Barry Lee, pastor of Rolling Hills Baptist Church in Carriere, Mississippi, was honored as Mississippi Baptists’ 2023 Bivocational Pastor of the Year during the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board’s annual meeting Oct. 24–25.
Lee has been pastor at Rolling Hills for 15 years, simultaneously serving with the Picayune Fire Department for 23 years. Additionally, like many firemen, Lee had another job in construction, which for several years made him “tri-vocational.”
RELATED: Check out other stories on bivocational ministry here.
Born in Picayune in 1962, Lee resides in the house where he grew up in Carriere. As a young man he attended West Union Baptist Church with his family, and at age 9 he committed his life to Christ and was baptized.
Lee and his wife Barbara married in 1982, beginning their spiritual journey together at Corinth Baptist Church, Nicholson. She already was involved, playing the piano and teaching Sunday School. He soon joined her, serving in various capacities including as a deacon. After moving to West Union Baptist Church, where Lee had grown up, he occasionally stepped in as a supply preacher, sensing a call to ministry.
In 2005 Lee began serving at multiple churches, including Crane Creek Baptist Church in Perkinston and two stints as interim pastor at West Poplarville Church, Poplarville.
In 2008 when Rolling Hills Church approached him to fill in as interim pastor after their lead pastor’s death, what began as a six-month commitment became a three-and-a-half-year journey.
Lee and his wife have two children and four grandchildren.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Tony Martin and originally published by The Baptist Record.
