Pastor holds many jobs
Ed Sanner's outside-the-church job for U.S. Investigations Service in Boyers doesn't present many similarities to his ministering at Martinsburg Church of Bruin, a Village Missions church that was rooted as a Presbyterian movement.
Pastor Ed, as he is called, went to school for full-time ministry, and when his wife got a job at Moniteau High School, he ended up as a quality control inspector at U.S. Investigations Services in Boyers.
"I met the senior pastor (at Martinsburg Church) and became youth minister," he said. He also recently started a small graphic design business making signs and banners.
Then the Martinsburg Church senior pastor left a couple of months ago, so Sanner assumed the duties of interim pastor.
Melding all his roles, which include being a husband and a father to three girls, takes more than just himself, he said. "The grace of God is good, so it's been awesome," he said. "I think there's a lot of strong leadership (in the church); that's the only way it works."
He said he uses vacation time for church activities, like going to the Creation music festival in the wintertime. "My availability is mostly in the evenings," he said. "I do protect time for my family, too. I will answer the phone but I won't make appointments in the evening because that's my family time."
Sanner said church members take responsibility for visiting other hospitalized members. "People will step up and serve like that," he said.
As far as full-time ministry goes, Sanner said he thinks about it. "If the topic came up of me going full time, I would discuss it," he said.
<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>
