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Wikipedia Biography- Rob Schenck

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Robert Todd Gates

Rev. Rob Schenck (pronounced SHANK) (1958) is a leading Evangelical minister to elected and appointed officials in Washington, DC. Serving as President of the Christian outreach ministry Faith and Action, Rev. Schenk, works to build relationships with individuals in government while seeking to positively influence policy makers with the ethical teachings of Jesus Christ. He also serves as volunteer President of the National Clergy Council, an organization of leaders from Evangelical, Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant churches and organizations. The NCC works to bring denominational leaders together to provide guidance to officials on the religious and moral implications of public policy issues. Schenk is an ordained minister of the Evangelical Church Alliance who has preached in all 50 states, Several Canadian provinces and over 40 countries. He has created numerous organizations still serving those in need and ongoing ministry in such places as Sudan and Darfur. His opinion on current issues is sought out by media and policy makers alike. He regularly appears as a guest on news and opinion television shows.

Early Years
Rob and his identical twin brother Paul were born in 1958 to Henry Paul (Chaim) Schenck and Marjorie Apgar Schenck. Robert Lenard Schenck was named for 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 grew up in the historic town of Grand Island, New York. Located northwest of Buffalo, New York, Grand Island is the largest island in the Niagara River, situated about halfway between Buffalo and the famous Niagara Falls. The Island is 28.5 square miles with a population of around 18,000. His interests as a child included model trains and collecting different examples of coin and paper money. Spanish club was a big interest and today he uses his Spanish skills in ministry.

Rob grew up in a culturally diverse home: His father a Manhattan Jew and his mother a Brooklyn Catholic who converted to Judaism for marriage. The twin boys learned at a young age about the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust and the dangers of unbridled power. The family discussed liberal politics and talked about social issues around the dinner table, including extensive discussions about the civil rights movement and the work of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. Rob’s father, Henry, taught his boys about their responsibility to confront evil and injustice, especially speaking out for those who have no voice. Close to the time of his death, Henry confided in his boys that as a teenager, he had secretly attended an NAACP fundraiser and danced with a black girl, something forbidden in the social circles of his time. These early lessons on justice continue to motivate Schenck’s view of his role in ministry and in life.

Activism played a big role in Schenck’s life, starting early in his teens. At the age of 12, without adult supervision he joined a peace protest against the Vietnam War. He belonged to Student Council in school. Recognizing the importance of care for the environment in what was then called the ecology movement, Schenck joined with friends in starting GASP- Grand Island Association Against Pollution. GASP served as an early community recycling center.

Conversion to Christianity
As a self-described “rebellious teen” 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 people committed to living devout Christian lives, he made a quiet, personal confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The minister’s son then invited the Schenck brothers to a Friday night prayer meeting held at the smaller Emmanuel United Methodist Church nearer the boys’ home.

Partly out of curiosity and partly out of fear his brother had joined a cult, Rob decided to attend Friday meetings with him. The experience was interesting enough that the brothers went the following week to a “New Life Mission” at the Trinity United Methodist Church. At this meeting, a visiting preacher, the Reverend Dr. Peter Bolt of Plymouth, England, spoke with a comfortable eloquence about “Knowing God”. At this meeting, Rob Schenck decided he wanted and needed to know God. When Bolt gave a relaxed invitation to “know the living Lord Jesus Christ” both brothers, after some hesitation, went forward to the altar. With the help of Rev. Bolt, they offered a public prayer of repentance and commitment to Jesus Christ. They were both later baptized in the waters of the Niagara River, which forms the borders of Grand Island.

This Christian conversion caused great alarm among the Schenck parents. His father Henry felt a great rejection of his Judaic roots, while mother Marjorie was more understanding, much later explaining she felt sympathy for her sons because she had converted from Catholicism to Judaism to marry Henry. However, the turmoil from the twins’ action threatened the family unity. It took many years of awkwardness over religion before the elder Mr. Schenck was able to fully accept his son’s decision. The breakthrough finally came years later when Henry was able to travel with his son Rob on a ministerial mission to his ancestral home in Russia. There they found a bonding and made peace over the son’s conversion to Christianity.

Family
While attending the Emmanuel United Methodist Church in Grand Island he became part of a youth prayer group. It was in that mix of spiritually oriented young people Schenck met Cheryl Smith. Their friendship blossomed into a relationship. The next year, after graduating Grand Island High School, Rob and Cheryl married (1977). While Rob attended Elim Bible Institute, they started their family with daughter Anna coming in 1979 and son Matthew in 1981.

Education and Certification
After Graduation from Grand Island High School, Schenck began to study scripture and theology in earnest. He attended Elim Bible Institute of Lima New York, and took classes from Elim’s local extension campus, 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 took a Ministerial Studies course from Berean College in Springfield Missouri and received his license to preach in 1978 with 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. He is presently enrolled in the school’s Doctor of Ministry – Strategic Leadership program and is expected to take his post-graduate degree in June, 2011.

Schenck has also been awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree 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 of ministry and leadership roles, Schenck was selected as the director of the local Rochester 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 (suburban Buffalo) New York where Paul was the senior pastor. They worked together in ministry from 1982 to 1994. During that time Rob 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 in 1994.

Operation Serve International
In 1983, while at New Covenant, Schenck branched out into organizing medical mission efforts by creating “Operation Serve” which grew into an international effort. OSI 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. Schenk turned the operation over to Dr. Sameh & Connie Sadik in 1993 to go minister in Washington. Operation Serve International still serves the poorest of the poor with medical, dental, optical, and hair care while also sharing the Christian message with them.

Faith Walk
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 great municipal garbage dumps of Mexico City. To raise awareness, Schenck decided to take a 2000 mile “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 volunteering to provide 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.

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”, as it is known affectionately, 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 2000-mile 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 the Rev. Ron Callandra, a former victim of homelessness, to direct the organization that continues to feed thousands of the hungry, indigent and homeless in the Buffalo area.

Buffalo Pro Life 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. Much was written and aired about the event. In an opinion editorial in the June 15 Buffalo News, Schenck responded to the criticism. He wrote that he felt for some, ideology trumped truth, “Most have never seen an abortion, let alone the result of it. Baby Tia takes the argument out of the abstract and into reality.”

This visibility came back to haunt him later in 1992. Schenck was fined a $25,000 judgment for alleged contempt of court when 6 pro-life leaders were arrested following prayer vigils and demonstrations surrounding the Democratic National Convention held at Madison Square Gardens. 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 and he 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.

Meanwhile, a similar case that involved both Schencks was making its way through the federal courts. In what eventually came to be named Rev. Paul Schenck and Dwight Saunders v. Pro-choice Network of Western New York, Rob and Paul Schenck were named contemnors for in incident involving the distribution of New Testaments and Gospel tracts on a public sidewalk outside an abortion facility on Main Street in Buffalo, NY. Although Robert was not a named petitioner (he remained a defendant only in the underlying case) in the incident itself and the court order restricting the Schencks’ activities became the basis for a Supreme Court case, Schenck V. Pro-Choice Network (95-1065). It stemmed from a lawsuit filed against 30 pro-life leaders (including the Schenck brothers) and organizations by pro-choice doctors and clinics; the case centered on the violation of court ordered moving buffer areas or “floating zones” which prohibited demonstrators and limited speech. It was contended that theses floating zones kept clinic clients safe from harassment, but pro-lifers argued the zones violated their First Amednment rights to free speech.

The High Court agreed with Schenck, et al. Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote that “floating zones” were not constitutional “because of the type of speech restricted and the nature of the location...[and] speech in public areas is at its most protected on public sidewalks”. Important in it’s outcome, the case of Schenck V. Pro Choice Network has since helped define the “Rules of Engagement” for public expression and civil disobedience.

D.C. Ministry
Schenck came to Washington out of a desire to bring classical Christian moral perspectives into the conversation and debate surrounding public policy, while presenting an intensely personal witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to elected and appointed officials. His high profile leadership of Faith and Action and the National Clergy Council do not overshadow his willingness to assist individuals through life’s difficulties and tragedies. 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. Recently, Rev. Schenck became 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. In these last two capacities, he also routinely carries out the normal functions 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.

Because of his commitment, his role on the national stage, and because of his genial, passionate preaching style, Rev. Schenck continues to be a highly sought after speaker. He spends quite a bit of time traveling as an 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 foreign countries. He is as an advocate for the powerless in society (raising money for crisis pregnancy centers, city missions, medical missionary programs) and conducting religious diplomacy. He also works both at home and abroad on religious liberty issues, most recently 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 (“plant” a church in ministry jargon). He attracted a core group of worshipper and created what became the National Community Church. He served as pastor to the church for over a year when Schenck decided he needed to spend more time ministering to the people in government. So, in the beginning of 1996, Schenck passed the mantle to Mark Batterson, a young man he recognized had many gifts for ministry. Starting with the core group, Batterson built National Community Church into a large, vibrant Evangelical Church with a cutting-edge ministry model.

Faith and Action
The name Faith and Action represents well Schenck’s ministry philosophy. His brand of activism and advocacy flows from his conviction that the two Great Commandments of Christ are inseparable: “Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength,” and, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:28-31 NKJV)

Schenck is also a student of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the young German Protestant Evangelical pastor, theologian and moral philosopher who was a resister of Adolf Hitler and National Socialism in pre-war and World War II Germany and Europe. Schenck actively promulgates Bonhoeffer’s position that one’s Christianity must be vigorously expressed through one’s relationships and one’s actions. Schenck also believes that public policy and those that shape, enact and enforce it can be encouraged to uphold Biblical values through exposure to authentic Christian relationship. Schenck seeks to affect policy by creating personal relationships and challenging hearts and minds with the teachings of Jesus Christ. Those teachings can be summarized in the Two Great Commandments. Faith and Action seeks continually to recruit, train and deploy both ordained and lay missionary workers to effectively engage those serving in high public office.

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. The 19th Century Victorian Row House is located at109 2nd Street, NE, across from East Façade of the U.S. Supreme Court building. A notable feature of their ministry office is a set of granite tablets depicting the Ten Commandments. This “garden statue” was considered so provocative that after five years of negotiating with the local government authorities, permission to install it was denied. Finally, on Memorial Day in 2006, the monument was attractively placed in the front of the building, readily noticeable from the street. (The volunteer workers that installed the 850-pound granite sculpture were careful to exceed code requirements.) When the Government of the District of Columbia threatened fines of $300 a day for a “possible public space violation,” Schenck appealed the decision based on a First Amendment claim and in view of the many similarly-sized sculptures located in the garden areas of surrounding properties. Three weeks later the Government of the District of Columbia reversed itself based on Schenck’s “First Amendment interests” and “upon further consideration of the applicable law.”

Ten Commandments Project
Created in 1995, Faith and Action’s Ten Commandments Project seeks to remind Americans of our common need for a moral foundation. For this reason, Faith and Action has given over 400 plaques bearing the familiar Words of Sinai 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 about 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. Honorees are urged to “display and obey” the Ten Commandments.

Schenck chose to promote the Ten Commandments because of their universal and enduring nature and because they are fundamental to morality. The Decalogue is also revered equally by Jews, Christians and Muslims, and are considered by most other major religions to reflect the highest in divine and human ideals.

National Memorial for the Preborn
In 1995, Rev. Schenck organized the first National Memorial for the Preborn and their Mothers and Fathers. This Memorial is a service of preaching, worship and witness for the sanctity and dignity of all human life, beginning with those yet to be born. The first event drew people from around the country,, women and men who had suffered the loss of abortion, pro-life activists and clergy from around the nation as well as members of congress. This quickly became the most important pro-life event held inside the US Capitol complex in Washington, DC. 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. Rev. Schenck and his staff continue to have major roles and responsibilities associated with the event.

National Clergy Council
Schenk is the 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, was formed in 1989 and has maintained an office on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, since 1994. Its mission is to "Bring classical Christian moral instruction into the conversation and debate surrounding public policy." The National Clergy Council is the largest national association of conservative clergy. The National Clergy Council members work together to bring a values based ethic into the public conversation on national affairs. This means participation among newsmakers and a willingness to comment upon notable events. As a leading voice of the NCC, Schenck is often sharing the group’s views with Congress and its leadership. Remaining informed on the details of pending laws and Supreme Court cases remains critical because many in the media are interested in his comments on the issues. As President of the important clergy association he is often asked to opine on the topic of the day. Schenck serves the National Clergy Council’s presidency on a pro-bono or volunteer basis. As President of the National Clergy Council Schenck also performs very diverse functions, such as moderating the “Faith in the Public Square Round Table: where do we go from here?” separation of Church and State panel discussion featuring leaders from various traditions, making a formal request of President Bush that the nation adopt a National Day of Pray for Hurricane Katrina victims,  being the first to receive permission to hold a National Day of Prayer Service on the grounds of the U.S. Supreme Court or traveling to San Diego to speak out against the removal of the Mt. Soledad Korean War Memorial Cross.

Judge Moore’s Monument
One role of the National Clergy Council chair is to participate in the national dialogue. So, in 2003, Schenck helped organize and lead demonstrations outside of the Alabama Courthouse of Judge Roy Moore. Moore had refused to relocate a granite monument to the historic basis of the law. The monument was ordered moved by the Alabama High Court because the most prominent part of the monument displayed the 10 commandments. When Law Enforcement came to remove the monument Schenck and several others had surrounded the monument, knelt and begun to pray. He was arrested and held for 5 ½ hours while the monument was moved. Because of his stature in the religious community Schenck was interviewed on numerous television shows regarding the events.

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.

The Evangelical Church Alliance International (ECA) is a coalition of Evangelical Christian ministers serving throughout the world. Begun in 1887, the ECA focuses on preparing, consecrating and nurturing men and women called into Christian Ministry. The central office for the Evangelical Church Alliance is located in Bradley, Illinois. The ECA is an association of ministers and not a hierarchical organization.

Members of the ECA include, but are not limited to, pastors, teachers, para-church leaders, church and religious non-profit executives, missionaries, evangelists, speakers, youth ministers, professors, military chaplains as well chaplains for emergency response services, hospice, prisons and industry.

Schenck holds an elected seat on the board of directors for the ECA and serves as appointed to chair 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.

Public Chaplain
As President of the National Clergy Council, Schenck can be found ministering in situations that are both high profile and extremely complex. His distinctive office gives him access in these notable situations with a chaplain’s ability to minister to people of diverse faith traditions. His facility in filling this unusual and helpful role, as well as his ability to articulate his experiences to the media, brings people together. Immediately following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, he led an ecumenical prayer service near the Pentagon, laying a yellow rose for each of the victims that died there. He also volunteered as a temporary police chaplain at Ground Zero in Manhattan. In 1998, Schenck was in the US Capitol leading a delegation of religious leaders when a gunman opened fire at one of the security checkpoints used by visiting tourists. Schenck and his fellow clerics ministered to traumatized eyewitnesses and led in a circle of prayer on the Capitol’s east lawn. In 2005, he met with Gulf Coast religious leaders directly after Hurricane Katrina. In 2006, Schenck traveled to Alabama to meet with pastors during a spate of church arsons there. In October of the same year, his close connections with churches and ministries in the Lancaster County, Pennsylvania area drew him into the sad drama surrounding a brutal attack on Amish children there.

Schenck is known to be strong in his evangelical conviction but consistent with his early years in a Jewish home, he ministers with respect for other faith traditions. In one case, he voiced his support for a measure that would allow all military chaplains to publically pray in a manner appropriate to their own faith traditions. He was also quoted as commenting on the controversial use of text from the Koran by President Bush in his second inaugural address, “The Koran contains words directly reflecting Biblical material. This is a wise way for our country to build bridges of understanding to the Islamic world, like St. Paul did with the pagan Greeks.”

Nickel Mines Amish School Shooting
In October 2006, a gunman took hostages at an Amish School in Pennsylvania. He killed three elementary age girls and seriously wounded seven others before committing suicide at the scene. Two of the wounded children died in the days following the attack. As President of the National Clergy Council and through a liaison to the Amish community, Schenck received invitations to visit families of both the victims and the deceased gunman. In this role, Schenck was able to share his experience and insights into the reaction of the highly religious “plain people” as well as explain to a curious press and public how the Amish were reacting to the tragedy.

About their surprising attitude toward the gunman, Schenck shared about his visit to an Amish farm where the body of one of the victims was being prepared for burial, "It was while the family and community stood watching this mother tenderly care for her little girl's brutally damaged body that they spoke to me at length of forgiving the shooter. It was the most moving thing I've seen or heard in my 25 years as a minister of the Gospel. It was a living sermon on the power of God's mercy."

After a pastoral call to the devastated family of gunman Charles Roberts, Schenck explained at a press conference, “Out of guilt and shame, the Roberts family could have rejected that generous offer of forgiveness, but they instead accepted it. I don't think there's a better illustration of the Christian message in the Gospel. As the Amish say, God extends his forgiveness to us for our sins, but we must receive it. That's the essence of salvation. Only then can we pass that forgiveness on."

Memberships

 * 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, Board of Directors, Casablanca Institute
 * Member, American Academy of Ministry
 * Member, American Academy of Religion,
 * Member, The Center for Bio-ethics and Human Dignity
 * Member, The National Association of Evangelicals

Appeared On
Rev. Schenck has appeared or been featured on

Television Radio Magazines
 * PBS Lehrer News Hour
 * Larry King live
 * Hannity and Combs
 * Nightline
 * CNN
 * C-Span
 * 700 Club
 * The Sean Hannity Show
 * Life
 * Time
 * Newsweek
 * U.S. News and World Report
 * Christianity Today
 * Feature Story Focus
 * New York Times
 * Chicago Tribune
 * Houston Chronicle
 * Los Angeles Times
 * Baltimore Sun
 * Washington Post