John Conley

FROM THE BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF PRIMITIVE BAPTIST OR OLD SCHOOL BAPTIST MINISTERS BY DAVID MONTGOMERY AND MARK GREEN: ELDER JOHN CONLEY Elder John Claude Conley was born November 21, 1951, in Odessa, Texas, to Ralph and Wanda Eldora Lincoln Conley. He passed from this life on November 25, 2000, in Jackson, Mississippi, after a courageous battle with cancer. John was a veteran of the U.S. Navy. He married the former Debbie Chappell on April 28, 1973. To this union were born two sons, Philip and James, and one daughter, Sarah. 45 He was ordained to the ministry by the Primitive Baptist Church in Midland, Texas, in July 1978. He had pastored at Salida Church in Salida, California, from 1979 until 1991, and at Middleton Creek Church in Meadville, Mississippi, from 1991 until his death. Brother John was a well-loved minister and was respected across the country. John Conley, Sis. Debbie Conley and children Sis. Sarah, Philip, and James. (Philip and James are ordained elders.) Elder Pyles (a long-time friend of the Conley family) shared some personal experience that he had with Elder Conley: Some here may think that Bro John's life was cut short by the plague of cancer. But, from knowing Bro John for 28 years, it is my experience that the Lord greatly lengthened Bro John's life for the sake of Zion and his family. Many may not know that Bro John suffered greatly at the hands of cancer as a young man many years ago, and most people would not have survived the struggle. However, the Lord delivered Bro John, and the latter part of his life is marked by marriage, fatherhood, ordination, and pastor-ship. Truly, his life is one lengthened and not cut short.