ERIC SCHENKEL: “WE FORGET ABOUT THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB GIVEN TO US BY CHRIST”

He says that in order to make a miracle, we just need to start preaching the gospel. Dr. Eric Schenkel is the Executive Director of the project of the film “Jesus.” The greater part of his life he spent, telling others the Good news. Now he calls the Church to take from him the baton. He wrote a book called “Everything everywhere”. And recently he told CBN news about his life of the Evangelist.

MHN: you HAVE had quite the prosperous life. You served as a pastor of a small Church and studied at Harvard University. But you gave all that up to become a missionary. What prompted you to make such a decision?

Eric Schenkel, the Evangelist, the author of “Everything, everywhere”:

I was touched by the information is data about how many people in the world has so little chance to hear the message of Christ, while we in America and in some other countries so many possibilities for this! And when I heard that in the former Soviet Union available in the city that 70 years under Soviet domination, and was under Islamic domination for thousands of years, and still people have not had the opportunity to hear the gospel, I decided not to miss the opportunity.

MHN: You and your wife paid a high price for their missionary work in one country in Central Asia. Tell us what happened and how it affected your faith.

Yes. In 1996 we went to one of the former Soviet Muslim republics of Central Asia. We lived there for four years, but then happened an incident that dramatically changed the course of our Ministry. Once at four in the morning we were attacked by people who came to our house in black training suits, black masks with hatchets. There were four of them. They woke us up, and then, having surrounded from all sides of the bed, began to beat my wife and me with hatchets. My wife was dying. I was seriously injured, but still I managed to get out of there, although at first I thought, “Well, that’s all the end — I’m going to heaven.” However, the Lord used this situation in an amazing way to open new doors. I was able to return to the country a month after the incident. My wife took ten months to recover. But we both returned with our two children who still lived in the same house with us. And when the residents saw that we love them so much that decided to return, and that Jesus can give us strength and grace to overcome even the toughest obstacles and situations that opened the door for us and the ears of the people for the preaching of Christ, as before that was never.

MHN: Great testimony! Your book is “Everything, everywhere” is full of stories about people who came to Christ. Do you have a favorite of them?

One of my favorite — my good friend who came to Christ while in prison. He was serving a sentence as a petty criminal, a Mafioso. And then, in the prison, someone brought a projector and the Jesus film to show the film there. He begged to give him a projector for a while, hoping to show pornographic movies to his friends, but our friend said to him, “no, no, No. On this projector, you can only watch this film.” And then he decided to lie. He thought that I would see our movie once and then decide whether to invite friends and watch there some other material. After he saw the film “Jesus,” he was so touched that I looked it again. Then came his friends and said, “We heard you have a projector. Let’s watch these movies.” And he said, “No! Now you look to me like this film.” In the morning he had time to watch our film four times. Christ touched his heart, and he became a believer. If you only saw all those dozens of groups that have organized this man, simply because God has touched his life. It’s just wonderful.

MHN: Why did you decide to write this book, and what, in your opinion, will people be able to bear it?

I wrote it because it’s such a wonderful blessing, to devote his life to fulfilling the Great Commission of Christ in the world. And yet we, the Church, often deviate from this Central task. We are busy with other things and forget that the spread of this message across the world is really the most important assignment entrusted to us by Jesus. And that’s what the Holy Spirit anoints an amazing way. If you want to see miracles begin to tell the gospel to people who had never heard of. One of the features of faith that struck me the most, is that if you read the Scripture, faith simply responds to the Word of God. And when we act on the Word of God, regardless of what we feel and encounter the obstacles we miraculously see God, and it is even more motivates us to act.
So take that first step of faith about which Jesus said, “Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in Heaven”. This is an incredible statement! And when He promises eternal reward to those who serve Him in this life, it’s true. Why is it important for us to build our lives on the words of Scripture. When we, in so doing, we begin to experience the blessings that follow, you want to experience it again and again.

Wonderful words. And even more about the film project, “Jesus” and about how his team carry the message of Jesus around the world, you can find on the page “Global Christian news”.

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