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Finally settling in Bloomington, Illinois, he graduated from Bloomington High School and went to Eastern Illinois University, majoring in Psychology.
T.J. received his Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1990 and was ordained to the position of Associate Pastor at Westmont Presbyterian Church in Johnstown, Pennsylvania on September 30, 1990. After serving for five years at Westmont, T.J. accepted the call to become the pastor of Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church on the East End of Long Island, where he served for 8 years. In 2003, he moved to Brookville, Pennsylvania to serve as pastor and Head of Staff for Brookville Presbyterian Church prior to moving to Rochester.
T.J. works closely with the Session (as moderator), the Mission committee, the Social Concerns committee, Personnel and Administration, Worship and Music and Stewardship and Finance. He is the primary worship planner and preacher, leads officer training sessions and new member classes, often leads Advent and Lenten Bible studies, and coordinates the work of the staff.
T.J. is active in the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area, recently serving as the moderator of the Presbytery. In addition, T.J. is active storyteller, specializing in biblical stories and folktales and is a Certified Master Biblical Storyteller through the Network of Biblical Storytellers.
T.J. and his wife Juliet have two sons – Grafton and Thomson – who keep them quite busy. Juliet is an English teacher and swim coach, Grafton is an avid swimmer and tennis player, while Thomson enjoys swimming and playing soccer.

Celebrating 35 years

TJ, born Thomas Joseph Parlette, was born in San Antonio Texas in 1963, although he went to 11 schools all over the United States (due to his father’s job) before he graduated from Bloomington High School in Illinois. He attended Eastern Illinois University and graduated in 1986 with a major in psychology (which is Thomson’s major at Kenyon College, and was Grafton’s major before he left Ohio State). He then enrolled in the Industrial Psychology program at Illinois State in 1986 but did not stay. It was more math than he preferred. So, after years of working as a camp counselor and with youth groups, he started at Princeton Theological Seminary in the summer of 1987, and graduated with a Masters in Divinity in1990. There he made friends he still has today, including Mary Pugh, who officiated his marriage to Juliet. TJ was then called to Westmont Presbyterian Church in Johnstown, Pennsylvania in the Fall of 1990 as an Associate Pastor for Christian Education and Youth. He was ordained on September 30, 1990. While living in Westmont, 3 blocks from where Juliet grew up and was living at the time, he became very involved in theater, performing with the Band of Brother Shakespeare Company in Macbeth, Midsummers Night’s Dream, King Lear, and Taming of the Shrew (where Juliet first saw him). He also performed in Noises Off, Company, Into the Woods, Great Expectations and I’m Not Rappaport with the Cresson Lake Playhouse. In June of 1995, on a trip to England with friends and friends of friends to commemorate his move to Long Island for his first solo pastor appointment, he met Juliet. They started dating and were engaged 9 months later, despite the fact that he moved to Long Island and she stayed in Pennsylvania. They were married in Jennerstown, Pennsylvania in June 1997. TJ started at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church in Bridgehampton, New York in July 1995. There he served on the Presbytery Council for the Long Island Presbytery. He also was asked to publish Sermon Illustrations for Emphasis Preaching Journal. He continued publishing until 2005. While in Long Island, he performed in Man of La Mancha, The Fantasticks, Rumors, The Tempest, Julius Caesar, and directed many musicals for East Hampton High School including You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, Crazy For You, Gypsy, The Fantasticks and South Pacific. On September 11, 2001, TJ and Juliet watched the world crumble, and fighter planes fly overhead, headed East. The next few weeks were filled with funerals, counseling and lots of soul searching. A year later, Grafton Michael was born September 10, 2002, in Southampton Hospital. All that was on TV that day were one-year commemorations for September 11. Looking for a better place to raise children, TJ and Juliet left for Brookville Presbyterian Church in Brookville, Pennsylvania in September 2003. TJ served on the Presbytery Council for Kiskimmenitis Presbytery. There he became certified as Biblical Storyteller, a skill he used often in church services and trips he led. Thomson James was born in July 2006 at DuBois Area Medical Center. Like his brother, he spent many days in a pack and play on a pool deck. While in Brookville, TJ performed in The Compete Works of Shakespeare-Abridged, Working, Annie, The Music Man, and 42nd Street. Many of these productions included Chris and Kristie Taylor, who have spent time here in Rochester for Chris’s liver transplant. As the boys got older, TJ and Juliet were looking for a more diverse community, preferably one with a flourishing swim team. After some searching, TJ started at First Presbyterian in Rochester, Minnesota in June 2010. Here he has served on the Presbytery Council of the Twins Cities Area. He was named Vice Moderator of PTCA and served from 2016-2017, then served as Moderator of the PTCA from 2017-2018. He was also the Chair for the Presbytery Leadership team from 2018-2019. He has published 2 articles in The Biblical Storyteller and has published a Juneteenth Worship Service in Reformed Worship. TJ has also led a group trip to Oberammergau for the Passion Play in 2000. He led a second Biblical storytelling trip to the Holy Land in 2013. In addition, TJ has served as a Level 2 USA Swimming Official for 13 years. He sat in the stands for one meet, and thought, “There has to be something better than this.” Husband, father, pastor, storyteller, thespian, published author, swimming official … he leads a full and diverse life. We are all blessed to walk alongside him in his ministry. Congratulations on 35 years, Rev. T.J. Parlette!

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Since the fall of 2019, John Stender has served as the Director of Music and Organist at First Presbyterian Church. Before coming to Southeast Minnesota, John’s family resided in Beaufort, South Carolina, where he and his wife Sarah were both employed as full-time Directors of Music at thriving historic Baptist and Anglican churches. Also while in Beaufort John served as the director of the Beaufort Belles – a community a cappella women’s barbershop chorus, and accompanist for the Sea Island Chamber Singers – an auditioned community chorus, and served as the dean and performed multiple times for the Lowcountry chapter of the American Guild of Organists .

John graduated from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in 2015 earning a M.M. degree in organ and sacred music. There he studied organ and harpsichord with Bruce Neswick and Elisabeth Wright, respectively. In 2012 he graduated from Luther College in Decorah, IA with a B.A. in organ and church music (mentored by Dr. Gregory Peterson), and religion.

Throughout his years of study, he sang in numerous choirs (including the Luther College Nordic Choir), served as a choir section leader and frequent accompanist. While at Luther, he served as student music director for two Broadway musicals including Spring Awakening, he traveled to Namibia and South Africa with a chamber choir for immersive choral and cultural exchange, was a participant in the Yale Organ Week, and participated in a month-long French organ seminar playing numerous instruments and visiting historical and cultural points of interest in and around Paris and Épernay. While studying in Indiana: John sang with Concentus for a Harmonia Early Music Christmas radio recording, served as dean of the student American Guild of Organists chapter, served as Staff Accompanist for the Indiana University Theatre and Drama department, and acted alongside Ray Fellman in the Pulitzer Prize nominated play, Old Wicked Songs, by Jon Marans for the Jewish Theatre of Bloomington. He also and coordinated several departmental organ and sacred music concert offerings, performed movements from Olivier Messiaen’s La Nativité du Seigneur and Les Corps Glorieux in studio recitals, was a featured performer in Pipedreams’ “2013 Bach’s Birthday Bash,” and traveled to the Pacific Northwest for an organ and sacred music intensive where he offered movements from Messiaen’s L’Ascension and sang with the Cathedral Choir during services at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral. In 2014 John participated in Lutheran Summer Music and served as Worship Assistant and assistant to the camp organist. He served as conductor for the 2017 Carolinas Treble Festival in Charlotte, NC, organist and coordinator of the 2019 festival in Beaufort, and conductor and coordinator for the Carolinas Treble Festival Chorus (an association of Royal School of Church Music affiliated choirs in the Carolinas) for a trip to sing services at Washington National Cathedral and the Immanuel Chapel on the campus of Virginia Theological Seminary.

John has written, arranged, and orchestrated numerous compositions for practical use in music programs where he has served. He has been invited by colleagues to lead numerous rehearsals and choir retreat workshops, and was recently invited to perform for the 50th Anniversary of the Hendrickson organ on the Luther College campus.

John enjoys hobbies like cooking, camping, and curating his CD collection. He resides in Kasson with his wife, Sarah—also a teacher, keyboardist, and church musician. Together they raise two sons (Daniel & Benjamin) and a daughter (Margot), and Dolly Parton (their rescued Malti-poo pup).