Skip to main content
pastorhansschmidtfw.jpg

'We Serve a Miracle-Working God!' Wife of Pastor Shot in Head Shares Incredible Update and Photos

Share This article

The wife of an Arizona pastor who was shot in the head while street preaching has revealed stunning details surrounding her husband’s miracle recovery.

Listen to them on the latest episode of “Quick Start”:

“We serve a miracle-working God,” Zulya Schmidt wrote in a Sunday Instagram post, sharing photos and a video of her husband, Hans, doing remarkably well just months after he was nearly killed. “He walks, he talks, he even plays the drums.”

Two photos — taken Jan. 28 — show the couple standing by one another, and a video shows Hans playing the drums, presumably inside his church.

These photos and video are remarkable, considering how recently the preacher nearly died.

As CBN News reported, Hans, a 26-year-old dad of two, a military combat veteran, and the outreach director at Victory Chapel First Phoenix in Arizona, was taken to the hospital Nov. 15 on suspicion of having been assaulted.

But a CT scan revealed he had been shot. Schmidt soon descended into serious condition, as his family prayed for a miracle, imploring others to do the same.

Now, it seems, those invocations have been answered.

“God has done an incredible work in Hans’ life and every day he continues to improve,” Zulya’s Instagram post continued. “Please continue to pray for a full restoration.”

Zulya told CBN News last month she and her family were asking God for a miracle despite the many unknowns at the time.

“We’re hopeful, and we’re praying, and we’re contending for a supernatural recovery,” she said. “But there’s just so much unknown still, so much uncertainty.”

She emphasized at the time, though, that there was hope.

“Every day, we’ve been able to witness a miracle,” Zulya said.

Zulya also shared details about what unfolded the evening of the shooting, noting Hans was street preaching as he has frequently done over the past year.

“He’s been doing that for over a year, and, usually, he street preaches for 30 minutes before every evening service for our church,” she said. “That day, he just ended street preaching early, and I thought that was odd.”

Schmidt said Hans loaded the sound system into the car after being shot and drove to the church. She suddenly noticed he was bleeding and assumed someone had potentially thrown a bottle at him while he was speaking or injured him in another similar way.

“I had no idea what really had happened,” she said. “He drives our vehicle to the church [and] unloads the sound system.”

Consider donating to the family to help cover medical expenses:

Schmidt was increasingly concerned by her husband’s bleeding and convinced him to go to the hospital. On the way, she said he started throwing up; by the time they reached the emergency room, he was seizing.

At the time, even the doctors treating him were unaware he was suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. It was only after a CT scan that physicians found the bullet — a revelation that left his wife completely stunned. To make matters worse, by that point, Hans had become unresponsive.

“My heart sank,” Schmidt said. “I just felt sick to my stomach.”

Doctors and authorities initially didn’t have much hope for Hans.

“They were like, ‘Yeah, no one’s going to touch it,'” she said of the bullet. “No neurosurgeons; it’s just not operable, and then even just hearing the detective say, ‘We’ll know more after the autopsy.'”

She said these statements left her struggling to grapple with the reality before her, yet Schmidt continued to cling to her faith throughout the ordeal — and Hans kept fighting for his life.

Schmidt said she’s “shocked” by the peace she has had throughout the unthinkable, crediting it all to God and people’s prayers.

“I know God has a plan in all of this, because there’s no other way to explain it … the ugliness that I would see and just the peace that I had,” Schmidt said. “I remember … when he was in the ICU, [I said], ‘Everything’s gonna be alright.'”

Listen to them on the latest episode of “Quick Start”:

Looking back, she knows it was God sustaining her, because, in reality, nothing looked like it would be OK. Despite the peace Schmidt has experienced, the circumstances have been challenging.

She has two small children, with her youngest just four months old.

“Just seeing your loved one in that situation, it’s not easy,” she said. “He was the main provider for our household, and he would go to work, and now … it’s like a whole reset; [he has] to relearn everything and the brain is such a sensitive thing.”

Police continue to look for the person responsible for the shooting. A GoFundMe has been set up to help the Schmidt family deal with the massive expenses they’re sure to incur.

***As the number of voices facing big-tech censorship continues to grow, please sign up for Faithwire’s daily newsletter and download the CBN News app, to stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***

Share This article

About The Author

Billy Hallowell writes for CBN's Faithwire.com. He has been working in journalism and media for more than a decade. His writings have appeared in CBN News, Faithwire, Deseret News, TheBlaze, Human Events, Mediaite, PureFlix, and Fox News, among other outlets. He is the author of several books, including Playing with Fire: A Modern Investigation Into Demons, Exorcism, and Ghosts Hallowell has a B.A. in journalism and broadcasting from the College of Mount Saint Vincent in Riverdale, New York and an M.S. in social research from Hunter College in Manhattan, New York.