c. 2003 Religion News Service
LOS ANGELES _ The Rev. E.V. Hill, longtime pastor of the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles and an influential pastor in Baptist and wider circles, died Monday (Feb. 24). He was 69.
Hill had recently been hospitalized in Los Angeles, battling an aggressive form of pneumonia and “several other conditions,” according to Letha Logan, Hill’s administrative assistant of 36 years.
“E.V. Hill was a great world Baptist,” said the Rev. Denton Lotz, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance. “He had a vision that all of God’s children _ red, yellow, black and white _ belonged together.”
Hill co-chaired the alliance’s congress when it was held in Los Angeles in 1985.
Known as a powerful preacher, Hill likewise distinguished himself as a leader in his predominantly black denomination, the National Baptist Convention, USA. Active also in the civil rights movement, Hill transcended racial and social barriers to become a popular African-American speaker in traditionally white evangelical Christian organizations.
The Baptist pastor also served on committees advising Republican Presidents Nixon and Reagan and gave the benediction at Nixon’s second inauguration.
Born in Texas, Edward Victor Hill was described as a “preacher cut from the cloth of meager means” in a document supporting his unsuccessful run for president of the NBCUSA in 1999. From his own experience of poverty, Hill went on to struggle alongside national leaders like the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., whom Hill nominated for the presidency of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
A friend of conservative Christian ministries, Hill was one of the first African-Americans to serve on the board of directors for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
“Dr. E.V. Hill has been a longtime friend of my father’s,” Franklin Graham, BGEA president and CEO told Religion News Service. The pastor’s “contribution to evangelism is immeasurable. He has been a source of great strength over the years to all of us,” Graham said.
Besides his association with the Graham organization, Hill was a speaker for Promise Keepers, an evangelical Christian outreach to men. He addressed nearly 20 Promise Keepers gatherings from 1992 to 1999 in cities stretching from Los Angeles to Chicago to Philadelphia, according to Chantell Hinkle, program services coordinator for Promise Keepers.
Hill also appeared on broadcasts of James Dobson’s “Focus on the Family” radio program.
Dobson praised Hill’s ability as a speaker and pastor when introducing him to his listeners.
“He has a giant heart for people of God who are struggling with difficulties in one way or another,” Dobson said. “E.V. can move a crowd as well as anybody I’ve ever heard. … When he steps up to speak, you listen!”
Dobson’s organization still offers tapes featuring Hill to its listeners. A recording in which the pastor talks about the death of his first wife numbers 31 in terms of listener requests out of Focus’s top 100 programs, said Focus spokesman Paul Hetrick.
In the controversy that racked Hill’s National Baptist Convention in the late 1990s over the scandal involving then-president Henry Lyons, Hill supported his friend Lyons. The former denominational president eventually went to prison on felony convictions for grand theft and racketeering committed during his term as head of the denomination. In a moving letter penned from jail, Lyons in turn expressed his backing for Hill, who was running to take his place.
Referring to the denomination’s imminent vote for a new leader, Lyons wrote, “That day, I will sit in my cell and pray at my bunk all day and night until God gives us the victory that we need in this chosen leader, Dr. E.V. Hill.”
The Rev. William J. Shaw of Philadelphia, who defeated Hill and became the denomination’s president, told the Los Angeles Times that Hill was a prominent leader in the religious group.
“There was no major issue that the convention faced in which he was not a party,” Shaw said. “He was always a strong voice, strong opinions _ not always agreed with _ but he helped shape the discussions and debates.”
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