Tommie Conley Jr., Made One Last Sacrifice ...
Bill Schenley
By Tom Heinen
http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/oct04/267122.asp
Death was moments away as Elder Tommie Conley Jr., a Milwaukee man who
spent his life helping others, stood in front of a packed church and
spoke of conversion, sacrifice and new life.
"He took a towel, and put it on the altar, and said, 'Once you place
your sacrifice on the altar, you can't go back and get it. It belongs
to God,' " recalled Deacon Kenneth McIntyre. "In other words, once you
repent, you can't go back and get your sacrifice, which is your old
life, because once you are in Christ, 'Old things are passed away,
and, behold, all things are become new.' "
Then Conley turned, walked toward the altar and got down on one knee.
People thought he was going to pray.
Perhaps he did. No one knows. He collapsed and died.
That was Oct. 7. Conley, the founder and spiritual leader of
Milwaukee's True Church of the First Born, was the guest speaker for a
pastor appreciation service at Deliverance Temple Church of the
Apostolic Faith in Chicago. He was pronounced dead at a hospital, said
McIntyre, one of three deacons who had accompanied Conley to Chicago
that day.
Services for Conley, 55, are at 11 a.m. today at Mt. Zion Assembly of
the Apostolic Faith, 4300 N. Green Bay Ave. Entombment will be at
Graceland Cemetery.
"He was strong in his faith, Apostolic faith, very strong," said
Cassandra Conley, his wife. "Tommie Conley was a very, very concerned
individual for people, very attentive to the needs of others. There
was nowhere he wouldn't go, nothing he wouldn't do. He was just a
person that people loved because he always had a smile. He always had
a kind world. He always had a word from God for them, an encouraging
spiritual word.
"The calling that God has given him, he did it with tenacity. His zeal
never died down, never weakened, never faltered. He just was ready and
willing to do God's will."
Sapphira Conley of Milwaukee, one of his seven daughters, described
him as a man full of love.
"He was always known for his smile," she said. "He had a beautiful
smile, and he was full of wisdom. He was never a best friend to one
person, but he was a best friend to everybody he met."
Especially devoted to prison ministry, he led Bible study for
prisoners at the House of Correction every Friday night and at a
detention center in downtown Milwaukee on Tuesday nights, McIntyre
said.
Tommie Conley came to Milwaukee at about age 18 from Arkansas, where
he and other family members had picked cotton, Cassandra Conley said.
Over the years, he worked in two foundries, at Rexnord Corp., at A.O.
Smith Corp. and then Tower Automotive, from which he had been on
layoff from a laborer's job for about two years, she said.
But his real loves were people and the church. He founded True Church
of the First Born about 18 years ago in a storefront at 915 W.
Burleigh St., she said.
Later, it moved into a building at N. Hubbard St. and E. Meinecke Ave.
that was constructed in 1893 as a Congregational Church. And the
congregation grew to about 170 families, she said.
But structural problems gradually took their toll, including a sagging
roof and bulging wall. When the structure suddenly shifted last year,
its south face pushing against a neighboring duplex, the city issued
an emergency demolition order.
That was painful for Tommie Conley, who did not come to watch the
destruction, his wife said. After that, the congregation began sharing
worship space with another church at 3410 W. Burleigh St.
But Tommie Conley's spirit did not topple with the old church
building.
"Elder Conley was a man that really lived the word of God, and
everybody that he touched, he left an impression on," McIntyre said.
"He gave everybody hope. He preached a lot of people off of drugs."
Other survivors include a son, Aaron Conley of Milwaukee, and
daughters Cassandra Nyasani of Minneapolis and Neva, Ada, Lynell,
Colleen and Toni Conley, all of Milwaukee.