DATE: February 25, 2003
FROM: Jerry Falwell
DR. E.V. HILL GOES HOME
My dear friend, Dr. E.V. Hill, went to be with the Lord from his hospital bed in Los Angeles at 4:30 this morning, following a recent stroke. Dr. Hill, hailed by Time magazine as "one of the most outstanding preachers in the United States," was indeed one of the most dazzling and effective preachers of his generation. In addition, he was a community-minded pacesetter, pro-life leader and moral crusader. Dr. Hill served as the senior pastor of the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church (L.A.) for four decades and was a frequent guest speaker at my Thomas Road Baptist Church and at Liberty University.
Dr. Hill, 69, was born in Columbus, Texas, and raised in a log cabin in Sequin, Texas, where he became an agricultural innovator as a teenager. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Prairie View A&M in 1959. But the call to preach was great and Dr. Hill started the Mount Zion Church in 1963. Located in the heart of the Watts section of L.A., Dr. Hill served as an important mediator between gang factions there. Even in the darkest times in that community, Dr. Hill always pointed people toward their only real hope - Jesus Christ.
Whether speaking to the World Congress in Lucerne, Switzerland, to the Democratic or Republican National Conventions, to a soup kitchen audience in L.A., addressing the President's Task Force, or spearheading the "Moratorium On Gang Murder," Dr. Hill animated real-life with real-hope.
I am happy to say he was my friend. I will greatly miss his encouraging words, his hearty laugh and his colossal presence in the Thomas Road pulpit.
Funeral arrangements are yet to be announced.
Condolences may be sent to:
Mrs. E.V. Hill
4326 Enoro Drive
Los Angeles, California 90008