The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1235673
A-4 Local Wednesday, April 15, 2020 The Press-Dispatch The Experts Are More Affordable Than You Might Think. Whether you're looking for a quick replacement or the benefits of an advanced, high-efficiency system, Carrier has the solution to fit your budget and comfort needs. ©Carrier Corporation 12/2016. HIGH EFFICIENCY COMFORT YOUR WAY PH: 812-743-2382 HEATING & AIR-CONDITIONING Perry ' s LLC Serving the area since 1950. Perry ' s Perry ' s 303 Breckinridge Rd, Monroe City Email: perryshvac@gmail.com Craig Perry Vance Perry Chase Perry Serving Dubois and all surrounding counties! 450 East 11th Avenue, Jasper Making work-from-home WORK! We can handle all your needs Remote Access, Servers, Computers, Phone Systems, Switches, Firewalls, Routers, Monitors, and More. Leasing options available You name it, we can help! Call 812-634-8001 today! Board Certified • Otolaryngology • Head & Neck Surgery Otologic Surgery • Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery 721 W. 13th St., Suite 208 Medical Arts Building Jasper, IN 47546 812-634-6666 Call us for your appointment today! We are OPEN for your ENT needs! RICHARD M. MOSS , M.D. EAR • NOSE • THROAT • Tonsillitis, Ear Infections, Tubes • Sinusitis, Deviated Septum, Nasal Allergies • Thyroid, Tumors of Throat & Neck • Moles, Lesions, Skin Cancers • Hearing Aides & Hearing Exams • Snoring & Sleep Disorders • Swallowing & Voice Disorders • Dizziness, Vertigo, Meniere's Disease • Acne, Facial Plastic Surgery Phone & Telemedicine Appointments Available Working Together Since 1864 Home • Farm • Auto • Business For your complete insurance needs,contact the Ferdinand Farmers Insurance Group. 812.367.1413 • 888.440.1413 1405 Main Street • Ferdinand, Indiana www.ferdinandfarmersinsurance.com Meeting God in a coat closet By Andy Heuring God meets people where they are. That is a common saying amongst Christians. It is also an ab- solute for Patoka Grove pastor Jason Hill. God met him in a coat closet. Hill, who is 43, felt Je- sus' tug at his heart while he was sitting in a coat closet in Connersville. "I have gone to church all my life. I had spent enough time in church to know the way a Christian should act, but I didn't become a Christian until I was 16 years old," said Hill. He explained he was in the youth group at the church in which he grew up. An evangelist was coming to the church on Monday night. So the youth leader got the kids together. Hill said, at the most, they would have 10 kids and organized a pub- licity blitz. They were to go to school and invite everyone they saw to at- tend the service and a piz- za party, with a goal of 300 people being at church. "I thought that was cra- zy," said Hill. But he did his part and when he got to the church on Mon- day night, it was packed. "I had never seen it so crowded," said Hill. It was so crowded, he and his best friend at the time, the preacher's kid, had to sit in a coat clos- et. "That is where God touched my heart." He said the evangelist preached on how to know 100 percent you are saved. The preacher had a list of five questions and if you could answer yes, then you knew you were saved. Hill never made it to the end of the list. "The first question was 'When you sin, do you feel guilty about it? ' I had to answer no," said Hill. "Sin was something to me that you do that parents said you shouldn't do. I never felt like you did it against God, I don't' remember anything else about the sermon." Hill said when they had the invitational hymn, "I had never seen anything like that. People kept go- ing forward. Someone would yell someone got saved. I kept thinking 'why don't I go up there? ' I noticed my friend had left and I didn't know where he went. Then the pastor said 'my son is up here. Let's sing again.'" "I just kept thinking 'why am I not going up there? '" said Hill, but he still chose not to go to the altar. As they were in the greeting line leaving the church, he said he kept looking at all those peo- ple and how happy they looked. "I knew I had bet- ter not leave this church. I said 'Jimmy (his best friend), I need to be up there with them' and he hollered out, 'we have an- other person who wants to get saved.'" "I will never forget that night. It was November 7, 1993," said Hill. Hill went on and grad- uated from Connorsville High School. He thought he wanted to be a history teacher. So he went to col- lege at Indiana University at Richmond. In the sum- mer, he got a job working at Hoosier Hills church camp nearby. He said at camp, he got to know several people who were in ministry. "They en- couraged me and helped me understand what the ministry is. The more I did that, the more I felt like ministry is where I needed to be going. Just being around kids and be- ing their leader, and try- ing to teach the Bible, it made me feel more and more like that is what God was leading me into," said Hill. Hill said he had a friend who was going to look at Crown College of the Bi- ble in Powell, Tenn., near Knoxville. Hill agreed to accompany him and they both ended up going to school there, and both then went into the min- istry. It is also where he met his wife, Hannah. He went back home af- ter college and preached at his home church, Gar- rison Creek Baptist. Then he was invited to be a youth pastor at a church where he interned dur- ing college. He then re- turned to Connorsville, where he was an associ- ate pastor for five years. "I felt like it was time for me to be full-time pastor." He was invited to preach at Friendly Grove Baptist in Jasonville in January. However, he said it wasn't until March he landed the position. "They had a poli- cy, you had to preach four times before they could hire you." Hill explained it was a rough winter and it was March before he got in his fourth sermon. He was there for four years and The Gospel Center in Petersburg contacted him. "I didn't know anything about the church or Petersburg. But my dad told me I had been in Petersburg before at a fiddling contest, when I was a kid," said Hill. He said his family would trav- el around during the sum- mer for fiddling competi- tions. He was the pastor at The Gospel Center for two years. "I felt like it was time to take a break from ministry. We did. I didn't think about it being that long. I started driving a concrete truck for Hoo- sier Ready Mix." He has been doing that for the last four plus years. "Just kind of waiting to see if God would open up a church for me," said Hill. "I got a call from Lind- sey Manning. She said Pa- toka Grove was looking for a pastor." Hill had per- formed the wedding cere- mony for Lindsey and her husband, Hunter. He was offered the job and has been at Patoka Grove since August of 2019. "I don't consider myself to be a dynamic person. I'm just kind of a regular person trying to serve the Lord and work a full-time job. When I was growing up, I looked at preach- ers and they were such big personalities. They almost had a fan club. I thought I could never re- late to such a person. I'm not like that, I don't want to be like that. I'm just like a neighbor who will help you. I just want to be a fa- ther." Hill said he likes being a pastor with a full-time job. "I see that as a posi- tive. I have people who also work full-time and I can relate to those peo- ple in a way I never could have to some preachers. I wouldn't have it any other way," said Hill. Patoka Grove pastor Jason Hill MAURICE L. HAGEMEYER Maurice L. Hagemeyer, 86, of Stendal, passed away at 11:30 p.m. on Monday, April 13, 2020, at St. Charles Health Campus in Jasper. He was born August 10, 1933, in Stendal, to McKin- ley and Norma K. (Henke) Hagemeyer. He was united in marriage to Juanita D. Butke on November 5, 1954, in Stendal. He was a teacher at High- land Elementary School in Evansville, was a school counselor and also assis- tant principal. He was a member of St. Peter's Lu- theran Church in Stendal and served in the United States Army during the Ko- rean War. He was preceded in death by his wife, Juanita D. Hage- meyer, who passed away on February 22, 2018; and two brothers, Theodore Hage- meyer and Paul Hagemeyer. He is survived by three children, Gwenn A. (Ed- ward) Laughlin, of Hunting- burg, Jeffrey (Debra) Hage- meyer, of Stendal, and Jenni- fer L. (Dr. John) Meyers, of Evansville; nine grandchil- dren; and 14 great-grand- children. Private funeral services will be on Thursday, April 16, 2020, at St. Peter's Lu- theran Church in Stendal, with Pastor Ed Wicks offici- ating. Burial will take place in the church cemetery, along with military grave- side honors. Nass and Son Funeral Home in Huntingburg has been entrusted with the burial arrangements. Me - morial contributions can be made to St. Peter's Lu- theran Church. Condolenc- es may be shared online at www.nassandson.com. See additional obituaries on page B-7 Obituaries