Members of Aspinwall Presbyterian Church celebrated the end of an era with the retirement of the Rev. Scott Hill.
Hill, 65, has led the flock at the Center Avenue church for about 10 years; he was in his 36th year of ministry.
His final service was Feb. 15.
Hill plans to spend more time with his wife, Candace, a retired Christian education director, and their 5-year-old yellow lab mix, Hopper.
The couple met at a Presbyterian conference and were married in July 1999 at Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church.
Hill looked back on his life and talked about the future during his last official day at the business office.
“It’s just a good time for us to have opportunities to travel and be together and do some stuff,” Hill said Feb. 12.
“It’s hard to leave. Obviously, retiring is a great thing. I take great comfort that it is a good time for the church.”
It was unclear when a new pastor will be chosen.
Ministry recap
Hill said he first felt called to ministry in 1982 while studying at Michigan State University. He volunteered for Presbyterian mission trips and taught English in Cairo from 1983-85.
Hill joined the San Francisco Theological seminary from 1986-90 and was ordained in August 1990 at Wauwatosa Presbyterian Church, just outside Milwaukee. Hill practically grew up in that church and was accompanied by his father, Dennis Hill, on the big day.
He went on missions and taught in Morocco from September 1990 through August 1991.
Hill became associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Ithica, N.Y., and served from 1992-99. He then went on to serve as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Kankakee, Ill., from 1993-2003.
From there, it was off to Corydon Presbyterian Church in Corydon, Ind., where he was a senior pastor from 2003-13, with a brief stint as a moderator at Ohio Valley Presbytery in 2013.
Other callings included interim senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Columbus, Ind., and transitional pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Martinsville, Ind., before joining the Aspinwall church in December 2016.
“I don’t think I’m very restless,” said Hill when asked about all the traveling. “I am open to adventures and new possibilities.
“When I came back from Egypt, I did want to go back to the Middle East and felt a call to be involved in interfaith dialogue, especially Christian/Muslim dialogue. That’s something I’ve done in the last eight places I’ve lived.”
Community outreach
Many Aspinwall-area residents know Hill for much more than his Sunday morning teachings.
He became a fixture in the community with initiatives such as the Kids Bus Stop Ministry, Blessing of the Animals and prayers at the borough’s Memorial Day service.
The church also hosted family movie nights and raised money for local charities.
Hill said connecting with a community has been a hallmark of his career.
“We’ve got a lot more of our membership now that walks to church than nine years ago,” Hill said. “I’ve been able to look at our situation and see possibilities that were unique to our situation and fit who we were at that moment.”
He said his favorite moments include greeting the families at the various events. It will be up to church officials to determine what programs to keep in Hill’s absence. Average Sunday service attendance is 35 people.
More than 100 turned out for Hill’s last message, which was about how everyone is in the same boat.
There were a lot of nautical-themed sermons throughout Hill’s career, including the Worship by the Water service in early September at Allegheny RiverTrail Park.
Pastor selection and support
Dave Nury, an elder at the Aspinwall church, was on the pastoral search committee and among the seven members who selected Hill as their new spiritual leader.
“We interviewed (him) and he seemed like a good fit,” Nury said. He noted Hill’s familiarity with the area and his wife’s service to the community as positive factors.
Nury helped set the stage for Hill’s final service. He called the last week bittersweet and said the next pastor will have big shoes to fill.
“He and Danny (English) are the two people that drive the church,” Nury said.
English has served as the church’s music director for the past decade and started several months before Hill.
The pastor and English would get together throughout the week and prepare the worship service.
“He and I would always take great care to pick congregational singing songs and hymns that people would have a connection to,” English said. “We didn’t want to be stuck doing the same 20 songs all the time.”
English said neither were afraid to give their opinions and focused on packaging things that were fun and spiritually relevant and uplifting. Their meetings usually began and ended with prayer.
“It’s been an absolute joy working together to do a number of things,” said English, who is in need of a kidney and on an organ transplant list.
“To help lead the worship and to become more engaged in the community, it’s something that he’s really been passionate about. And it’s been fun for me to be a part of some of that to see the church really grow and not just be a building on the corner. … I couldn’t have asked for a better co-collaborator and a better pastor in my life.”
English plans to take on more leadership duties in Hill’s absence.
Resident Steven Kochanowski, who recently was ordained by Hill and sworn in as a church deacon, said the pastor was instrumental in his spiritual journey over the past four years.
“He encouraged me to get more involved in our church, our community, and to explore my relationship with God more closely,” Kochanowski wrote about Hill’s retirement Feb. 12. “He was always there when I was struggling with my faith or how to handle a current world issue.”
Kochanowski said Hill’s impact was immediate.
“The first time I walked into our church, I felt a warmth and love that I hadn’t felt in a very long time,” he wrote.
Aspinwall Mayor Scott Zimmermann commended Hill’s years of service and delivered a proclamation to him at a council meeting Feb. 4.
Outside the church
Hill, an Oakmont resident, led interfaith Bible studies at Roots of Faith in Sharpsburg, supported programs such as Backpacks for Hunger and served as a board member of the Bread of Life Food Pantry when not at the pulpit.
He also leads nature walks at Penn Forest Natural Burial Park in Penn Hills and at Dark Hollow Woods in Oakmont, helps maintain local trails and is involved in the Allegheny Land Trust.
Other retirement plans include continued English tutoring through Literacy Pittsburgh.