CHICAGO -- Rep. Bobby Rush, the former Black Panther turned mainstream politician, has added preacher to his list of accomplishments, according to a story in the Chicago Sun-Times.

The Illinois Democrat became the only member of Congress with his own pulpit when he founded Beloved Community Christian Church last fall.

"The Lord called me to plant a church," Rush told the newspaper. "It was something that he placed in my heart, my spirit. That I know because it was such a pull, I could not get away from it. Everything was leading toward that."

The church sprang from a Bible study class he was leading and has grown from 22 to 130 members since the first service was conducted in October. He takes no salary or love offering from the church; House rules place strict limits on outside income for lawmakers, the newspaper reported.

The church meets in an elementary school on Chicago's South Side, which is in the 1st Congressional District he represents. Plans are to renovate a nearby building for a permanent home.

A co-founder of the Illinois Black Panther Party in 1968, he first entered mainstream politics when he was elected to the City Council in 1983. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1992. He ran an unsuccessful race for Chicago mayor in 1999, but kept his House seat and was re-elected in 2002.

Rush received a master's degree in theological studies from McCormick Theological Seminary and was later ordained as a Baptist minister.

According to the newspaper, other members of Congress are ordained, but Rush is the only member with a church.

Rep. Ron Lewis (R-Ky.) is a Southern Baptist minister; Rep. Ted Strickland (D-Ohio) is a former Methodist minister; Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) is an ordained Baptist minister; Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) is a graduate of Chicago Theological Seminary but has never been ordained.

Former Rep. Floyd Flake (D-N.Y.) was an African Methodist Episcopal minister and former Sen. John Danforth (R-Mo.) was an ordained Episcopal priest.

Rush told the newspaper his main job is with the House and he does not envision leaving it to become a full-time pastor.