Ministry is true calling for medic
The Rev. Phillip Conyers chooses to continue an outside-the-church job as well, but draws comparisons to his role as pastor of Oak Hills Christian Church in Butler Township. "Being able to work in trauma, I still see it as a ministry," said the respiratory therapist.
Patients often notice something different about the 6-foot, 1-inch tall former Chicago resident. "Sometimes they just ask outright if I'm a minister," he said. "They seem to relax. Especially if they're a Christian, there's that connection."
He works at Allegheny General Hospital a couple of days or nights per week and keeps up with the required credits and workshops necessary for his profession, but nothing interferes with his ministry, he said. "Ministry is the main focus. I will never work on a Saturday night because I want to be fresh for Sunday morning."
He won't allow his hospital job to take precedence over unscheduled church emergencies either. "I can always get away (from work). They already know that my primary responsibility is the church," Conyers said.
The church sometimes also takes priority over family, which includes a wife, four sons and 12 grandchildren. "There are times I want to go back to Chicago for a family gathering and I can't go. I don't want to be out of the pulpit that long."
After 6½ years in Butler, the former city dweller said he and his wife would never go back to a big city. "It's wonderful here," he said. "What makes it so wonderful is the congregation." The 150-member church is celebrating its 50th anniversary later this month.
<i>Some area pastors work at a second job because smaller or independent church congregations, while being vital, are unable to support a full-time spiritual leader. Other ministers choose to work, and their congregations — and employers — are accepting of that. Area pastors and their second or even third jobs are explored in this story for Labor Day.</i>
