The Rev. David Phillips, the new pastor at St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 201 W. Jefferson St., is finding the COVID-19 pandemic is interfering with his usual method of ministering.

“I'm used to building relationships with church members, doing visitations. I'm always out and about in my clergy clothes,” said Smith who took up his duties Oct. 25 after a nine-year stint at a church in Wisconsin.

He noted St. Mark's has reduced its weekend services from three to a single 9 a.m. Sunday service and puts part of it on the internet for remote viewing.

While the sanctuary is big enough so the congregation can practice social distancing, there's not a lot of fellowship after the service.

“There are challenges. It's a difficult adjustment. I'm used to learning people's faces and names. The masks make it more difficult,” said Phillips.

There's also no coffee hour after the service these days, he added.

“As soon as the service is done, people leave,” he said.

Still, Phillips, 63, said he feels blessed to be at St. Mark's.

His path to St. Mark's was a winding one.

He grew up in southwest Georgia. After graduating from Asbury College in Wilmore, Ky., he attended Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va., for a year.

He finished his theological degree at Asbury Theological Seminary and graduated in 1982.

Originally a Methodist, Phillips served in churches in Ohio, where he met his wife, Jessie.

“I left the ministry in 2005 and worked in the human resources department of a small biotech company in Detroit,” he said.

“It took us a long time to find a church that was comfortable to be with, where we sensed we were where we belonged,” he said.

Eventually, they found the fit they had at a Lutheran Church in Dearborn Heights was such that Phillips transferred his ministerial credentials to the North American Lutheran Church.

After he was laid off from the biotech company in 2011, he interviewed and was invited to become pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church of Lebanon, Wis.

“When we moved there, the membership roll was 400,” Phillips said. “It was a rural congregation that grew by 169 members in the nine years I was there.”

The church had a parochial school as well.

Phillips also became chaplain of the local fire department and EMTs and the chaplain of the Dodge County Sheriff's Department.

“When we accepted the call in 2011, I intended to stay until I retired,” he said, but he realized he couldn't maintain the pace the church and school demanded of him.

“I realized that I couldn't go full throttle. All I know was the church needs became greater than I was able to continue to fulfill,” he said.

After checking the ministry discernment section of the NALC website, which allows churches and ministers to get in contact, Phillips and the St. Mark's call committee got in touch.

Following an interview and leading a worship service at St. Mark's in late August, the congregation voted to hire him.

He replaced the Rev. James Neal at the 600-member church.

April Quinn, chairwoman of the six-person call committee at St. Mark's said, “We were looking for a pastor for a year, and COVID threw a wrench in the process.

“He was easy to talk to and honest about his biblical beliefs and theology,” said Quinn.

She added Phillips worked well with children and the church's senior citizen members.

“Really, it was his grasp of God and biblical truth that spoke to us,” said Quinn.

He and his wife bought a condo, and he looks forward to introducing himself to the community.

“Lebanon was rural, just outside Watertown, Wis,, which was about the size of Butler,” he said. “Butler has a different personality than Watertown.

“Butler has too many Steeler fans in it for a Browns fan,” he added, saying he became a Cleveland football fan during his pastorship at a church in Ohio when an associate usher got him hooked.

“I've been a fan since 1989,” he said admitting there have been some lean years, but this year “9 and 3 is like, 'Wow.'”

“People here are great. We're still in the early process of getting to know people.”

For the immediate future, Phillips said he will try to conduct services in the face of the COVID pandemic.

Phillips said, “We plan to have 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. Christmas Eve services. We are not sure how we are going to do it.”