Rob Schenck

Robert Lenard "Rob" Schenck (pronounced SHANK; born 1958) is an American Evangelical clergyman who ministers to elected and appointed officials in Washington, DC. Serving as President of the Christian outreach ministry Faith and Action, Schenck is an ordained minister of the Evangelical Church Alliance and was elected its chairman in July 2012. Since 1982, he has preached in all 50 states, several Canadian provinces, and over 40 countries. He has created organizations still serving those in need and providing ongoing spiritual and humanitarian support in such places as Mexico, Egypt, and Cambodia. Media outlets and policy makers seek his opinions on current issues, and he regularly appears as a guest on news and opinion shows.

Early years

Robert Lenard Schenck and his identical twin brother, Paul, were born in 1958 in Montclair, New Jersey, to Chaim "Henry Paul" Schenck and Marjorie (née Apgar) Schenck. Schenck was named after his father’s older brother who was a decorated B-17 bomber pilot in World War II and who lost his life in an air crash while serving in the Korean War. Schenck's father was born Jewish, raised in Manhattan and attended a reformed Temple on Long Island, and Schenck's mother was born Catholic in Brooklyn, raised non-religious (she converted to Judaism when marrying his father), and grew up in Northern New Jersey.^[1]

Schenck grew up in Grand Island, New York. One of his interests was Spanish, which he now uses in ministry. He and his friends started GASP: Grand Island Association Against Pollution, which served as an early community recycling center.^[1]

Conversion to Christianity

The Schenck brothers' boyhood synagogue

As a self-described "rebellious teen"^[2] Schenck and brother Paul became involved in risky behavior. Then in 1974 at the age of 16, the boys became acquainted with the son of a United Methodist minister serving the Trinity United Methodist Church in Grand Island. After Paul was introduced to a circle of young, religious Christians, he decided to become a Christian. Schenck accompanied his brother to prayer meetings, and soon converted as well. Both brothers were baptized in the waters of the Niagara River, which forms the borders of Grand Island. The conversion displeased Henry, who felt that Schenck was rejecting his Jewish roots, but Marjorie, who had converted from Catholicism when she married Henry, was more understanding. Henry later came to accept Schenck's conversion and traveled with him on a religious mission to Russia.

Family

While attending a youth prayer group at the Emmanuel United Methodist Church in Grand Island, Schenck met Cheryl Smith. Schenck married Cheryl in 1977 after graduating from Grand Island High School. While Schenck attended classes at Elim Bible Institute and worked as a residential counselor at a church sponsored home for at-risk youth, Cheryl gave birth to two children, Anna in 1979 and Matthew in 1981.

Education and certification

After graduating from Grand Island High School, Schenck began to study scripture and theology in earnest. He attended Elim Bible Institute's Buffalo campus in Buffalo, New York called Buffalo School of the Bible. After pursuing Biblical Studies for 4 years, (1976–1980) Schenck graduated with a Certificate in Bible and Theology. During this time, Schenck also completed the Ministerial Studies Program of Berean College, a distance education school based in Springfield, Missouri, and was granted his license to preach in 1978 by the New York District of the Assemblies of God.

Schenck was ordained in 1982 by the New York District Presbytery of the Assemblies of God. He transferred his ministerial affiliation to the Evangelical Church Alliance International in 1990, while at the same time pursuing further theological studies through Faith Evangelical Lutheran Seminary in Tacoma, Washington. He received both the Bachelor of Arts in Theology and Master of Arts in Christian Ministry in 1998. In the year 2010, Schenck was honored by his alma mater (now called Faith Evangelical College and Seminary) when he was conferred its Distinguished Alumnus Award.

On October 12, 2012, Schenck received the degree of Doctor of Ministry in Strategic Leadership from Faith Evangelical Seminary. His dissertation was entitled "Bulwark Against Political Idolatry: The Necessity of Theology of Church and State for American Evangelical Pastors."

Schenck has also been awarded an honorary degree, a Doctor of Divinity, by St. Paul Christian University in St. Paul, Indiana. This was done in conjunction with the Mid-America Regional Conference of the old-line Methodist Episcopal Church USA.

Early ministry

After serving in various capacities with the Rochester Teen Challenge center, a church sponsored home for at-risk youth, Schenck was selected as the director of a Rochester, New York or Rochester, Ulster County, New York program and then executive director of the state-wide network of homes known as Empire State Teen Challenge that included facilities in Syracuse and Buffalo, New York. In 1980, Schenck left Teen Challenge and served a short stint as Youth Pastor for the Webster Assembly of God congregation in a suburb of Rochester, followed by another short post as a staff pastor for the Community Gospel Church in Long Island City, Queens, New York (now Evangel Church and Christian School). In the latter role, he was mainly tasked with developing a training program for college interns in urban cross-cultural ministry. The program eventually became the New York School of Urban Ministry or NYSUM.

In 1982, Schenck reunited with brother Paul in ministry and became minister of missions and evangelism at the New Covenant Tabernacle in Tonawanda, New York (suburban Buffalo) where Paul was the senior pastor. They worked together in ministry from 1982 to 1994. During that time Schenck formed New Covenant Evangelical Ministries that was later renamed P & R Schenck Associates in Evangelism, the parent organization of Faith and Action in the Nation’s Capital. Schenck has been in full-time ministry with Faith and Action since he moved to Washington, D.C. in 1994.

Operation Serve International

In 1983, while at New Covenant Tabernacle, Schenck branched out into organizing medical mission efforts by creating “Operation Serve” which grew into an international effort. Operation Serve International is a Christian humanitarian outreach organization deploying volunteer medical, dental and other health and hygiene workers to serve some of the poorest population groups in the world. Schenck turned the operation over to Dr. Sameh and Connie Sadik in 1993 when he went to Washington, DC to minister. Operation Serve International still serves poor populations with medical, dental, health and hygiene services while also preaching Christianity.

Faithwalk

1988 led Schenck into a new avenue of activism: long distance walking. Through personal contact during a speaking tour of Mexico, he became aware of the plight of the Mexican “dump people”, individuals and families who live, eat, and make their living scrounging recyclables in the municipal garbage dumps of Mexico City. To raise awareness of their plight, Schenck decided to take a 2,000-mile (3,200 km) “Faithwalk” from the border of Canada near his hometown, through the United States and across the border with Mexico. His purpose was to raise funds and to recruit volunteers willing to help by providing medical, dental, health, hygiene and construction services. His four-month journey through five states led to much word-of-mouth marketing and dozens of newspaper articles and television news stories in the many cities and towns along the way.^[3]

Hearts for the Homeless

Then, in 1989, in response to a growing crisis in his own community, Schenck and others began Hearts for the Homeless. “Hearts” began as a mobile kitchen providing food to homeless population of Buffalo, New York. The recreational vehicle Schenck used to house his family during his 2,000-mile (3,200 km) trek to Mexico was outfitted as a mobile shelter for the homeless population, providing temporary relief from the harsh winters of Buffalo, New York, as well as an immediate distribution point for clothing, food and medical treatment. The growing organization continued to meet the needs of disenfranchised people. Later, Schenck recruited Ron Callandra, a homeless person who became a reverend, to direct the organization that continues to feed thousands of the hungry, indigent and homeless in the Buffalo area.

Buffalo Pro-Life Activism 1992

In 1992, during Buffalo’s large-scale abortion clinic demonstrations, Schenck grabbed national and worldwide attention when photos and video were shot of him cradling a preserved human fetus given the name “Tia” by a black pro-life group because the child was believed to be African-American. Much was written and aired about the event. In an opinion editorial in the June 15 Buffalo News, Schenck responded to the criticism. According to the op-ed, Schenck believed that pro-choice supporters ignored the truth in favor of ideology, and conversely he believed that the fetus demonstrated the truth of his own views. “Most have never seen an abortion, let alone the result of it. Baby Tia takes the argument out of the abstract and into reality.” ^[4]

In 1992, a $25,000 judgment was levied against Schenck for contempt of court when 6 pro-life leaders were arrested following prayer vigils and demonstrations surrounding the Democratic National Convention held at Madison Square Garden. A federal judge had placed an injunction against showing a human fetus during those demonstrations. Pro-life leaders were arrested and fined when one of those activists offered presidential candidate Bill Clinton a preserved fetus in a plastic box. Schenck, who had rented the hotel room where he and two other demonstrators had stayed, was later found to have had foreknowledge of the plan and the injunction. As a result, US District Judge Robert Ward found him guilty of contempt and levied the judgment, but held it in abeyance, providing Schenck did not appear in his court again on these or similar charges. In a statement to the court, Schenck assured the judge it was a “once in a lifetime act.” When a pro-life New York attorney general was elected in 1994 (Dennis Vacco), his office indicated to Schenck the judgment would not be collected, and it eventually expired.

D.C. Ministry

Schenck came to Washington in order to increase the role of evangelical Christianity in government. In 2000, an ordaining council of the Come Alive New Testament Church of Medford, New Jersey officially commissioned him as a missionary to Capitol Hill. He is on-call as a member of the U.S. Senate Chaplain’s Pastoral Response Team. In 2010, Schenck was named the first ever Chaplain in the 40-year history of the Capitol Hill Executive Service Club, the only association of its kind allowed to meet weekly in the prestigious Mansfield Room of the United States Capitol.^[5] In these last two capacities, he also routinely carries out the normal roles of a member of the Christian clergy including sacerdotal and ministerial functions such as administering baptism and Holy Communion, solemnizing weddings, conducting funerals, providing pastoral care, counseling and visitation and presiding at various public and private religious ceremonies.

Schenck is a speaker and itinerant preacher. In his 25 years in ministry, Schenck has spoken in more than 1000 churches of all denominations in all fifty states, several Canadian provinces and in 40 other countries. He raises money for crisis pregnancy centers, city missions, and medical missionary programs. He also works both at home and abroad on religious liberty issues, including in Sudan and the Darfur region.

National Community Church

In August 1994, in response to a desire to minister to national decision makers, Schenck and family moved to Washington, D.C. His first ministry there was to organize a new church. He attracted a core group of worshippers and created what became the National Community Church. He served as pastor to the church for over a year when Schenck decided to focus on government officials. In the beginning of 1996, Schenck passed the mantle to Mark Batterson.

Faith And Action

Rev. Schenck leads the Annual Seder held at the Faith and Action Center in Washington, D.C.

Schenck calls himself a student of Dietrich Bonhoeffer,^[6] and believes that one’s Christianity must be vigorously expressed through one’s relationships and one’s actions. Schenck also believes in trying to get government officials to follow Christian teachings through personal relationships with them.^[7] Faith and Action seeks continually to recruit, train and deploy both ordained and lay missionary workers.

The organization itself is headquartered in the Honorable William J. Ostrowksi House, named for a retired New York State Supreme Court judge and long-time supporter of the Schenck brothers’ efforts.^[8] The 19th Century Victorian Row House is located at 109 2nd Street, NE, across from East Façade of the U.S. Supreme Court building. A notable feature of the ministry office is a granite sculpture depicting the Ten Commandments displayed in the building’s front garden. On Memorial Day in 2006, the monument was placed in the front of the building, readily noticeable from the street.^[9]

Ten Commandments Project

Created in 1995, Faith and Action’s Ten Commandments Project has given over 400 plaques of the Ten Commandments to members of Congress and other highly placed officials, including former presidents Clinton and Bush. Special delegations made up of clergy and lay people make the presentations during ceremonies held in the recipients’ offices. The agenda includes a short speech which describes religion as the foundational basis of morality and law, a reading of the Commandments in their entirety, and prayers. The official is then given an inscribed wooden plaque on which is mounted two stone polymer tablets containing a summary of the Ten Commandments. Recipients are urged to “display and obey” the Ten Commandments.^[10] Schenck chose to promote the Ten Commandments because he believes that they have a universal and enduring nature and that they are fundamental to morality.

National Memorial for the Preborn

The National Memorial for the Preborn and their Mothers and Fathers is annually held in the Senate Office Building

In 1995, Schenck organized the first National Memorial for the Preborn and their Mothers and Fathers, a religious service in opposition to abortion.^[11] This quickly became a prominent pro-life event held inside the US Capitol complex in Washington, D.C. Originally a program of the National Clergy Council, the event has now been renamed the National Pro-Life Clergy Conference and is sponsored by the National Pro-Life Religious Council. The NPRC is led by prominent pro-life leader Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life and a trustee of Schenck’s Faith and Action. Rev. Schenck and his staff continue to have major roles and responsibilities associated with the event.^[12]

National Clergy Council

Schenck is also the co-founder and president of the National Clergy Council, a network of pastors and denominational leaders. The NCC represents church leaders from Catholic, Evangelical, Orthodox and Protestant traditions. It was formed in 1989 and has maintained an office on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., since 1994. Its mission is to "bring classical Christian moral instruction into the conversation and debate surrounding public policy." Schenck serves the National Clergy Council’s presidency on a pro-bono or volunteer basis.

Judge Moore's Monument

In 2003, Schenck helped organize and lead supportive demonstrations outside of the Alabama Judicial building, seat of the state’s Supreme Court where, at the time, the Honorable Roy Moore was chief justice.^[13]

By that time, Schenck and Moore had enjoyed a long cooperative association with Moore^[14] who had refused to relocate a granite monument to the historic basis of the law that included the Ten Commandments. The monument was eventually ordered moved by US District Judge Myron Thompson. When US marshals were dispatched to supervise the removal, Schenck and several others had surrounded the monument, knelt and begun to pray. He was arrested and held for 5 1/2 hours while the monument was moved.^[15] Because of his stature in the religious community, Schenck was interviewed on numerous television shows regarding the events.^[16]

Evangelical Church Alliance

Since 1999, Schenck has maintained ministerial credentials as an ordained member of the Evangelical Church Alliance International. An ordained minister is given authority by the Church to administer their rites and duties, including Baptism, Committal, Communion, Solemnization of Marriage, Preaching and Pastoral Counsel. Rev. Schenck carries out all these religious activities as he ministers to the population of Capitol Hill and in other areas.

Schenck serves as the elected chairman of the board of directors for the ECA^[17] and serves as the appointed chairman for its Committee on Church and Society, the social witness for the alliance of ministers. As a board member, his duties include chairing interview committees for new ministerial candidates.

Preaching at the National Cathedral

On Sunday, November 29, at the invitation of The Washington National Cathedral,^[18] Rev. Rob Schenck became the guest preacher for their Sunday worship service.^[19] In this honored moment, Rev. Schenck shared his thoughts on gun violence; specifically addressing the response of Christians to America’s gun culture through the lens of Biblical theology. In part, Rev. Schenck was invited to the Cathedral on the heels of the Washington, D.C. screening of the then just-released full length documentary, “The Armor of Light,”^[20] in which he played a prominent role. Rev. Schenck joins a short list of prominent evangelicals who have preached from the Nation’s pulpit at the Washington National Cathedral. Among them are...

• 3/31/68 Martin Luther King
• 6/21/76 Billy Graham
• 12/13/81 Billy Graham
• 1/20/85 Billy Graham
• 12/14/97 Franklin Graham
• 12/21/97 Robert Anthony Schuller
• 1/21/01 Franklin Graham
• 4/25/10 Brian McLaren
• 6/3/12 Anthony Campolo

National Ministry

Stopping Burn-a-Koran Day

During September 2010, Schenck opposed the proposed burning of the Koran by pastor Terry Jones.

In an interview with CBN on September 8, Schenck said that this particular demonstration, while possibly warranted by common values and certainly permissible under the Constitution, violated Christian morality, adding that he believed Christians were held to a higher standard.^[21] “[I]t’s impossible for me to cite one instance in the life or teaching of Jesus Christ that could justify such an act,” Schenck said.^[22] He also stated objections to fallout in religious relations, "He's not just burning Korans, he's also burning bridges that we were trying to build for years with the Islamic community.^[23]"

Schenck represented the National Clergy Council in speaking personally with Jones, and asked Jones if, in a show of good faith, he would surrender custody of the Korans at the center of the controversy to Schenck’s colleague, the Reverend Patrick Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition. Jones agreed to do so. As a condition of his cancellation, Jones wanted the relocation of Park51. Schenck attempted to broker a meeting between Jones and Imam Faisal Rauf.^[24] However, the potential meeting never materialized. In the end, Jones ended up not burning Korans on the date of September 11.^[25]

Houston Sermons Subpoena

On May 28, 2014, Houston, Texas, Mayor Annise Parker approved the controversial Houston Equal Rights Ordinance or HERO, which included a broad range of extenuating rights for the LGBT community without an exemption for religious organizations.^[26] Opponents of the ordinance quickly raised signatures to put the Bill to a public vote. On July 3, 2014, over 50,000 signatures were delivered to the city. Ultimately, the city invalidated around 35,000 of the signatures and canceled the vote. On August 7, 2014, Houston citizens’ groups filed suit to block implementation of HERO and it was put on hold.

In late Summer of 2014, Mayor Parker’s legal team subpoenaed sermons and sermon notes of local clergy members who had opposed the HERO ordinance. The subpoena required the clergy that "all speeches, presentations, or sermons related to HERO, the Petition, Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality, or gender identity prepared by, delivered by, revised by, or approved by you or in your possession” be turned over to the Mayor’s lawyers for review.^[27] This caused a backlash around the country from religious freedom advocates as well as concerned citizens. As President of the National Clergy Council, Rob Schenck flew to Houston and met with Mayor Parker to personally request that her legal order be withdrawn.^[28]

Mayor Parker stated that the conversations with Rev. Schenck and others were helpful. She said, “They took the Houston approach of civil discourse in presenting their case. We gained an understanding of each other’s positions.”^[28] Shortly thereafter, the Mayor instructed her attorneys to withdraw the Subpoenas. Afterwards Rev. Schenck commented positively on the tone of the meeting and its results. “Mayor Parker made the right decision and deserves to be commended for it,” said Rev. Rob Schenck, president of the National Clergy Council and one of the organizers of the delegation. “Our meeting with the mayor was cordial and very productive. While showing her all due respect, we never relaxed or compromised our demand for her to unequivocally withdraw the subpoenas. We’re thankful to her and we are supremely thankful to God for this positive outcome.”^[29]

In July 2015, the Texas Supreme Court ordered that HERO be either repealed or placed on the ballot. The City Council placed the measure for open vote and it was defeated by a large margin.^[30]

National Center of State Courts

In October 2015, Rev. Schenck was appointed to serve on the National Advisory Board on Community Engagement in the State Courts. This board, sponsored by the National Center for State Courts and Chaired by the Chief Justice of the D.C. Court of appeals, seeks to create dialogue between minority and economically disadvantaged communities and court leadership so that there is an increase in public trust and confidence in the court system.^[31]

Oxford Centre for the Study of Law and Public Policy

On March 28, 2015, Rev. Schenck was named Senior Fellow of the Oxford Center for the Study of Law and Public Policy. Based in Oxford, England, the group “brings leading thinkers, academics, and practitioners from across the globe to participate in scholarly pursuit aimed at protecting Christians and others facing persecution in the Middle East and other parts of the globe.”^[32] At the Oxford Centre’s initial symposium, held March 26–28, 2015, at Harris Manchester College of the University of Oxford, Schenck gave his inaugural lecture entitled “Evangelical Protestants in Turkey: A Study in Discrimination, Marginalization and Insecurity.” The think-tank has had presentations from such well known people as Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, former Mexican President Felipe Calderón, publisher and former US Presidential candidate Steve Forbes, and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton.^[32]

The Armor of Light Documentary

In 2015, Rob Schenck was the subject of the critically acclaimed documentary, “The Armor of Light.”^[33][34] In this film, award-winning Director Abigail Disney^[35] chronicles the spiritual exploration of Rev. Rob Schenck around the topic of guns and the pro-life Christian community response to America’s gun culture and subsequent gun violence. Schenck is dramatically touched by his interactions with Lucia McBath, the mother of Jordan Davis a black teenager who was shot and killed by a white motorist in a 2012 argument over loud music. Together Schenck and Davis explore the notion that pro-life and pro-gun may be a tougher theological stance than many people are willing to recognize. The movie was called a “vital colloquy on whether we shape our lives through fear or with love” by the LA Times.^[36]

Disney’s Film about Schenck has been praised for its cinematography and for its sensitive and fair treatment of the subject. The New York Times says “the film presents some fresh-sounding arguments about Christianity and guns as intriguing jumping-off points rather than open-and-shut cases.” ^[37] Schenck himself has received praise for his fearless assessment of his long founded viewpoint.^[38] and his clearheaded thinking on the subject.^[36] In an interview with Christianity Today, Schenck described his new found conclusion on the proliferation of guns in American Christian culture. He observed “that kind of thought (gun proliferation even in churches) introduces a huge problem for the testimony of the Gospel--, but that’s all driven by fear. And fear is driven by other elements. Fear of the other is the fuel. But as Jesus tells us many times, the Gospel is the antidote to fear.”^[39]

Memberships

• President, Faith and Action in the Nation’s Capital
• President, National Clergy Council, Washington, DC
• Member of the US Senate Chaplain's Pastoral Care Response Team
• Chairman, Committee on Church and Society for the Evangelical Church Alliance
• Trustee, Gospel of Life Ministries
• Member, Board of Directors, Institute on Religion and Public Society
• Member, American Academy of Religion
• Member, The Center for Bio-ethics and Human Dignity
• Member, The National Association of Evangelicals
• Member, International Bonhoeffer Society
• Senior Fellow, Oxford Centre for the Study of Law and Public Policy
• Member, National Advisory Board on the Community Engagement in the State Courts

References

External links

• Faith and Action
• Evangel Church
• Operation Serve International
• Hearts for the Homeless
• The Armor of Light Film