Jim Hoover does not live at St. Andrews, nor can I find any evidence that he is being held captive, chained to the organ.  The powers that be will neither confirm nor deny any of this…

Either way, music has always been a huge part of Jim’s life.  At his childhood home, in Youngstown, Ohio, he and his three sisters were required to take 4 years of piano lessons.  He found he liked it, and continued to play through high school where he also picked up the oboe.  He arrived in Downers Grove and St. Andrews in 1978, one year before our pipe organ was installed.  After hearing the inaugural concert on that organ, he knew he wanted to learn how to play it. The rest, as they say, is history.

Jim went to college at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he received a degree in math.  It was here that he became involved with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship.  After Carnegie Mellon, he received a master’s degree from Stanford, also in math.  Next, he went to Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary where he received a Master of Divinity.  What!  Well as much as that doesn’t seem to fit, Jim’s involvement with Intervarsity really anchored his faith, and divinity school was his answer to this calling.

Skip ahead a few years, and Jim answers another call.  This time it was from Intervarsity Press asking him if he’d like to be an editor.  After he figured out what an editor was, he accepted the position and worked for them for the next 35 ½ years.  His final project, Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity, took 6 ½ years to edit.  Jim actually postponed retirement to finish the text.  If he hadn’t, it would have taken another editor about five years just to catch up.  Coincidently, Gregg Morris used this text when he was in Seminary.

Jim’s dedication to Christian education, as well as his commitment to the wonderful music we enjoy at St. Andrews, is a divinely inspired example of being the hands and feet of God.