By Dorothy R. Wendel

As a called and ordained minister of the Church of Christ, The Reverend Gary Hatcher is about to hang up his church vestments after 48 years of witnessing for and proclaiming the Gospel of the Lord. He has ministered to seven parishes during his tenure as God’s servant, his last call being pastor of St. Paul Lutheran in Garnavillo and First Lutheran in McGregor.

Hatcher previously ministered to Garnavillo area parishes from 1994 – 2002.  It was then when St. Peter Lutheran Church in Greene called him for what turned out to be a 13-year ministry, but in 2015 he returned to Garnavillo, where he once again ministered at St. Paul Lutheran along with First Lutheran. “Garnavillo has always been special, and coming back here felt like coming home,” he fondly recalls. “My kids graduated high school here and continue to live within a reasonable distance around the area.” 

Hatcher remembers growing up in a household that identified as Methodist, although not church-going Methodists. He was about 10-years-old when a school acquaintance talked to him about Heaven and The Law of the Old Testament Bible. It caused him so much anxiety that he literally lost sleep; he was convinced he would never enter Heaven’s Pearly Gates. Further research on his own led him to actually reading The Ten Commandments, and an already sleep-deprived Hatcher became even more sleep-deprived. “I was sure I had no way of getting to Heaven,” he shares. “No one can keep those commandments.” Soon after, a friend invited him to church, where he was confirmed and baptized at age 14.  He recalls, “To hear about God’s love and forgiveness made a huge impact on my life and the direction I wanted to take.” Hatcher was just a junior in high school when he felt a strong calling to the ministry, at which time he went to visit his parish minister in his hometown of Jewell. The Reverend Norbert Jolivette told Hatcher to come back after his sophomore year in college if he still felt this calling.  “I never changed my mind,” he says. “After my sophomore year at Iowa State, I went back and told Pastor Jolivette that I definitely wanted to go to seminary and become a minister. I told him that was my calling. 

He vividly and humorously recalls what he refers to as his “garbage sermon” at his first parish in Northwestern Minnesota. “It was so bad that I felt like I should apologize to everyone for wasting their time.” But garbage or not, the Lord reached out and had it work for good. One parishioner told him after the service that the sermon was just what she needed to hear that day. It may have healed Pastor’s heart just a little, but he still holds firm to his belief that it was his “garbage sermon.”

He also recalls two of many special highlights during his 48 years of ministry. He had the highly emotional privilege of baptizing his own three children and almost all of his grandchildren. He admits to performing the sacrament through a blur of joyful tears. He also recently performed the marriage ceremony for one of his grandchildren; it was a most special time for Hatcher not only because it was his grandchild, but also because it was the last marriage ceremony he performed during his years of public ministry.  Another highlight was taking the sacrament of Holy Communion to the home of a disabled man, as he had done for a long time. This particular time, however, as he was speaking the words of forgiveness, “As a called and ordained minister of the Church of Christ, I therefore declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins …” the man interrupted, “Stop! That means ME!” Hatcher recalls the joy upon hearing that proclamation, when the man took personal ownership of those words of forgiveness that he had heard so many times before.

After serving as counselor and pastor for nearly half a century, Hatcher carries confidences of pretty much every kind. He says he has relied heavily on fellow clergy at his Society of Holy Trinity conferences, where pastors can share inner thoughts and receive support. He admits though that some things he carries cannot even be shared with them or with his closest of confidants, his wife, Jackie. “Sometimes you just gotta carry it. I’ll take things to my grave with me, and that’s OK. I’ve had to go in tears to God with a lot of things and leave them there,” he says. 

The world is a much different, more challenging place than it was 48 years ago, but Hatcher says the Word never changes. “The core beliefs are there; they always have been. The message is, always has been, and will continue to be, to proclaim the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.” He says, though, that how he presents the message has changed. “I’ve become more gracious while yet telling people that the law and sin are real, and they need to take Jesus more seriously.” He encourages people to examine themselves to be certain that their identity is in Christ and not in themselves. “Our responsibility is to live in Him and not apart from Him,” he says. He emphasizes that, “The ministry didn’t begin with me, and it doesn’t end with me. It will go on. It will go forward.”

Hatcher’s family members are a special tribe of people. His wife, Jackie, is a retired registered nurse, and a very good one according to the pastor. “She’s had to give up some things because of my calls, and she’s had to listen to my frustrations about things that I can’t vent from the pulpit.” He especially remembers a family Christmas dinner in the past when he had to leave because a parishioner had suffered a stroke. “I had to choose her over my family, because that’s where the need was.”

A new experience for the pastor and Jackie is being first-time homeowners and all of what that entails. They have purchased a home in Guttenberg where, Hatcher says with some humor and yet in all seriousness, “I’m going to sleep for six months and then perhaps do some pulpit supply. I just want to sit in the pew for awhile and not worry about what’s happening in the pulpit.”

He volunteers one final thought: “Would I do it all over again? Yes, I definitely would – in a heartbeat!”

“Well done good and faithful servant”:  Matthew 25:23.