Who is Pastor Jim Pagels

Pastor Jim was born in Anchorage Alaska while his father was in the U.S.Air force. When he was three years old father left the service and his family moved to Connecticut where his fathers family was from. He would spend his summers in Louisiana where his mothers family was from. To say the least between the “Yankee and Southern” accents, childhood had it’s struggles.

In 1968 his family was involved in a head on car crash with a drunk driver, this caused both of his parents to be severely injured, leading to total disability. The family ended up moving to Arizona for the dry climate and there Jim met and married his high school sweetheart and the love of his life, Kathie. Jim and Kathie have been married 36 years and have two wonderful children Amanda (33) who has a wonderful son; Noah (22 months) and Jamie (35) who is married to Heidi, and who has three wonderful kids; Emma (8) and Issac (6) and New Baby Amelia (8 Months).

Jim has not been a pastor all his working life. He started out his working career farming, then moved to Virginia, working as a Nuclear Machinist building Navy ships for nearly 8 years. From there the family moved back to Arizona, owning a landscaping company for a short time and then to Alaska for 14 years where Jim was a Correctional Officer. He supervised and managed a residential Sex Offender Program for the Alaska Dept of Corrections. It is here that he began to feel the call to full time ministry. He began to study for ministerial credentials through Berean University.

While still in Alaska and after receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in April of 1985, he began in Ministry as a volunteer lay pastor and was the worship leader in his home church for eight years. Feeling the calling of God to take the plunge into full time ministry, Jim and Kathie accepted the call to begin as the Pastoral Care Pastor in Helena Montana where Jim was also the worship leader. Jim and Kathie remained in Montana for some 14 years, serving as Sr. Associate Pastor, Worship leader and as the District Men’s Director for Montana. In April of 2008 Jim accepted the Call to become the Sr. Pastor at Falls Christian assembly, now called The River Church in Post Falls ID. They continue to enjoy a n extreemly active ministry life and the challenges of a growing church family.

Pastor Joe Filancia is currently the Senior Associate Pastor at The River Church where he and his wife, Jaclyn, fulfill a variety of roles. These include Co-Youth Pastors with Pete and Cherie Millsap, Worship Pastors, overseers of the Connect Group ministry, and “The River” Master’s Commission Directors. Friday Night ‘Encounter’ is a time when Joe preaches and Jaclyn leads worship – this is the contemporary counterpart to the traditional Sunday morning service.

Joe spent his early years moving and traveling around the United States, mainly in Alaska and Hawaii. His parents have been – and still are – Home Missionaries, currently with the Assemblies of God MAPS Ministry. Joe went to high school and college in Springfield, MO before heading back up to Alaska in 1996. Jaclyn was born and raised in California until she was 12. Her family later moved to Juneau, AK to become foster parents with The Alaska Youth Village. She grew up attending Juneau Christian Center and participated in the worship and youth ministries for the next 7 years.

While Joe and Jaclyn were each involved in church ministry there at JCC, they began dating and eventually married 3 years later, in ‘99. Four days and 1,200 miles after the wedding, they became full-time Youth Pastors in Western Montana. From that time, their ministry has grown to include leading worship, assisting with 2 church plants (TX and WA), and eventually going on to pioneer Searchlight Fellowship in 2005 on the Idaho/Washington border. In the fall of 2011, Searchlight successfully merged with Falls Christian Assembly, thus renaming the two fellowships The River Church.

Throughout the years, they have each worked to support their ministry by taking on various outside jobs. Joe- cutting and selling firewood, cable splicing, juvenile boys’ residential counselor, resort transportation, sales rep, and hanging drywall / metal framing. Jaclyn- office Management, tourism industry, sales and customer service, waitressing, office administration, photography and Interior Design.

As of 2011, they will be celebrating 12 years of marriage and have remained actively involved in full time ministry. They are excited about the future and what God has in store to further advance His Kingdom!

The heartbeat of their ministry has always been . . .

“Reaching People Where They’re At, and Discipling a Generation To Go!”