Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 18, 1995 TAG: 9501180060
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: FRANCES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Her voice, now a strong contralto, has carried her far in Western Virginia, where she is in almost weekly demand as a gospel singer. She and her husband, Mike, solidly backed by their church, Bethel Baptist in Salem, have performed as far away as Chattanooga, Tenn., over the five years they have carried on what they regard as ``a ministry for the Lord.''
Mike Conner doesn't sing, but his presence is indispensable, since he handles his wife's musical backup. The couple recently invested in almost-invisible microphones. They function as a team and, unless they're on a long out-of-town trip, they're regulars at Bethel Baptist on Sunday mornings.
``Word of mouth'' is Conner's explanation for her success as a Southern gospel musician who has made two tapes, one at a Nashville, Tenn., studio and another at a Fayetteville, N.C., studio.
As a lifelong Roanoker, she has many ties to Baptist congregations and more recently to other evangelical Christian churches. She has been a secretary at Appalachian Power Company for more than 20 years, working currently in the human relations department.
She once directed a youth choir at Connelly Memorial Baptist Church near her childhood home in Northwest Roanoke. The pastor there, the Rev. Dr. Gordon Grimes, later served Cave Spring Baptist and now is at a Chattanooga church. Through him and a program in the Tennessee city, the Conners came to the attention of Carolyn Cross English, a concert artist, songwriter and producer, who has grown to be a friend and a valuable professional colleague.
She recalls, too, that people have become familiar with her voice in airings over nearby Christian radio stations WKBA, WSLS and WWWR.
Conner has known other pastors who moved elsewhere, among them the Rev. Dr. Albert Peverall Jr., once on the staff of First Baptist in Roanoke and now at a Chesapeake church. And there is the Rev. Stephen Byers, with whom she worked at Bethel. From his current church in Albemarle, N.C., he praises the singer's Christian testimony as well as her singing.
``The spirit that motivates her as a minister is so special we believe it is genuine, faithful and touching,'' Byers wrote recently.
Following God's call to gospel singing, Evelyn Conner's career has coincided with her marriage to Mike five years ago. Both previously married and with six children between them, they met on a blind date arranged by a relative.
Mike Conner, a General Electric Co. technician, had been a member of Bethel almost from its beginning in his youth, and Conner, who had been part of several Baptist congregations and directed choirs at Daleville Church of the Brethren, soon joined him there.
Music is strictly an avocation for the Conners. Neither plays an instrument, but the singer's husband has become skilled in handling the taped material now increasingly used to enhance gospel songs.
Nor is their gospel music performed for profit. They charge nothing, but most places where they perform take an offering.
Generally, Conner sings for about 40 minutes, often interspersing numbers with testimony or a monologue about some aspect of the Christian faith. She classifies her songs as ``contemporary Christian'' or ``Southern gospel,'' but not rock rhythm.
Occasionally, they're funny, as is ``Operator and the Royal Telephone,'' but most are in the vein of ``I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb'' or the toe-tapping ``I Don't Want No Rocks.''
Looking up his figures, Mike Conner counted 40 concerts in 1994, including ones at Evangelical Methodist, Nazarene, Churches of God and Bible Baptist congregations in Tennessee, West Virginia and North Carolina. Because of their background and contacts, Baptist churches predominate.
More concerts are to come in 1995. On Jan. 28, the Conners will be joining other popular gospel groups, the Virginians Quartet and the Dominion Trio, for a valleywide sing at 7 p.m. at Bethel on Colorado Street in Salem.
Programs also are on the books for Moneta, Goshen Pass, Covington, Christiansburg, Troutville, Bassett, Pulaski, Richmond and Colonial Heights this year. On April 15, the evening before Easter, the couple will join several other groups for a big sing at the Salem Civic Center at 7 p.m.
``It's a ministry for us to tell of God's love through song,'' Evelyn Conner says, unable to explain further a popularity that keeps the couple before a different group nearly every week.
by CNB