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14 SPOTLIGHTS IDAHO SENIOR INDEPENDENT • DECEMBER 2022 | JANUARY 2023

Improv Ministry of Peace

and Joy for Seniors

BY DIANNA TROYER

When words fail, Pastor Dan Hendricks counts on music to
communicate with seniors when he walks into an assisted living
center or hospice situation.
“I never know what will happen,” he said Hendricks. For two
decades Hendricks has touched countless lives in Minidoka and
Cassia counties of southeastern Idaho.
“Every situation is different,” said Hendricks, 50, pastor at First
Assembly of God in Rupert and chaplain for Horizon Home Care
and Hospice. “It’s kind of like doing musical improv. I just know
at that moment, I’m God-appointed to be there and minister. I
sing while the Lord directs and ministers. I tune into what people
want to hear, whether it’s hymns, country classics, pop, or rock.”
Sometimes he sings one-on-one with a resident, while other
times he leads singing in a common room.
“Music always touches people in profound and dramatic ways,”
he said. “Songs evoke emotional reactions when other communi-
cation fails.”
He recalls a man in the memory care wing of a skilled nursing
center, who stared blankly and was unresponsive to conversation.
“I knelt beside his wheelchair, held his hand, then began singing
‘Amazing Grace,’” Hendricks said. “By the second verse, he was
weeping. His eyes were alert and full of expression, like he had
come back to life.”
Another time, a woman could not stop crying.
“For some reason, she had become locked in a sad mindset,”
Hendricks said. “When I went to visit her, I would sing and recite
Longfellow’s poem about daffodils. It took several weeks, but she
slowly and steadily regained joy in her life. When I wasn’t there, she
would lead other residents in an imagined choir. I was so blessed.”
Another unforgettable experience was a family saying goodbye to
their matriarch. They requested Hendricks sing her favorite hymn,
“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”
“As I sang, the family began weeping, and a great sense of peace
filled the room,” he said.
Pastor Dan Hendricks dances with Karen Fowles. Hendricks discovered his love of musical performance through
Photo by Nancy Kunau. karaoke.

Crossword
Crossword

Clues

ACROSS
Across
1 Honshu drama
4 Words before a recap
11 Audi rival
14 Boise-to-Billings dir.
15 “Raging Bull” boxer
16 Infamous Vietnam War site, My __
17 “Take my advice: no use crying over spilled
milk ... “
20 Compact part
ANSWERS ON PAGE 31 22 Spumante source
21 Greet warmly

23 PC core
26 Spot to get a bite on the street
27 Rockets’ org.
28 Low cloud
32 Two-__: half-price opportunity