It might be the worst possible kind of grief, but if you know someone who has walked the agonizing path of losing a child, make sure they tune in. Dr. James Dobson will sit down with a couple who lost SIX of their nine children, and find out whether or not their faith survived a pain most of us can only imagine.
When Scott married his childhood sweetheart, Janet, he never could have imagined the journey that they would have together. Seven years later, he was the father of three young children, and teacher of a middle school special education class when God reached down into his life. At the age of twenty-seven, Scott accepted Christ as his Savior. He faithfully served in his church teaching both in Sunday School and Children’s Church, and working in their youth ministry, evangelistic ministries, and Christian Day School. Two years later, he went to Bible college to study God’s Word full time.
By 1994, Scott was both teaching in the Chicago public schools and pastoring a church in the Chicago neighborhood of Mt. Greenwood. By this time, God had graciously given Scott and Janet six more children. Their oldest three were married and had given them five grandchildren. In November of that year, Janet and he were traveling with their youngest six when their van hit a piece of road debris causing the gas tank to explode. All six of their youngest children died as a result. Scott’s initial response to that trial drew the attention of the national media giving him the opportunity to testify of God’s grace. After the accident, Scott pastored six more years at the church in Chicago, then started a charitable ministry called the Khesed Foundation. Throughout the years, he has faithfully shared the lessons he learned out of his first hand experience of adversity.
Scott taught school for twenty years and pastored for seventeen years. He has been married to Janet for forty-four years. Their surviving three children have given them thirty-two grandchildren of which they are most grateful. He has always counted it a great privilege and joy both to study the Word of God and teach it to others.
Janet is grateful to God for the blessing of loving parents and an idyllic American childhood. When she was just a young girl she learned about Jesus, but it was when she was a high schooler that she read a gospel tract and fully trusted in Christ as her Savior. After she married her husband Scott and became the mother of three children God moved in their lives and hearts in a powerful way. Scott accepted the Lord and they both began to grow as Christians serving in their local church. Two years later, they went off to Bible college where they received valuable training in God’s Word.
By 1994, God had graciously given Scott and Janet six more children and Scott was pastoring a church in the city of Chicago. Their oldest three were married and had given them five grandchildren. Janet was busy homeschooling the youngest six. In November of that year, Janet and Scott were traveling with their youngest six when they had an accident beyond any mother’s worst nightmare. Their van hit a piece of road debris causing the gas tank to explode. All six of their youngest children died as a result. Scott and Janet’s initial response to that trial drew the attention of the national media giving them the opportunity to testify of God’s grace.
Throughout the years since the accident, Scott and Janet have shared with others the lessons they have learned out of their first hand experience of adversity. Janet is grateful for the privilege of being a mother, grandmother, pastor’s wife, and teacher both of preschool and homeschool. She has also had the opportunity to develop and use her love of art in serving the Lord. She has written and illustrated two books. The first was A Dad’s Delight, a children’s picture book relating a true story about her family pointing to God’s great mercy. The second was What on Earth is Heaven Like? It is a careful look at what the Bible reveals about the New Jerusalem, the future home of all believers.
