords next to the window by their bed.  She had gotten tangled up in in the chords and when my dad went to wake her up, it was too late!  She had tragically been strangled to death and needless to say, it took the entire family by shock.  However, my father was an extremely religious man with a tremendous belief system.  He truly believed that Monica was in heaven with Jesus and this really comforted us and helped ease the pain of her death.

          Through all of my years of going to church, I had never heard that there was a way to be positively sure that I was going to heaven.  I always believed that if I faithfully went to church and tried to do good, then hopefully, I would get to heaven.  However, by the time I was a senior in high school, I started to have serious doubts about life.  Our real purpose for us being here on this earth became a real mystery to me and I began to question what my denomination had taught us.  Furthermore, I began to listen to other individuals philosophies about life and I started to doubt almost everything that I had been brought up to believe in.  Shortly after, one of my high school friends had invited me over to her house and I saw a New Testament Bible;  it had a modern paraphrase, which was easy to understand and it really caught my eye.  Consequently, I asked her if I could borrow it and began to read it.  I was very intrigued and found it extremely fascinating, as it answered so many of my questions about life; it had guidelines for living and it was as if the pieces of the puzzle of my life were finally starting to come together,   Hence, I continued to read this Bible with much enthusiasm.

          Soon after, I volunteered for a youth program over at the Salvation Army and I met my husband to be, who was the centers director at that time.  After a while, Michael and I went out on our first date together; he shared an incredible experience with me that he had and how he got saved.  I knew that this man had been telling me the truth and now my life was beginning to make sense.   Michael went on to explain all of the events that lead up to the moment when he had a personal encounter with Jesus.  As he recounted to me each step that lead to his conversion, I quietly did the same thing by myself in the car as he was talking.  At that time, I did not even understand what was happening to me.  However, I prayed in the car, believing that Jesus was listening to me and that He cared about every aspect of my life.

          So what was it that Michael shared with me that changed my life forever?  He said that we are all sinners and fall short of God's glory each and every day.  In addition, he said that it was our sins that separated us from God forever and that God's gift of salvation was available to all of us for free.  He then told me that just being a good person was simply not enough to get to heaven and that I needed to acknowledge that I was a sinner.  Next, he said that if I accepted Christ's forgiveness for my sin, I could receive everlasting life in heaven.  The only thing that I needed to do to receive this free gift was to believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for us to provide deliverance from our sins, so that we might have eternal life with Him.  What an amazing promise!

          It was in the fall of 1972, when I completely surrendered my life to Jesus and my life has never been the same since.  Jesus has radically changed the inner person in me and now I feel like I have a purpose.  I know that Jesus truly loves me and that one day I will go to be with Him!  Although life has been like a roller coater with all of its ups and downs, Jesus continues to be faithful in every circumstance.  Despite life's troubles, God has promised to take every difficult circumstance and somehow turn it into good.  "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)