NATCHEZ — When Michael Hoggatt first worked at the Glenburney Nursing Home in 1981 as a nursing aid, he never thought he’d make a full circle back to it 18 years later.

Hoggatt said his return to Glenburney in 2006 was for personal reasons.

“I came back to work with my wife, Barbara, but then she retired the next year so now I work here as the floor supervisor,” Hoggatt said.

Though he came back to Glenburney to get closer to his wife, he ended up getting a lot closer to the elders who reside there.

“All of them know me, some have adopted me as their son,” he said. “It’s pleasant just to be around them.”

But one thing Hoggatt said he noticed at the home was that he was the closest person that some of the residents have.

“Sometimes their families wouldn’t come see them,” Hoggatt said.

With no family around and some dealing with sickness, this would leave a lot of the elders with no hope, he said.

This gave Hoggatt an epiphany. It was something he thought about a long time ago when he first worked at the home in the 80s, but now, over 30 years later, he has the means to do something about it.

“I volunteer to preach at the home every first Sunday from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.,” he said. “I figure if they can’t go to church, I’ll bring the church to them.”

Hoggatt has been the pastor of Melrose Avenue Church of Christ for 14 years and he said he wants to inspire all of those he preaches to.

“I give them inspiring scriptures from the bible,” he said. “I want to let them know ‘You’re still not forgotten.’”

Hoggatt said prayer is a big instrument he uses during his sermons.

“I pray for them because prayer has the power to change everything,” he said.

Hoggatt said he feels a sense of fulfillment when he volunteers his extra time to bring the elderly to God because he knows they’ll be happy in the end.

“If just one gets saved, I’m happy,” Hoggatt said. “I want to help them make it to Heaven, and hopefully one day I’ll see them there.”