It's not unusual for people to go back to school in middle age.

Often, they want to attend college and get a degree - to finish what they started years ago or to get a leg up in a competitive job market.

But when Art Sartorius returned to school five years ago, he didn't have upward mobility or career advancement in mind.

In 2003, Sartorius, an established attorney in Jacksonville, Fla., made the decision to attend seminary school and become a Presbyterian pastor after 22 years in law.

Now the head pastor at Black Hills Community Church in Rapid City, he said the dramatic shift was propelled by an undeniable feeling that God was leading him into full-time ministry.

"As time went by, the fulfillment I felt in my life was felt in the church and in the ministry of the church - more than in the secular world and more than what I was doing in the legal profession," Sartorius said.

So Sartorius closed his law office and enrolled at the Orlando campus of the Reformed Theological Seminary. He continued to litigate ongoing employment cases from home, but fit the work in between school and his commute - two hours one direction, often multiple times a week.

When it came time to graduate, Sartorius' future path as a pastor was not entirely clear.

"I'm sort of an atypical seminary graduate," Sartorius said. "I graduated at the age of 52; I'm 53 now. So it's not like I would necessarily fit the role of your customary youth pastor coming out of seminary. I also didn't have the experience in the pulpit that might make me a candidate for a senior pastor in a larger church."

He started his job search by sending background information out to churches across the country.

Black Hills Community Church, a Presbyterian Church in America congregation, was looking for a pastor at the time. Church members contacted Sartorius, and everything fell into place from there.

"Ever since that first phone call, there seemed to be a click that that's where God was leading them and where God was leading my wife and I," Sartorius said.

Sartorius started at Black Hills Community Church in January, and has since found certain parallels between the work of a pastor and that of an attorney.

"As an attorney, you oftentimes are dealing with people in struggles, and so that kind of background - of being around people that are struggling at different points in their life - it's helpful, because a pastor has to deal with that among his people, too," Sartorius said.

Sartorius also has discovered that previous legal work has given him an analytical mind for examining biblical text.

"When you look at Scripture, you're trying to logically deduce what He requires," Sartorius said.

"So there's just a way of looking at things and thinking that's helpful."

But Sartorius says there are still notable differences between the two professions.

"The attorney - especially an attorney that is involved in litigation - is advocating for a person, for a client or for a company. So you're advocating a position but it's an advocating that puts things in the best light of your client; your loyalties are to your client," Sartorius said. "Whereas with pastoring, your loyalty is to God."

That distinction is part of what makes the pastoral life so fulfilling for Sartorius.

"There is a sense where your advocacy is for a higher power," Sartorius said. "It's for God himself."

Black Hills Community Church, 618 E. Elk St., holds services at 10:45 a.m. Sundays. For more information, call 341-9090.

Contact Serri Graslie at 394-8401 or serri.graslie@rapidcityjournal.com.