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Though Hans Schmidt was not expected to recover, on Sunday his wife announced his return to church, declaring, ‘We serve a miracle-working God’.

An evangelist who was shot in the head while street preaching in Arizona last November, and who was not expected to recover, returned to church over the weekend, even playing the drums in the church worship band.

Hans Schmidt is a 26-year-old husband, father of two young children, military veteran, and the outreach director at Victory Chapel First Phoenix in Arizona.

Last year, on the evening of Wednesday the 15th of November before a midweek church service, Hans was conducting outreach on a busy suburban street corner less than a block from his church, when he was struck in the left temple by a bullet and fell to the ground.

“No one heard the shot or saw where it came from,” a family friend of Hans, Brad Currell, later wrote of the incident.

Unaware of what had happened, incredibly, Hans got back up on his feet and was able to walk and talk. It was while driving back to the church that his wife Zulya noticed something was wrong.

‘I Had No Idea What Really Happened’

“Usually he street preaches for 30 minutes before every evening service for our church,” Zulya explained in a CBN News interview. “That day, he just ended street preaching early, and I thought that was odd.”

Though she noticed Hans was bleeding, “I had no idea what really had happened,” Zulya recalls. She assumed perhaps a passerby had thrown a bottle or some sort of projectile at him.

Soon, Zulya’s brother ran into the couple and, concerned for Hans, rushed him to the hospital, where Hans began vomiting and having seizures.

Doctors also were unaware they were dealing with a gunshot wound until they took a CT scan and Hans became unresponsive.

Neurosurgeons told Zulya that removing the bullet from her husband’s brain was out of the question because of where it was lodged. She has since recalled hearing a detective say at the time, “We’ll know more after the autopsy.”

‘We Serve a Miracle Working God’

A month after the incident, Hans had defied the odds and was recovering well, though he was still unable to speak.

Then on Sunday, Zulya posted on Instagram telling of his miraculous progress since.

“We serve a miracle-working God,” she wrote. “He walks, he talks, he even plays the drums.”

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

Victory Chapel First Phoenix also gave an update about Hans in a statement on their website.

“Our prayers have been answered!” the statement reads.

“We are rejoicing and thanking God for the miracle we have seen. Hans has been released from the hospital and is home with his family. Please continue to pray for this family as they navigate the road to recovery. Thank you Jesus!”

Asked how she kept her faith throughout the ordeal, Zulya told CBN News, “I honestly think it’s people’s prayers. That’s the only way I can explain it.”

A GoFundMe campaign launched on behalf of the Schmidt family has so far raised US$78,000.

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Image courtesy of Glendale Police Department.