 |
 |
| Psalm 34:15, "The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry."
|
|
|
|
    |
 |
Biography of Pastor Jack Schaap
Because of
nearly critical injuries suffered in a car accident at the age of 15, Marlene Elgersma was told she would
never be able to have children— but God had other plans. A baby girl named Kristi was born to Marlene and her
husband, Ken Schaap. Five years later, the doctor—feeling that having another child was too dangerous for both
the baby and his mother—scolded Marlene for becoming pregnant again. Despite complications, Jack Allan Schaap
arrived safely at the Holland Community Hospital in Holland, Michigan, on October 1, 1957.
Jack Schaap was brought to church just a few weeks after birth and attended the Rose Park Baptist Church of
Holland, Michigan, for most of his early life. At the age of five, he was led to the Lord by his ten-year-old
sister, Kristi, as he sat on the edge of the bathtub.
Reared in a very secure home, Jack learned strong family values from his deacon father and church organist
mother. He was a very shy child who cried every day in the first and second grade, preferring to be with
family members or a few close friends rather than with crowds.
When Jack was 11 years old, his dad started a business. Ken Schaap had worked midnight shifts cleaning a
grocery store, as well as working day shifts doing construction, in order to save for this business venture.
Ken bought property, cleared the land, and built from scratch a 200-lot mobile home park. Ken hired his son
Jack to be his chief partner in this new venture. Jack worked for his dad through his junior high and high
school years. Through the time spent with his dad, he learned the value of hard work, and his dad became his
hero and best friend. They made plans to go into business together—but, once again, God had other plans.
Jack’s parents hosted many visiting preachers in their home during his growing-up years. A couple of these
preachers challenged him to pray about going into full-time Christian service, which he agreed to do. During
his senior year of high school, he became burdened about the salvation of his two best buddies. After praying
for several hours every night for Jeff and Jerry to become Christians, he was able to witness to them one
night after a Jack Van Impe Crusade. The next morning, both friends informed him that they had accepted
Christ. That night, he jumped in bed relieved that he would no longer have to pray for his friends’ salvation.
Not being able to sleep however, he got out of bed, fell to his knees, and began to pray again. The love of
God flowed over him as he prayed in his bedroom that night, and the light of the Holy Spirit illuminated the
room. Sometime during that night, the call of God to preach became very obvious, and Jack Schaap surrendered
to that very definite call during the wee hours of the morning. When he shared with his mother what had
happened, she told him that she had been praying for him to be a preacher ever since her accident as a
15-year-old girl.
Pastor Chuck Surrett, Brother Schaap’s caring pastor during his teenage years, advised him to attend Pillsbury
Baptist Bible College in Minnesota. This he did for a year and a half. However, after his first year of
college, a new pastor named Jim Binney came to his home church. Bro. Binney was a Hyles-Anderson College
graduate and pointed Brother Schaap to Hyles-Anderson College. He followed the advice of his pastor and
arrived at Hyles-Anderson College in January of 1977. Through some unusual experiences, he met and started
dating Cindy Hyles about six weeks after his arrival. After two dates, both were convinced that they had found
God’s will for their life’s mate. Brother Schaap graduated from college in May of 1978 with his bachelor’s
degree in pastoral theology and received his master’s degree in May of 1979. On June 1, 1979, he and Cindy
were married.
Brother Schaap began teaching Bible at Hyles-Anderson College the fall after he and Cindy were married. Five
years later, he became an assistant to the president. He received an honorary doctorate from Hyles-Anderson
College in 1994. Then, on June 4, 1996, Dr. Schaap became the vice president of Hyles-Anderson College. During
his time at the college, Dr. Schaap traveled extensively across America and became known as one of America’s
premier preachers, especially to teenagers. He was also a bus captain, starting with one bus and six riders.
Under his leadership, the route grew to need six buses, seeing high days of over 350.
On March 7, 2001, following the death of his father-in-law and mentor, Dr. Jack Hyles, Dr. Schaap was voted in
as pastor of the great First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, with an overwhelming 96-percent vote.
In the six years that Dr. Schaap has been its pastor, the First Baptist Church of Hammond has seen amazing
growth, with the average weekly attendance more than doubling. This growth caused the need for a new
auditorium; so in March of 2005, the First Baptist Church moved into a new 7500-seat auditorium and throughout
that same year, saw over 25,000 converts baptized.
Also during his six-year tenure as pastor, Dr. Schaap has led the First Baptist Church in starting many new
ministries including the Chapel Ministry (13 inner-city chapels), Chicago Baptist Academy (a school for the
Chapel Ministry kids), Responsibility USA (a ministry to public school teens), Reformers Unanimous (an
addiction program), and many new adult Sunday school classes.
The First Baptist Church, under the leadership of Dr. Schaap, hosts three nationwide conferences each
year—Pastors’ School in March, Youth Conference in July, and the Christian Womanhood Spectacular in October.
The Youth Conference in July of 2006 saw over 10,000 people in attendance. In addition to these conferences,
Dr. Schaap also travels some to preach around the country. His lifelong interest in aviation that began when
he earned his pilot’s license as a teenager has come to fruition as he flies to speak out of town.
Dr. Schaap superintends more than 3000 Christian young people in five different church-operated, private
Christian schools. He is the chancellor of Hyles-Anderson College, a private Bible college operated by the
First Baptist Church for the purpose of training preachers, missionaries, and Christian educators. He oversees
the operations of FBMI (Fundamental Baptist Missions International), which currently has 56 missionaries on
the field and 43 on deputation, representing 52 countries altogether.
Since the inception of a Faith Promise Giving program, the church has seen its missions giving rise from
$85,000 to $1.2 million. A few years ago, the first mission team was sent from the First Baptist Church to an
oppressive country. As of June 2008, this team has seen 4,104 people trust Jesus Christ as their Saviour with
470 of them following in believer's baptism. A second mission team was sent to Ghana, West Africa, in November
of 2006. The team is averaging 976 in Sunday School each week at the First Baptist Church of Kumasi and has
seen 56,337 people saved and 2,469 baptized. Hyles-Anderson College of West Africa was founded there in
January of 2008.
Dr. and Mrs. Schaap have been married for 28 years and have two children, Jaclynn and Kenny. Jaclynn is
married to Todd Weber, junior high youth director at First Baptist Church, and is one of the church pianists.
The Webers have two children, Lyndsay and Raymond. Kenny is married to Candace (Hooker) and teaches at Hyles-Anderson
College. Those who know Dr. Jack Schaap best would describe him as a man with a passion for God. |
 Top of Page |
|
| |
|
 |
|
Family
Married to Mrs. Cindy Schaap.
Children
One son, Kenny, and one daughter, Jaclynn.
 An
Important Message
from the Pastor
Click here to listen » |
|
|