YOUR STORY MATTERS HERE: Dustin Bush

Dustin Bush might be the most recognizable person at Dutilh Church who is not officially on the staff. As a guitarist and singer in Dutilh’s Sunday morning praise band, called Praise For, Bush regularly leads the congregation in worshiping God through music.

Bush comes by his musical talent naturally.

“Music has always been in my life,” Bush said. “My great-grandma and grandma were both church organists. My grandma started teaching me piano before I started kindergarten.”

Bush’s parents, Debbie and Russ—also familiar faces around Dutilh Church—are part of the family’s musical legacy. Debbie is a retired elementary educator and college professor who sang in the church choir; Russ is a retired high school band director, turned history teacher and coach.

In addition to piano, Bush played the trombone in high school. He started teaching himself to play the guitar shortly before heading off to college. During college, he played in local bars and even made a little money from his musical talents.

At West Virginia Wesleyan College, Bush met his wife, January. She was a varsity soccer player and a couple of years behind Bush at Wesleyan, so he stayed in the area and took a job working for the college when he graduated. After two years in the admissions office, Bush started graduate school in theology at Emory University. He was in Atlanta for three years while he earned a master’s degree in theological studies in the evenings and taught fifth grade in Dekalb County schools during the day.

The couple moved to Cranberry Township in 2000 for January’s job. They were looking to be closer to family, and Cranberry was midway between Bush’s hometown of Buckhannon, WV, and January’s hometown of Rochester, NY. The couple has raised their three children here. This fall, Mason will be a college freshman, attending Penn State Altoona and playing basketball. Camden is a rising junior at Seneca Valley High School and a soccer player who will kick on SV’s football team this year. Emmie is an eighth grader at Ryan Gloyer Middle School and enjoys soccer and volleyball (and her friends).

When not cheering for their kids’ athletic teams, January works in sales for an HR software firm and Dustin works in sales for a professional development and consulting company that serves school districts and supports educators who want to improve student literacy. Russ and Debbie moved to the area about five years ago and live in Mars, where they are within an hour of seeing all their grandchildren.

Cranberry Township provided bandmates as well as a home for the Bush family.

“Ron Roman built a house right next to ours,” Bush explained. “A buddy down the street learned bass and my other next-door neighbor’s brother played lead guitar.” The neighbors formed Phase IV, a band that has a number of overlapping members with Praise For.

Praise For got started more than ten years ago.

“Dutilh had a band,” Bush explained. “We initially offered to sub for them if needed.” Praise For evolved over time.  “Brenda Roman, Michele Owings, and Ron Roman have been involved since the start. Chip Humphries started playing about eight years ago.  Maureen [Konopka] has been playing since she started at the church, and we’ve had numerous other members (including Mark Redilla and Jonah Smeltzer) over the years,” Bush said. “We have a lot of fun together. It’s kind of like our own little small group.”

The Bush family first found Dutilh in 2000. Having grown up in the Methodist faith, finding a church home was a priority for Bush.

“Faith has been so important in my life,” Bush said. “We love the people at Dutilh, and I love being out in the community and getting a chance to connect with someone from our church family.”

Dutilh offers “a sense of peace, comfort, and safety in the church and especially in the sanctuary. It’s a sacred space,” Bush explained. Sharing that faith with his children has also been a priority.

“I was blessed to have parents who cared enough about me to share their faith,” Bush said, “and I wanted to make sure my kids have the opportunity to develop a relationship with God.” The Bushes practice that faith through family prayers at night and memorizing Bible verses as well as attending services and being part of other Dutilh events.

His personal faith is also informed by his theological studies. “One thing that continues to resonate with me is this teaching of Dorotheus of Gaza, about how our experience of God is like a wheel,” Bush explained. “God is the hub of that wheel and we are all on the spokes. As we get closer to God, we get closer to one another. If we move farther away from God, we tend to be alienated from others.” Bush said that image of being in relationship to God and with others has shaped his views about the need to be authentic and to try to grow closer to both God and other people.

Bush has found his involvement in music to be an avenue for sharing his faith.

“Music gives me a platform to have conversations about church,” Bush said. “People will ask me when we’re playing again (only thinking about Phase IV) and it gives me a chance to tell them about Dutilh.  Music has offered me the opportunity to invite a bar full of people to church,” Bush laughed. “It’s not necessarily sharing testimony, but music is an easy way to share my faith.”

Bush said people might be surprised to know that he is a fan of reptiles. As a child, Bush kept two caimans (South American reptiles in the alligator family) in an enclosure in his room. He currently has a 12-year-old python named Slash, after the lead guitarist in Guns N’ Roses.

While Dutilh Church is blessed to have this reptile-loving musician share his time and talent each week during worship, Bush said he gains more than he gives.

“I feel blessed to be a part of the worship team and to connect to people in that way,” Bush said.

If you or someone you know in the Dutilh family has an interesting story or profession, send us your ideas! We would love to help tell the story. Email: communications@dutilhumc.org.