Em Fergusson:
Many Church people experience a lot of pain and we are all aware that our heavenly father is there to help us overcome. You address this, I believe, at the beginning of the book - about being a Christian and feeling guilty or bewildered because there does not seem to be any consistency to your life and faith. How do we move past these kinds of issues?

Bishop Evans:
The first thing that we have to do as Christians is to move away from denial. Because we’re Christians, we think we’re above certain things, but we’re not above feeling certain things. We get hurt like everyone else, we get angry like everyone else, we get depressed like everyone else. Part of being delivered from those controlling factors in our lives is to first admit we have the issue. The greater hurdle we have to deliver, in being successful Christians, is admitting certain things. These issues include, being in a relationship with God, being a person of faith, being anointed with the Holy-Spirit, we have a problem admitting that we have problems. And this is difficult. The Bible says that ‘if you confess it, He is faithful and just to cleanse it.’ So, confession or being honest with ourselves is the first issue.

The second hurdle we have to contend with ourselves is seeing God about (those) issues. I can spend so much time in my life keeping people away from painful places and become so efficient at it that I begin keeping God out of that place. So I have to let God into that painful place. How do I do it? I say, “Look God, I am hurting: I need your help.” It’s not complicated. Say, “I’m hurting, I need your help, I’m confessing it, I’m bringing it to you, I need you to tell me what to do about it.” And you pray, you read God’s word, you read ‘Healing Without Scars,’ which is good for you [ Bishop Evans laughs]!

I found that when I wrote about situations that people have gone through in the book…. I realized that sometimes you need to be delivered in the privacy of your own mind. And this is what the book allows you to do. It allows you to be delivered from the privacy of your own mind, your own thoughts and enter into a privacy place with no one around except God. So in the end, we can walk hand in hand away from the problem.

Em Fergusson:
Back in 1990 when you became pastor of Bethany Baptist Church, did you ever foresee that there would be such growth in numbers in the church?

Bishop Evans:
Of course not. What I saw was I actually had a small church when I started.  And I asked God if He filled the pew with about 500 people within the next five years, I would be satisfied. So, I was always faithful with a small crowd and as the crowd grew, my faithfulness did not change. I showed God that He could trust me with whatever He put in my hand. I didn’t see it cause I only asked Him for 500 people and 15 years later, we’re at 23,000 people and the church is still growing between 200 and 250 people a month. We’ve got 5,000 kids registered at the church. We’re building a medical center in January. We’re doing a lot of community things also because some people travel up to an hour or two to come here. People travel every week. We call it a ‘God-Take-Over!’

Em Fergusson:
You can say that again!
Going back to the book….can it be used as a means to reach young teenagers who are experiencing the level of challenges in society today that you address in your book, and if so, in what way?

Bishop Evans:
We see it as being somewhat preemptive, in that I’m 53 years old. By the time you reach my age and have not dealt with your issues, you’re pretty well entrenched. But we are finding out with the teen groups and pre-teen groups (a lot of teenagers are reading the book), we have kids as young as 12 years old reading it, especially those who have gone through some early childhood trauma. The book is ministering to them because it’s written in pretty simple language before the problem becomes an adult problem. Teens around the country have really taken to this book translated directly into Portuguese for about four months.

In many of the Portuguese-speaking countries we’ve been getting the same kinds of testimonies. And it’s about to be translated into Spanish now. So it’s a great book for teens because it gets to the issues before it becomes entrenched. And also, we’ve gotten great testimonies from Portuguese-speaking countries because the book has been.

Em Fergusson:
At what point in your ministry did you recognize that people needed to how know God’s grace and mercy could help heal their pain?

Bishop Evans:
Very, very early because the ministry’s focus has always been wholeness. I realized early on that you can have a great job, be a genius, but if you’re emotionally wounded and scarred, you sabotage every single opportunity that comes along. So I realized real early on in life, even before I was pastoring, that our emotional difficulties that could be attached or contributed to traumas we’ve experienced earlier on in life was a major problem for most people. My ministry really addresses the thought processes, the emotional wholeness, psychological wholeness, and how that all relates to successes in life. I believe the Bible is so clear on those factors.

Em Fergusson:
Now, did you know at the onset of this realization to address these topics in book form?

Bishop Evans:
Well what happened was, I did a series called ‘Healed Without Scars.’ I preached it all around the country and the response was so overwhelming. People kept walking up to me saying, “You need to write this in a book, you need to write this into a book.” So I looked at the content of the series and said, ‘OK, perhaps I can do it.” It took me about nine months to do it and that’s where the book came from: it started as a preaching series.

Em Fergusson:
I understand that now you offer it in conferences as well?

Bishop Evans:
Absolutely. I just did a conference at the Washington Christian Life Center in Virginia and we had a tremendous response.

Em Fergusson:
 Will there be a Part II to ‘Healed Without Scars?’

Bishop Evans:
There are several things going on: The CD has been released; The DVD is in production now, a play has been written called, ‘Healed Without Scars;’ we’re about to go into preproduction and we are talking to producers about making it into a movie.

Em Fergusson: Wow! As a last question, do you have any words of wisdom to impart to our visitors?

Bishop Evans:
 I believe that most people have a question – whether spoken or unspoken, that can be answered. Of course the question about healing is: ‘Am I going to feel this way about what happened to me for the rest of my life?’ Jesus has anointed you to be empowered; to minister to those who have been bruised by life; people that have lost their vision due to things that have taken place in their lives. He said, “I’m anointed, I’m empowered to come and deliver you from your circumstances.” People need to know that there is an answer through the word of God. I tell you, there are Christians and non-Christians who are willing to go through the process of being disconnected from the history of the past through this book. Get the workbook, listen to the CD. It is one of the most effective and most powerful books that have been written in the past ten years. It is a common issue and that is why I’m so excited at the impact the book is having in Africa, Europe, North and South America.

Em Fergusson:
Talk about being blessed! Well thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us about your ministry.  I know the book and the album will be a great blessing to believers and non-believers who need a touch from the Master’s Hand.

Bishop Evans:
Well, thank you. I really appreciated doing this. If you have any more questions, please let me know. It was a pleasure. God Bless you and thank you, Em.

Em Fergusson:
Thank you! And God bless you as well.

Interview by Em Fergusson
Edited By Em Fergusson

For more information on Bishop Evans and his ministry, visit davidgevans.com