Introduction

"The impact of Dean and Edna Hochstetler's interwoven lives and spiritual ministry among untold numbers of people across this country and around the globe is virtually incalculable, and will undoubtedly continue to unfold and be revealed for many years to come."

I didn't "manufacture" that biased assessment of their lives - it comes from others, but I certainly agree. Granted, as the oldest of their four sons, I do have my own unique experiences to share and stories to tell - and you will certainly find them sprinkled throughout the material that follows.

I started this blog at the time my father was actively dying last October. Some of the stories I recently included here were actually written near the time my mother was dying six months earlier, and even earlier in September 2005 - when the Yellow Creek Mennonite Church near Goshen hosted a celebration in honor of their life and specialized ministry together.

What began to flow like a river of life was suddenly unleashed - just prior to and after my father's death - in a torrent of messages and calls noting concern and affirmation. It all came pouring in from countless friends and colleagues scattered around the country and the globe, most of whom considered my parents to be either like "family" or spiritual mentors.

However, I hope to continue the process of sifting and adding to this collection for some time to come, because more "good stuff" has recently come to light, set aside temporarily until further sorting and research can be done. My brother Verle and I (actually mostly Verle, so far) initially worked through a mountain of material they saved but had to get sorted into special piles and categories as it was time to sell their home and distribute their assets - all part of the legacy they left behind. Anyone who has become an adult orphan like I and my brothers are now knows quite well how it goes. Their estate sale was conducted on March 13, 2007 - and in many ways that marks the end of an era.

However, several large batches of letters and cards still remain to be digested and fully appreciated - until time can allow. We knew that Dad had a lot of "stuff" he collected, but hardly any of us realized how much stuff Mom also kept and cataloged about her life. My brothers and I were astounded when we realized that, apparently, she never threw away a single card or letter that she had ever received! Anything that was publicly printed about any one of her sons or grandchildren got dutifully "squirreled away" - if she could get her hands on it.

This (blog) began as a personal project of mine -- a sort of electronic scrapbook. It has, indeed, helped me immeasurably as a creative outlet, and provided an environment at crucial points along the way which encouraged me to process my own thoughts and perspectives. It has kept me working at integrating my own grief regarding these significant losses in my life, while continuing to function professionally as a busy community pastor -- a hospital and hospice chaplain well aware of the importance of doing one's own inner work in order to remain effective in similar work with others.

In this venue, it is my hope that readers here will be able to gain a sense of the depth and breadth of what is but a mere sampling amidst a plethora of affirmations, encouraging remarks, anecdotes, and other sentiments shared with members of our family throughout this past year. It bears witness to a considerable network of relationships - an effective sphere of influence they maintained in ways which otherwise I would have only marginally comprehended - though certainly I would hear about some recent challenges or some "adventure" whenever we visited! Usually there was just so much "going on" I couldn't even keep track of it all - nor did I feel I needed to, since I was busy and fulfilled in my own pursuits. But I learned a lot - and didn't all of us who knew them well? They both, especially Dad, with his pioneer spirit continued to model lifelong learning, probing, exploring, and then teaching what he learned.

So enjoy - feel free to make a comment - or share your own story in connection with any item that strikes your fancy - and keep checking back from time to time to discover what's new. (However, if you want to respond but would rather keep your piece out of this public arena, simply send your own message or reflection directly to me at: Clair.Hochstetler@gmail.com

This was the last "official" photo of Dean, taken during the summer of 2006 for the new pictorial directory of the Yellow Creek Mennonite Church, just a couple of months after my mother Edna's death and a few months before his own. It is somewhat revealing of the state of his health amidst a resolute and accepting approach to his own imminent demise. Some may think Dean is frowning here, but he's actually not - he's just being his serene, natural self at a time when he was not well. (Although personally, I wish he would have made more of an effort on that particular occasion to offer his well-known smile!)

Why did he die? On Father's Day he told his sons he was not likely to see the next Christmas. His cardiologist has just informed him that his body was no longer responding very well to the fine balancing act his physicians had been able to help him manage, thus far, while dealing with congestive heart failure for about ten years. We all knew that irreversible renal failure was about to set in - and that dialysis was not an option. His last years were a sheer bonus, in his mind and ours - dad always thought he would die before our mother Edna did. He was fully prepared - and preparing us, as well.

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AN ACROSTIC: DEAN LAMAR HOCHSTETLER

(composed by Miriam Hochstetler, Dean's sister, on May 17, 2001)

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D- Deliverance ministry

E – Enjoys reading

A – Ability to reason well

N – Notices discrepancies exceptionally well

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L – Loved Edna Swartzentruber and married her

A – Advanced well academically

M – Mechanically gifted

A – Aspires to uphold Christian principles

R – Ran a welding shop for years

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H – Handles problems realistically

O – Occasionally travels and gives seminars

C – Cares about people’s problems

H – Hopeful, honest, and helpful

S – Sailed on a cattle boat to Greece

T – Thankful for salvation

E – Entertains people with jokes and stories

T – Tells it like it is

L – Likes to keep busy

E – Enjoys classical music and operas

R – Repairman

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Links -- to other important sites throughout this collection:

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For and "expanded" version of the obituary Katie Cunningham shared during Dean's memorial service on Nov. 5, click on this.

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In May 2001 my father wrote a short autobiography to document significant recollections - like "snapshots" from various points along the continuum of his entire life. Thus he would refer to this paper, tongue in cheek, as his "Epistle General !"

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In March 2003 he wrote up an account of his spiritual journey which he entitled "In Pursuit Of Truth - My Journey Into Deliverance Ministry."

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For information regarding obtaining your own copy of the book dedicated to Dean (it also contains his own chapter - including a short autobiography) entitled: "Even the Demons Submit - Continuing Jesus' Ministry of Deliverance" please check out the last paragraph of Harold Bauman's posting here.

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A Pastor's Friend is a specialized counseling and support ministry by Ben Snyder of New Paris, Indiana, whom Dad mentored over the last decade as one of the persons to succeed him in this type of work. Ben was bequeathed Dad's complete and very unique library. He and his wife Angela have an office set up in their home and devote full-time to this ministry. Ben also coordinates an ecumenical Saturday morning monthly education and support ministry for those wishing to learn how to become more effective in congregation-based spiritual deliverance. This group utilizes the facilities at Yellow Creek Mennonite Church, where my father and mother were involved prior to their deaths.

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(Update: October 13, 2007)

Tom Lehman has been posting slides on Flickr originally taken by Mennonites serving in Puerto Rico, primarily in the late 1940's and early 1950's. That group included my father, who was still single at the time and working in La Plata, near Aibonito and the surrounding area for over two years as a maintenance man with the medical facilities. He learned Spanish fluently there and kept it going all his life. (Read a bit more about those experiences in a section of his own autobiography entitled "Life After Highschool.")

Here is a link to most of Dad's unretouched slide collection from those days, which Tom Lehman says (though Dean was an amateur) certainly demonstrated his keen eye for composition and confirmes that he had a good camera for those times, plus understood the value of taking the shots with Kodachrome film.

Verle and I uncovered these in a special slide storage box, perfectly preserved and I decided to salvaged them from being thrown out during the sorting we did to get ready for the estate auction last spring -- having little idea at the time of the impact and importance they would soon have.

Tom says its one of the best and most extensive sets that existed in the whole project he's doing, which is enthralling numerous current residents of Puerto Rico, as they see these photos of their environment 50 to 60 years ago get posted online.

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(Latest update:  November 24, 2010)

Here's a fresh batch of compiled memories and reflections surrounding my father's young adult experiences (from Nov 1950 through Nov 1952) when serving the people in LaPlata, Puerto Rico.  A small excerpt from this will appear in Tom Lehman's new book of photos: Puerto Rico Remembered.


Tom's extensive collection keeps growing as he locates the stored photos of a number of photographers from among Mennonite service workers on the island during that era, including a great batch of selected photos taken by my father.  His personal collection can be viewed here in full.  Tom's book is slated to come out in July 2011.

-Clair

FOCUSING ON "THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER"

(Warning, this reflection piece is long, but it's my process of the last 30 hours and what is ahead - an intense time, indeed.)

I've arrived home several hours ago from a day away from the hospital, but involved with family and friends at my deceased parents' final estate sale and what it represents - the end of an era. My mother Edna died last April 25, and then my father Dean died October 30. I and my siblings and our family members had plenty of opportunity to obtain the special items we wanted to keep beforehand. That was handled quite fairly and equitably among us all in recent times, but it was hard to see the rest of the stuff just flitter away today into the rest of the community and other parts unknown - most of it at ridiculously low prices, of course! It was a multi-estate sale with stuff from three other families - all being sold in two simultaneous rings at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds.

The conversations were good though, and there were some memorable moments as well, watching who bought what to keep as symbols of their relationship with my mother or my father. For example, I had a great time getting to know a couple living in California who bought a number of things, including Dad's 1769 huge leather-bound Swiss German Bible still in pretty good condition and the old book on the sinking of the Titanic, and a great big box full of old Farm and Home Journals dating back to the 1910's and 1920's -- items which we'd left in the auction to help attract people there. I got to share some of the history behind the various items he and his wife had picked up. He got the Bible for $175 -- for his 87 year old mother who spent her life as a translator (knows a dozen languages and taught herself Hebrew and Greek) and still spends a chunk of each day reading the Bible in German.

Well, its just another significant milestone along the way in my ongoing grieving process.

The first thing I read when I got home earlier this evening was an email from Richard Yoder, one of our supportive and concerned volunteer on-call chaplains at Goshen General. He was asking if I still need someone to take call while I go to D.C. this Friday and Saturday. (Background: I'll be helping to drive a min-bus filled with Goshen College students and some other community members in a caravan to the National Cathedral in Washington to attend a special worship service and vigil marking the fourth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq. (By the way, if any readers here are involved locally in conjunction with that major ecumenical event this Friday evening, are you aware of this resource?)

Anyway, here's the essence of my reply to Richard (which I copied the rest of the chaplain team)
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Yes I do, Richard. Friday night is covered but I still need help during the day Friday, or Saturday if that would suit you better. But also on Sunday - since I'll be doing a major funeral that day - due to the accidental drug overdose of the son of a much loved and respected ICU nurse; he lived at home with his family here in Goshen.

This young man's father called me from New Hampshire while on a business trip, just a few minutes after his wife (the ICU nurse, at home) was informed by the police about their son's death. He was found at the home of a couple of acquaintances from work. Though a very bright young man, he had, by all accounts, a very boring job at an automotive parts factory, but it's what he chose to do right now. These co-workers whom he barely knew invited him there after completed their third shift together, and he had apparently used their bathroom to "shoot up" - apparently thinking this was a "safe" place away from home where his actions wouldn't be discovered. Something went terribly wrong and he was discovered about 2 pm yesterday, out cold forever.

His parents are committed believers in the Christian faith, but have been in transition and "shopping around" for a church, thus do not have a good local connection yet to a pastor or a local community of faith. I spent quite a bit of time with that devastated mother and and this young man's traumatized girlfriend yesterday afternoon and evening, waiting for dad to catch a plane home from New England. They had no clue he had decided to use again, but had been through quite the ordeal with him in recent years. Later, in the evening, I helped the rest of the ICU staff on duty process this extremely difficult news from a beloved hurting colleague. They hurt for her deeply, as well, for they knew how much she had invested in her son and his recovery efforts - she had been very open with them about all this. This young man, now 22, had enlisted in the National Guard, over and above the objections of his parents, as an 18 year old, and sure enough - was sent to Iraq. The military offered virtually no follow-up debriefing nor counseling to him and his colleagues who returned home from that experience. He came back, having survived the war there, but with memories and issues he could barely speak about - likely afflicted by PTSD, but never diagnosed, then sunk into drug addiction to bury his pain while becoming a student at Purdue University. An earlier overdose there put him in the ICU at Lafayette for quite a while, then he came home, got involved with Narcotics Anonymous (his parents with Al Anon) as he finally "came clean" over many months - and then this.

Absolutely devastating. Such a huge waste of talent. He didn't get killed in the war there, but the one here got him.

His mother and father are not trying to find ways to put responsibility on others for what their son chose to do - they really do understand addictions and did an amazing job with the "tough love" and all that - but at the same time they are very, very angry at what has happened to him and his friends by being caught up in this war -- being ground up and spit out like they were - much more than an 18 year old should have to handle.

Ironic, that yesterday at about the same time he was discovered dead, this report was released and is a "top story" in the news today.

But I think the actual numbers they quote there are way too low because this is a study of the mental health issues of soldiers returning from Iraq was only among those actually being cared for specifically by the VA, and this young man was denied any help by the military. His mother told me she knows there are tons more just like her son.

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After examining my calendar for the rest of the week, I took some time to reflect for a couple of hours on what I've been experiencing lately, and to prepare myself for what will likely unfold as a very challenging/interesting/memorable week:

If you read this far, you already know that besides supporting this particular family as much as my schedule will allow, and preparing for the funeral on Sunday (it will likely be a big one and somewhat difficult to prepare for) I am already committed to that quick but important journey to Washington DC Friday, returning back to Indiana by 1 am early Sunday morning. By the way, I shared with that grieving mother, my dear ICU nurse friend, just why I am going to Washington DC and a bit about the nature of that event, because it was potentially going to effect on the timing of the funeral. But her response was heartening to me -- she said she is VERY glad I'm going and would not want me to miss it for anything. Now I'm going to be there on that young dead soldier's behalf, as well, representing his whole family.

At 7 am on Thursday, however, I'll be sitting down with our hospital's Ethics Committee when we will, among other things, be reviewing a proposed first draft of our policy for dealing with the ethical issues likely involved in a Flu Pandemic -- which are going to be overwhelming and inevitable if THAT ever comes around!

I'm also involved in an ongoing way with our (ecumenical) Goshen Ministerial Association, which meets monthly. Sure enough, our next one is this Thursday noon, the third session of a special series focusing on the immigration issue and discussing the plight of many of our local people directly affected by the attitudes and approaches of various business and government practices. We are, as pastoral leaders, in the process of getting better acquainted and developing deeper sustaining relationships between the Anglo and the Latino/Hispanic pastors which were heretofore virtually separate groups. And we are discussing various viewpoints on necessary reforms. But this time, in particular, we plan to focus on appropriate pastoral responses, as a community of faith, to the ICE raid in our area last week - and all the attendant vibrations set off in the immigrant community and among the rest of us trying to figure out the best way to be supportive, yet also constructive while calling for systemic legislative changes that make better sense.

I guess it's all part of what it means to be a hospital chaplain in a small town dealing with things that really matter in people's lives. I was thinking again this evening about how distinctively different many aspects of my life are from the way my parents lived theirs, yet undergirding it all are a lot of the same values. When it comes right down to it, I'm just a chip off the old block - finding joy in serving others - and dealing with issues that really matter. There is a deep joy and sense of fulfillment in doing that - and I can't think of a better way to honor them.

I read this piece to Carole Anne before sending it off, to gaining her comments and perspective. She thinks I need to send this it to various family members, as well as certain other friends - and I'm indeed grateful she is so supportive of these endeavors on my part.

For those of you taking in this message, who know and care about what is happening in my life - and Carole Anne's - know that I deeply value and acknowledge the importance of relationship, your support, and especially your prayers. Please pray that I will be able to maintain a warm heart, a sharp mind, an open hand, and a receptive spirit to all that God is asking me to do - and not do, as well!

All the best,
Clair Hochstetler

A physical "attack" and release - my own story from the evening of 11/26/06

I have a little personal story to share about what happened to me last evening, with a special request - at the end:

For several days now, I have been been going through the progessive stages of a head cold that is "going around" - but with some extra features - like stuff coming from ones eyes, too. Quite the insidious virus and takes longer to get over. Some have been down from anywhere from a week to two weeks to get through it. I usually can resist these things - I take immune boosters and besides - I work in a hospital, which means longer term exposure to things, with resulting higher resistances, and the good habits of constantly washing hands (Universal Health Precautions!) Anyway, I got this thing, possibly from my wife who is several days ahead of me in the process -- and she has it a whole lot worse than I hope to ever be, with that green gunk coming up from her respiratory system. So...we've been suffering through the Thanksgiving holiday together. But yesterday (Sunday) I suffered an intense physical attack -- all evening long -- with symptoms that were "something else!"

During the afternoon I had been studying a certain curriculum and related scriptures on the theme of Healing Prayer - some very powerful and excellent teaching material which includes deliverance ministry - originating from Francis and Judith McNutt. It was loaned to me by one of my volunteer chaplains who is in the middle of this course a group at her church is going through here in Goshen (St. Mark's United Methodist.)

You may have heard of the NcNutts. They are Episcopalians themselves, but interdenominational in scope - whom my father often talked about and had connections. "Christian Healing Ministries" based in Jacksonville Florida is the name of their organization and their team includes several with doctoral degrees in their various professions of medicine, psychiatry, nursing, pastoral care, etc. They have developed this excellent team-taught course which I was carefully examining and reflecting on whether I could adapt it somehow into training I provide here at the hospital. This curriculum has three levels, with 13 sessions each, including DVDs that go along with the workbook and group process instruction -- quite solid, powerful teaching, in my view, and I really enjoyed spending some time with it this weekend while being home -- a good thing to do to get one's mind off of being sick!

Anyway, at the point late in the afternoon yesterday when I had just finished reading through their workbook for Level 2 (as I said, they have three levels), I made a decision -- and I guess I had to bear some personal consequences right away - which in retrospect only confirms to me that the decision was right! Allow me to "unpack" it more for you:

I was reflecting on these themes of healing prayer, and its implications for hospital and congregational ministry in our community, and made a strong inner decision - that this sort of training and content should be at the heart of what we are all about regarding training and the future of the chaplaincy program here at our hospital. I had a very strong inner certainty, an intuitive feeling about this being very challenging but the "right way" to go in the future, to enable our chaplain ministry team to become even more effective. I also decided that I would get in touch with the McNutts very soon to explore with them how to best incorporate some of this into the training with volunteer chaplains in a hospital setting - or find out if they had ever utilized this training in a community-based non-sectarian context like ours.

It was time to go to church (our congregation meets at 5 PM on Sundays) so I didn't call or write just then. (But I thought that likely my cold was far enough along - out of the contagious stage - that I could safely go to worship.) Besides, I could use the prayer and other good things that come from gathering. However, almost immediately after some of these these thoughts and decisions were going through my brain, some unusually strong physical symptoms set in that didn't quite fit with the "norm" for me when having a head cold (and which I was already in progress for a few days.)

(A little background: For me, it is usually it is about two days BEFORE a head cold sets in that I get one of those sinus "eyeball" headaches as a little signal that all is not right. And so I've successfully staved off many a cold by taking some special immune boosters, etc, when that comes along, that I get from our hospital's cancer center doctors. But this last time I got one anyway.)

Here now, three days into this cold I was suddenly getting a VERY intense sinus headache on both sides of my temples and behind my eyeballs like a vise being clamped down on my head -- intensity like I never had before. There was no way I could go to worship. I could not concentrate on anything, couldn't read or type (as I found when trying to distract myself by doing those things.) I took another dose of Alkaseltzer Cold Plus to make me sleepy, which it usually does - my personal first choice to deal with head cold symptoms, once I've got it. NO change after waiting a while. Then I decided, on top of all that, to take double strength sinus headache pills which were designed to counteract this, specifically. They had worked well a couple of weeks ago, within about 15 minutes. I waited a half hour for it to kick in, but it didn't - then another half hour. NO change. Then I took a shot of Nyquil (the combo of all this should knocked me right into sound sleep - early!) NO change after an hour.

Carole Anne then tried laying me down with a bag of frozen veggies on my head, wrapped in a hand towel. NO difference. So we tried the hot stuff: we microwaved a cloth bag full of herbs. No relief from this eyeball headache whatsoever, only getting worse. So after some prayer, trying to cover all the bases to address any demonic activity that might be behind all this, I was still was feeling very vulnerable and "oppressed" indeed.

I then, finally, in spite of everything I'd done already over the last couple of hours, and waiting awhile from fear of an "OD" - I took one of my wife's left over Vicodin (a powerful pain-reliever which I am very sensitive too, so I hardly ever do that, or need to, for that matter.) With that Carole Anne expected me to go to sleep soundly, and assured me of that, as it deals specifically with generalized pain and usually would "knock me out."

After another whole hour there was no change whatsever, only this "vice grip" on my head getting even MORE intense - unbelievable! I did not feel frantic, just in misery, sort of slowly writhing on the bed. But I was very aware that Carole Anne was getting fearful. She wanted to take me to the emergency room, thinking I might have manifestations of a brain tumor or something that was physically invading my head.

I said "No, first I need to call Delora or Ben." (By then, however it was 10:15 PM.)

However, at the very moment that I made the decision to call (but to call Delora Reinhardt first, since I figured it would make less distubance, in her family mileau) I immediately (within seconds) got a new, very nauseus feeling, and had to go to the bathroom to wretch a while. (Vicodin will do that to a person after about an hour, if one has an empty stomach, but I had eaten a little something, because of that issue.) However, nothing would come up - it's the first time that has ever happened in my life. I absolutely hate that feeling and can't even remember the last time I had to throw up -- it's probably been at least several years. So now I couldn't even call, but was convinced of what was wrong. I needed help--and fast.

I motioned for Carole Anne to call Delora. She took the phone and explained to Delora all that had happened, how this all got started, what I had taken, etc. (Delora is a professional nurse - in fact, a hospital supervisory nurse.) I kept my head down on my arms at the kitchen table. I was in abject misery. I felt very vulnerable - couldn't even pray effectively for myself.

Delora prayed with me over the phone - she addressed the spirit realm in case that was involved - and afterward talked with me for just a bit. I started feeling my energy come back - even while still on the phone the pain starting to receed - and within ten or 15 minutes after hanging up started feeling very sleepy. By the time I hit the bed my intense pain was almost gone. I slept through from 11 PM until about 4 am when I got up once to go to the bathroom - and realized how good I felt - that my pain was gone completely. I then went back to sleep right away and slept soundly again from then until 8:30 am.

Today, I'm still on the waning side of this head cold virus going around - but nothing resembling last night, thank God! I'm back at my office today, with a low hoarse voice, not having to blowing my nose very much and not coughing much anymore, either. I felt a GREAT deal better today, and can finally get some things done.

But I learned something profound last night. I'm vulnerable in ways I didn't realize before. Dad is gone. It could be why. His presence and constant prayers for us likely provided a protective shield that I realize now I probably only "took for granted."

My wife and I have both gotten behind on several things due to this sickness going around. I've been thinking about my aunt Miriam's who did all of Dad's typing and learned alongside of him about most of his "cases", facilitating most of the documentation side of his ministry. She is quite weak now, can't even walk upstairs, and has been suffering heart problems with arythmia, which does not go back into normal pattern, and which started as my dad was actively dying. Aunt Miriam couldn't even make it to our family's Thanksgiving gathering. She may have to face ablation therapy.

When I had my own episode like this, it reminded me just how vulnerable our family really is during this phase now that Dad is gone. Barb Tapley talked with Miriam and Mary Ellen, my two aunts, about just that and said she would come over to pray with Miriam once she comes back from Nepal. But I think our whole family could stand to be put on the prayer list of everyone who understands these dynamics, and Miriam specifically, for her healing and protection. Her problems may be totally physical, like most of Dad's were. There is the genetic factor to consider. But the timing of their manifestation really makes me wonder.

It was the timing of these manifestations last evening for me that made the problem obvious.

And I thank Delora (who got a copy of this) for her own healing prayers for me last evening, and for invoking the power and healing of Doctor Jesus in my life and being. What a remarkable relief I received - and I praise God now for this experience!

Clair

My interesting exchange today with "Brother Freddie" from Italy...

On 14/11/06, Freddie <fratefederico@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi there,
I feel so touched, there's always a big intensity in the words of a man who's trying to say his most inner life...thank you so much for your words.

God bless you,
Pace e Bene
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On 11/14/06, Clair Hochstetler <clair.hochstetler@gmail.com> responded to Freddie:

Tell me more about yourself. How have I met you, or do you know only my father, and not me, yet? - Clair
================

14/11/06

Hi Clair

We've never met, I simply read your blog and I found it really touching, I did like it!

I'm an Italian Franciscan friar (Friar Minor) living near Rome and studying Theology. As far as I've understood your dad should have been a great person.

I think I appreciated what you've written because I talk, or better listen, to many youths and most of them appear to have been deeply influenced by their relationship with their dads. I'm also doing a course as Emotional psychotherapist and I've seen many cases of young and less-young people who carry with them unresolved problems that have their roots in their relationships with the parents.

I'm not a dad, but I do think it's one of the most challenging, difficult but most rewarding "job".

Take care and God Bless you,
Pace e Bene
Br. Freddie

Fr. Federico Gandolfi
conv. San Bonaventura
Via San Francesco, 3
00044 - Frascati (RM)
Tel. +39 06 940 18 093
Fax. +39 06 942 98 103

===================
(On 11/14/06 at 10:45 AM)
Br. Freddie:

I feel honored that you read of all this at my website. I did not expect someone from Italy to stumble onto this, but that's great! I have only been to Italy twice in my life, back in my twenties, and I'm 53 now, but look forward to visiting again.

Yes, this project has helped me very much - in dealing with my grief and finding a way to move forward after losing both of my parents in six months time.

I have been here as a counselor and chaplain at a community hospital (here in northern Indiana -- only about 25 miles from Notre Dame University, which I'm sure you also know about) for about nine years. I am currently also, as part of my work, coordinating a weekly bereavement/grief group, which was starting just as my father died, so that is both a good thing and a challenge, indeed!

Blessings on you brother,
Clair Hochstetler

Harold Bauman reflecting on the many paradoxes in Dean's life...

Here are some poignant remarks shared during my father's memorial service (on 11-5-06 at the Yellow Creek Mennonite Church) by long-time friend, Harold Bauman, along with further information, at the end, about how to obtain the book he alluded to in those remarks. -Clair

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How does one explain Dean Hochstetler -- a man of many paradoxes?

1. Provincial community and world citizen. He was raised in a Mennonite home in a community with large Amish population in which he saw the occult and its consequences. However, he traveled to 40 plus countries at the invitation of church leaders and missionaries to teach in regard to deliverance ministry and to do it.

2. Limited formal education yet well-educated. His formal education ended at high school graduation. He had three siblings who did college and graduate work. Dean read theology, therapists’ writings and writing by psychiatrists and deliverance ministers. Dean was self-educated with a library of more than a 1000 books which will go to a deliverance minister. Dean commented to me on more than one occasion that he thought if he had a degree after his name he would have been listened to more.

3. He was a pioneer in deliverance ministry in his own denomination who received more invitations from seminaries and pastors’ groups from other denominations than from his own. His determination to do what he saw God calling him to do and the people he was equipping and setting free in the face of criticism kept him at his work. Those were hard days. More than once he raised the question with me whether we should stay within the Mennonite framework. Regardless, he had a vision to train people to do deliverance work who would carry on after he was no long able to do it. Eight days before his death he invited the first class to his home and, reading of Elijah giving his mantle to Elisha, he transferred his ministry to Delora Reinhardt, a very effective leader of a deliverance ministry team in this congregation. That evening in a more family focused group he transferred his mantle to Ben and Angela Snyder, also of this congregation. A number of other persons have been trained and are doing deliverance ministry work. How thankful I am that he had the vision to train others and acted upon it. He carried a deep concern that our seminaries train pastors to understand spiritual warfare, to know and discern the occult and the schemes of Satan, and when gifted and trained to do deliverance ministry.

I believe that God worked through Dean in a way that Paul wrote to the Corinthians, as paraphrased by Peterson, “Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”? To all of his critics Dean could have said, “I like the way God is using me to set men and women free better than the way you are not doing it.”

4. For the record, let me add a fourth paradox: the public ministry and the private ministry. In public ministry his large stature and strong voice could easily convey that he was dogmatic and unsympathetic. In his private deliverance ministry he was gentle and empathetic, moving only as fast as the person was ready to move. Truly, his bark was much worse than his bite!

I thank God for Dean’s and Edna’s lives and ministries that have directly and indirectly blessed thousands of people. I am very grateful that in the consultation on “Hard Cases” at the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries in April 2004 that Dean’s ministry was validated. The book growing out of that consultation contains much of Dean’s guidance for doing deliverance ministry and the diagnostic instrument he developed: Even the Demons Submit - Continuing Jesus' Ministry of Deliverance is dedicated to Dean.

Harold Bauman 11-05-06

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Here is how to obtain this new book:

Even the Demons Submit: Continuing Jesus' Ministry of Deliverance is available from the publisher, Institute of Mennonite Studies, Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, 3003 Benham Ave, Elkhart, IN 46517; e-mail: ims@ambs.edu or phone 574-296-6239. The price per copy is $15.95. Note: A 20% discount is available from the IMS office for quantities of five or more to the same address. Shipping and handling for books purchased from IMS is $3 for the first copy (to a US address), and $1 for each additional copy. Mennonite Cooperative Bookstore on the AMBS campus also has individual copies for sale.

Click here for detailed information about this book, including endorsements.

It can also be purchased here from the co-publisher: Herald Press, 616 Walnut Avenue, Scottdale, PA 15683 or phone: 1-800-245-78940.

When you stand before Jesus of Nazareth, your resume is going to include scores and hundreds of names of people whose lives were changed by the...

Dear Lawrence,

I usually simply delete email that gets caught in my "spam" folder, where I found this very classy letter from you "after the fact" of his death. Something told me to scan that folder first this morning, before deleting the 240 messages collected in there over time. So glad I did check out that list - it was the only one I saved, but what a keeper! (And I imagine my father knew about your wonderful sentiments and intentions long before I did.)

I continue to add things to the website I set up at http://deanhochstetler.blogspot.com and this, along with several other messages that came in over the weekend, will be posted there now, as well.

Clair
==============

On 10/23/06, Lawrence E. Burkholder of Ontario, wrote:

Dear Dean,

Clair invited us to send you any final messages and so here is my word to you. I want to say first that you have been a tremendous influence and help over the last ten years as I have struggled with the ministry of deliverance and its theological setting. You have unstintingly sent me many, many papers and meterials, some of which I directly reference in my writing and others which simply primed my pump. In our personal meetings, you treated me collegially even though you are the one with the far greater hands-on experience. I
am sorry that you won't be here for the launch of my book (whenever that is!) but a part of you is certainly in it.

I don't know, Dean, how much you actually know about me. I suffered kidney failure in 1987 after a long deterioration. There were 26 months of self-dialysis and then in November, 1989, a kidney transplant was performed which has been functioning ever since. As I read Clair's story of how you have transferred leadership responsibilities and have a deep sense of complete fulfillment of your life's mission, I found myself thinking how great God's grace for me would be to be taken in similar fashion. What a blessing of Almighty
God to reach the end and know that you have won the race! Not bad for a farm [equipment] welder.

Dean, they say we can't take anything with us when we leave this world. This isn't true. We take with us our inheritance built up over the years of faithful service to God. When you stand before Jesus of Nazareth, your resume is going to include scores and hundreds of names of people whose lives were changed by the touch of Jesus' hand through you. Praise be to God!

I'll be seeing you one of these days.

Lawrence E. Burkholder

Counselor/friend: I said I would call Dean and arrange an appointment. As I reached for the phone, a spirit manifested and left the man voluntarily!

Ray Keim, retired Mennonite counselor/pastor sent this interesting comment...

Dear Clair:

I wish to add an incident that happened while I was counseling in Kokomo in the early 90's. A client said he had been delivered from a number of spirits, but wasn't sure they were all gone. I said I would call Dean Hostetler and arrange an appointment. As I reached for the phone, a spirit manifested and left the man voluntarily!

Ray

We have appreciated so much Dean's ministry among us. He has helped open our eyes to spiritual warfare which is a "given" among Italian believers.

Dear Clair,

We just received word of your father's home-going and would like to share a few of our memories of him with you and your family. We were missionaries in Italy for 15 years with VMBM ('82-'97). We encountered much occult activity there and on one of our furloughs came to a week-end seminar in Indiana that included teaching and a deliverance session. The hospitality of your parents was wonderful, and the input we received was helpful.

We invited Dean to come to Sicily to help us and provide teaching for the believers there. We had an excellent time of ministry and teaching with our little congregation. There are two experiences I will never forget. After one of our sessions, one of the ladies came to Dean, she said she had experienced disturbances during the meeting, and asked for help.

We as a pastor couple, along with some family members met with Dean after the meeting, forming a circle of prayer around her, and we translated between Italian and English. At one point Dean began to command the spirits to leave in German. The lady began to fire back in an unknown language. For several minutes, this fiery conversation went back and forth between the two of them, him in German and her in another tongue. We sat there looking from one to the other, not understanding either one of them, but praying for both. And then Ina (lady) fell to the floor, prostrate, weeping uncontrollably. Something had been broken and she was free.

After she regained her strength and calmed down, we asked her what in the world she was saying. She said "I didn't know what the exact words meant, but I knew I was pleading for mercy." She became a new and changed person who had a ministry in the new congregation. Then months later Ina's deaf ear opened on the very day that Virginia Mennonite Conference had her name on their prayer calendar.

Another funny situation happened when a young adult girl came for counseling. She was upset because her mother, a very controlling person, wanted all of her paycheck and asked what she should do. Through translation, Dean said "Why don't you move out and get your own apartment." Floyd translated this, and the girl almost flipped out. She could never do that! Culturally, that would've been like saying, "Go get an apartment on the moon!" We have laughed about that, because we missionaries know what it means to have cross cultural experiences of this kind.

We have appreciated so much Dean's ministry among us. He has helped open our eyes to spiritual warfare which is a "given" among Italian believers. I have also had to deal with bondage in my own family as well. Dean's confidence and trust in an Almighty and Powerful God has been an inspiration to us.

Floyd and Janet Blosser
Harrisonburg, VA
FJBlosser@adelphia.net

From Dr. Wesley Duewel, OMS International President Emeritus: "It was my joy to know Dean as my brother, fellow prayer-partner, humble fellow soldier

Wesley Duewel said (in the comments section)...

Thank God that Dean Hochstetler is now rejoicing in heaven. God used Brother Dean to the rejoicing of His children while here on earth, and to the consternation of the demons from hell. It was my joy to know Dean as my brother, fellow prayer-partner, and humble fellow soldier in the army of the Lord. May God raise up other prayer-warriors to take his place.

All for Jesus,
Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
President Emeritus
OMS International

Reflecting on what this project means to me -- dealing with the process of "letting go"

One of the reasons I set up this website was to help me prepare to "let go" of my father, Dean Hochstetler, as he neared his death in late October. I was experiencing what those of us who work professionally with bereavement issues would call a case of "anticipatory" grief. There was no way around it, and it had become somewhat familiar territory recently -- I had lost my mother when she died from cancer only six months prior.

Yet, the father-son relationship is unique. As most sons losing their father might feel during such a time as this, I found myself in a state of reflection and life review, assessing how my father - either directly or indirectly - significantly impacted my self-identity, values, theology, patterns of conflict management, choices regarding vocational pursuits, and many other aspects of my life. I could trace some very significant twists and turns in my own unfolding story, as well as in his. He was a force to be reckoned with, all my life, and it was not always very easy for me or my three brothers, either, for that matter. But there was a lot that I appreciated, as well. My father, who (in the words of one retired seminary professor) was "the dean of the Mennonite exorcists and maybe the only one" led a life filled with paradox in many ways, and thus, so was mine.

All this took me back in my mind to a very deep level of self-examination, counseling, and critical analysis during my hospital residency in Clinical Pastoral Education in Kalamazoo, Michigan 1995-96. This was a time of major crisis - when my first marriage of 14 years was falling apart. But this also laid the foundations for a very fruitful turning point in my life. By this point ten years later, I had also come to perceive a certain circular dimension to this journey I was on. I had long recognized, and appreciated, some common themes which characterized my relationship with Dad and approach to life. I had firsthand experience observing the trajectory of his own evolution, how his personality mellowed out, the hard edges rubbed off - some now called him the "gentle giant." All this was fertile ground for reflection - especially as I deliberately carved out some space, and slowed down my pace of life in order to spend some time ruminating on the meaning of it all.

At the same time, some of my friends who expressed care and concern for what was going on certainly knew me, but had no experience of my father, no family "context." I wanted to enable some of them to better comprehend how this experience was affecting me and the rest of my family.

In addition, I was acutely aware of the major impact my father had on so many other people in our community, around the nation, and the world - and I knew these widely scattered friends would also want to know what was going on with him. My mother Edna had died so she could not tell them or send out email anymore. One brother was very busy with his family issues in North Carolina and my other brother was extremely preoccupied as Dad's primary care giver (alongside my father's sister, a retired RN) and was basically providing assisted living in Dad's own home. Another brother had died in 1997.

So...I felt very challenged to somehow "get it all together." For pete's sake, I'm a well-trained hospital chaplain -- I should know how to do this! Part of what I specialize in is helping others deal with all this sort of agenda: Intuitively, I knew it was in my best interests to make the most of this important time, to face my resistances in "the process" of letting go, to go deep and deal with any "unresolved issues," and share the things that really matter - so there would be no regrets later. In short, I knew I had to get on with what I encourage others to do at such a time as this, as hard as it may be.

However, and this is a significant point, it's one thing to do this professionally - and quite another to do this personally. I remembered the psychic and spiritual energy expended going through this process when my mother was dying - the results that were actually quite rewarding. But my relationship with my father was very complex and different than the one I had with mother, there was a lot more "agenda" and I wondered if I had it in me...

I had finally started with some postponed interviews with Dad using my DVD camcorder, something I knew I "should do" for the sake of posterity, my grandchildren, etc. But he was somewhat resistant doing very much of that because he had grown very "tired" by this time. Dad referred me to some things he'd already written, or tapes that had been made - plenty of material to be researched later on, he said. However, I knew he always loved telling stories, and in fact, after we started in, it sort of energized him for the rest of the day. We were both relaxed and at ease. I'll never regret doing that, as I did pull out some great stories, but realized in the process that what was even more important was to deal with my own - and how his story impacted mine.

So, after exercising sufficient courage and carving out the aformentioned space and time, I composed my thoughts, and wrote -- surprised and shocked at times by the amount of tears streaming down my face. I spent some time one-on-one with my Dad again on Tuesday evening (October 24) and invited his responses. Though he was already growing weak and laying down already, tired out from a "long day," he was still alert and listening well. Dad expressed that he was completely ready to "let go" and felt very much at ease about things, and about us. He had dealt completely with all his "unfinished business" - turned over the reins in every aspect, but I was still barely getting to where I needed to be. I think he knew this process was important for me - to deal with what was happening, as a whole generation was phasing out, and the next one just now really coming into its own.

I needed to express how much I appreciated what he had given me - both a nest, such as it was, and wings to soar. He had, by the life he modeled, given me courage to explore some uncharted waters, just as he did in his own way. I was able to tell him, once again, that I truly loved him and appreciated his spiritual strength as I described the impact he had on my own life (even in the midst of very strong memories about all the very good, the bad, and the ugly which we both knew about and had gotten beyond.) It was a powerful moment -- and I was finally completely free to "release" him. What a gift that was - almost a week before he actually left us! Dad even said it was OK to share in this venue the piece I'd written. And that, my friends, is what started this blog - powered by a moment of GRACE.

The power of that exercise I undertook, helped me encourage others to vicariously experience a little bit of the same - to submit written messages we could relay to my father while he could still appreciate them. And enjoy them he did during the week before his death - along with some phone calls that flowed from long-time friends as a result. It blessed the family so much, as well, to read these messages that he received. You will find some of them in the October archive, as well - the ones for which I had permission to share publicly in this venue.

My father, Dean Hochstetler, was not a proud man, or an egotist. He was actually the opposite. When he discovered resistances, he did not imagine himself as the healer, he patiently kept pointing people to "Christ As Victor." While he was indeed a force to be reckoned with, he taught me, and many others, so much about empowering others. My hope is this blog will honor that legacy of transformation, healing, and hope for a full-filled life. Life rooted in honest self-assessment, redirected to appropriate the power of the One whose own life, death and resurrection can and does deliver us from all sorts of evil -- and sets us on a journey towards peace and wholeness.

Creating and managing this project has been extremely fulfilling and therapeutic - a way for me to privately grieve in anticipation of his death, and to publicly mourn and celebrate his life - both before and after his "graduation." Now, after his death on October 30, 2006, and the memorial service yesterday (Nov. 5) it is my hope this site will continue to function as a good place for family members, friends, and acquaintances around the world to post their own perspectives on my father's unique (some say "extraordinary") life - to document special memories, stories about how he made a difference in their lives.

As blogs like this go, if you want to read chronologically, start at the bottom and work up! (Other than his photo and obituary, the latest submissions are posted first.) Keep checking back, because a video copy of his memorial service (an extraordinary experience in itself - hardly possible to convey in words just yet) will be converted to digital format and made accessible here by mid-November. As time and opportunity allow, I hope to include some of my father's own autobiographical writings.

This might eventually become a book -- readers and contributors here could have an influence in how that takes shape! So, please don't be afraid to share your own thoughts, if you knew him as your family member, your neighbor, your welder, your friend, your teacher, or your spiritual counselor - in whatever capacity. No statement is too small to include. No respondent too "ordinary." No need to be flowery - just heartfelt.

For those who have never tried posting on a "blog" before, there are three easy ways for you to add something here:

1) you may click immediately under the line below this - on the "(#) Comments" hyperlink - with your mouse and start composing in the box on the page that comes up. I will then be alerted and transfer your piece to the main blog -
or...

2) you can click on any "comments" link below anyone else's posting, if you want to leave a comment regarding that person's specific remarks - it will remain in the comments section -
or...

3) you can send your thoughts directly to my email address at: Clair.Hochstetler@gmail.com

Clair Hochstetler

Dean Hochstetler's Memorial Service Obituary - as edited and read by Pastor Katie Cunningham, Yellow Creek Mennonite Church

Dean L. Hochstetler was born on October 6, 1928 in Marshall County, Indiana to William and Mary (Maust) Hochstetler. He was the second son born to William and Mary with two sisters and a younger brother to follow him. Dean's family attended North Main Street Mennonite Church where he was baptized on March 14, 1943 at age 14 along with his sister Mary Ellen. Dean graduated from Bremen High School in 1947, then served in La Plata Puerto Rico before his marriage to Edna M. Swartzentruber on December 7, 1952 in Sarasota, Florida. Together they had four sons: Clair, Donald, Verle and Lee.

Dean was owner/operator, of Equipment Service, a welding and farm machinery repair business between Nappanee and Bremen. Later, his son Verle partnered with him in the business. Dean enjoyed flying as a private pilot, enjoyed classical music, and widely read in a variety of disciplines. He was trilingual and enjoyed interactions with people from many cultures, traveling in some forty countries during his life, most of them alongside his wife, Edna. Enjoying her faithful support in the spiritual ministry, they often hosted friends and guests from across the country and around the world in their home in Nappanee, Indiana.

Dean became a skilled counselor, pioneering a Christian spiritual deliverance ministry spanning over forty years. On May 25, 1986, Dean was officially ordained by the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference, the first person to be credentialed for this particular specialized ministry in the history of the Mennonite church. Dean and Edna became members of Yellow Creek Mennonite Church on July 19, 1992, where they have been active for 15 years.

For the past ten years, Dean focused on teaching and leadership development to assure the continuation of the spiritual deliverance ministry for the generations to follow. A celebration of Dean's leadership in this ministry was held one year ago, at Yellow Creek Mennonite Church. Two weeks ago, Dean passed the "mantle of Elijah" on to Delora Reinhardt and Ben and Angela Snyder, as the new leaders of the spiritual deliverance ministry.

At 4:00 am on October 30, 2006, Dean died of natural causes in his home in Nappanee.

He donated his body to the Anatomical Education Center of Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Dean was preceded in death by Edna, his wife of 53 years, who died on April 25, 2006, his brother, Eugene, his son, Donald, and both of his parents.

Surviving are his three sons, Clair (Carole Anne) of Goshen, Verle, of rural Bremen, and Lee (Susan) of North Carolina, and eight grandchildren: Megan, Jordan, Landon, Shawn, Austin, Laura, David and Sarah Hochstetler.

Dean is also survived by three siblings: Mary Ellen Kaufman and Miriam Hochstetler of rural Nappanee, and Alan Hochstetler of Williamsburg, VA.

Memorial gifts may be designated in Dean's memory to the Mission Commission of Yellow Creek Mennonite Church, to be utilized to support the training expenses of persons involved in spiritual deliverance ministry.

We worked together with others to form the International Center for Biblical Counseling

In memory of Dean Hochstetler:

To the best of our recollection, we first became acquainted with Dean and Edna Hochstetler in the 1970's because of our mutual involvement in deliverance ministries. We have spent profitable hours, sometimes in our home in Georgia or South Carolina and sometimes in their home in Indiana. We found our friendship with them to be deeply enriching and warmly satisfying.

I often arranged for Dean to address church services and college classes because of his knowledgable expertise and his experiences and key insights into spiritual warfare. Our mutual interest in helping Christian workers to find more successful results brought Dean and me together with other spiritual warfare workers in forming the International Center for Biblical Counseling, an organization that continues to this day, with biennial meetings in Sioux City, Iowa.

Dr. Gerald E. and Martha S. McGraw
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(Clair's background note: As an update regarding the ICBC (click here) their headquarters moved this past September to Indiana. ICBC also organizes workshops and leadership training seminars which are conducted in various places throughout the country. Note the other related links at that site regarding faculty and workshop content.)

Pastors in KY: Dean's influence continues to impact our lives personally and the way we teach and train others...

When we first met Dean eleven years ago we had no idea the blessing he would be to us and to our ministry. His influence continues to impact our lives personally and the way we teach and train others. Dean and Edna were an incredible team in ministry and an important model for us. We are truly grateful for the life of this faithful servant of Christ. We are committed to passing his wisdom on to the next generation. Words cannot fully describe our love an appreciation for Dean. As Dean would say, "Christ is Victor!"

--Kurt and Kristen Sauder, ministering at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky

Dean's gift of spiritual discernment was wonderful, actually awesome.

Clair,

I am amazed at the great sense of loss that I have experienced as a result of your father's home going. However, we know that he is happier than ever, now that he is with our Father, our Savior, Edna, Donald and other family members.

Dean was a teacher, mentor and close friend to Cathy and me for nearly twenty years.

We became aware of your dad's ministry while attending spiritual warfare teaching by Dr Warner in the late 80's. Being neophytes in deliverance, we were quick to call on Dean for assistance whenever we felt like we were in over our heads, which was fairly often. He was always there, ready to help. He would usually suggest we bring the one seeking freedom to his home. And we would. When we arrived, he would meet us at the door with a big smile and we would exchange hugs with him and your mom. Sometimes when ministry ran long on Saturday mornings, Edna would silently slip into the kitchen and put together a wonderful meal. Your dad and mom had a marvelous gift of making people feel right at home.

As I write this I can hear him saying, as he often did during times of ministry, "Christ is victor". "We are working from a position of victory, which He bought for us on the cross".

Dean's gift of spiritual discernment was wonderful, actually awesome. He was often led to a root issue so quickly we just sat in amazement. And, he was such a gracious, patient and thorough teacher, who usually had some neat diagrams that helped everyone visualize the spiritual dynamic he was teaching. He freely shared with us from his vast knowledge of the spirit world and readily encouraged us to step right up and confront the afflicting spirits. Which we timidly did, but only because we knew he was there to back us up. To have had the opportunity to sit under his teaching for so many years, and on occasion minister along side him, has been one of Father's more precious gifts.

A special thanks to you, Clair, for providing this opportunity to express our love for Dean and Edna and our gratitude for all they gave us out of the abundance of their hearts. We, like many, look forward to being greeted by them, when we arrive at our heavenly home.

David and Cathy Payne
Fort Wayne, IN

Comment from Earl and Shirley Bailey

Earl & Shirley Bailey said...

Thank you very much Clair for sending email about your father. Dean was a good man and we liked talking to him. We hadn't seen him for a few years even though we thought about him. It is good you are a very close knit family and you show your love to one another.

When Dean and Edna came to Mali in 1990 and taught...I cannot even express to you the difference it has made in my life.

Dear Lee, Susan, Laura, David and Sarah,

We were very sorry to hear about Dean's passing. We are thankful for his life and great service to the Lord. When Dean and Edna came to Mali in 1990 and taught about spiritual warfare and deliverance, I (Sue) was able to start down the road to the Lord's healing in my life. I am so thankful for Dean obedience and faithfulness to the Lord's call in his life. I cannot even express to you the difference it has made in my life.

I look forward to seeing Dean again in heaven. May the Lord grant you all that you need during this time. It is difficult having both your folks going home to the Lord in such a short space of time. Thankfully we have an eternal hope in heaven and we will see our loved ones again.

Know that our prayers are with you.

In Christ,

Sue, Brad, Nate and Adam Smeltzer

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(Background note from Clair: These are friends of my brother Lee and sister-in-law Susan -- fellow Wycliffe Bible Translators in the same country they served, but based with a different people group in Mali, West Africa. Lee tells me the Smeltzers are presently based in Fresno, California to care for Brad's ailing mother.)