Jack Van Impe
| Jack Van Impe | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Jack Leo Van Impe February 9, 1931 Freeport, Michigan, U.S. |
| Education | diploma, Detroit Bible Institute |
| Occupation | Evangelist, Author, Apocalyptic Bible Prophet, Biblical Scholar, TV show host, Television Personality |
| Known for | Founder of Jack Van Impe Ministries International (JVIM) Host of the Jack Van Impe Presents syndicated TV program |
| Title | Dr. Jack Van Impe |
| Spouse(s) | Dr. Rexella Mae Shelton (m. 1954) |
| Website | http://www.jvim.com |
Jack Leo Van Impe (born February 9, 1931) is an American televangelist who is known for his half-hour weekly television series Jack Van Impe Presents, an eschatological commentary on the news of the week through an interpretation of the Bible. The program airs throughout the United States, Canada, and several other countries through both religious broadcasters and the purchase of paid programming time on commercial television stations. Van Impe's website claims that he is known as the "Walking Bible" because of his extensive memorization of Bible verses. His wife Rexella Van Impe (born Rexella Mae Shelton on November 29, 1932, in Missouri) shares his TV ministry as co-host.
Van Impe's parents, Oscar Alphonse Van Impe and Marie Louise, née Piot, immigrated from Belgium to the city of Troy, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, in the United States in 1929. Jack Leo Van Impe was born on February 9, 1931, in Freeport, Michigan. He was the couple's only child. The reason why Van Impe had decided to become an evangelist was because his father was a missionary with very strong faith.
According to Van Impe, he and his father Oscar played the accordion at night clubs, and Oscar regularly swore and drank alcohol, and believed that religion was hogwash. At meals, Van Impe would drink alcoholic beverages along with his father which is a European tradition. Then when Van Impe was twelve years old, Oscar converted to evangelical Christianity, and Oscar and Jack Van Impe together smashed all of their bottles of alcoholic beverages, and since that event Van Impe has not drunk any alcohol.
Van Impe then played accordion duets with his missionary father across Michigan and other states. In 1948, Van Impe graduated from high school and entered Detroit Bible Institute, earning his diploma in 1952 and beginning his career as a preacher and evangelist as well as an extensive recording career. Van Impe notes that during his years working with the Billy Graham crusades, when he was at a Youth For Christ rally with Chuck Ohman, Van Impe met his future wife, Rexella Mae Shelton, who was an organist with the crusades. Rexella was named after her father, Rex Shelton. The couple were married on August 21, 1954, and started their own joint ministry.
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