On April 21st Dick Eastman, our brother and former International President of Every Home for Christ, passed into the presence of the Lord. He was eighty-two.
Dick served as the International President of Every Home for Christ from 1988 to 2022. He was dedicated to the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ and encouraged millions to develop a deeper relationship with God through prayer.
Throughout his life he authored numerous books and articles, spoke at countless conferences and events in the United States, Canada, and other nations, and encouraged Christians to make prayer and evangelism a significant part of their lives.
For over five decades, Dick mobilized prayer for the harvest and trained people in scores of nations to pray consistently for the lost people of the world.
It was in the summer of 1964 that the strongest impression was made on his heart and in his mind that evangelism and prayer needed to go hand in hand. He wrote of that experience, “My eyes caught a glimpse of a huge tree. I looked closely. The leaves became lost men and women around the world, hundreds of millions of them, waiting for a redeemer. They desperately needed prayer. True, they would first need to hear the gospel in order to believe, but prior to hearing the Good News, the scales would be prayed away from their eyes so they could believe when they finally did hear.”
In 1976 Dick created the Change the World School of Prayer, a multipart seminar that has impacted over three million people in 120 nations.
During the following decades Dick wrote 17 books on prayer and evangelism including The Hour that Changes the World and Look What God is Doing! which have sold more than 2 million copies.
He was committed to the convictions that have been at the heart of EHC’s work for decades. First, that the Great Commission given by Christ to the church must be taken literally. He called this keeping the main thing the main thing. Secondly, that the enormity of the task requires great participation. He called this the necessary thing. Thirdly, that prayer removes obstacles between people and the hearing of the gospel. He called this the key thing.
During his years as International President of EHC, more than 100 national works were launched, touching every corner of the world and reaching over 2 billion homes with prayer and the gospel message. The impact has been remarkable. In those same years, more than 250 million people responded to the gospel of hope and salvation.
As I reflect on Dick’s amazing legacy, I am deeply grateful for his dedication, his unwavering focus on the Great Commission of our Lord and for weaving together continual-evangelism and consistent-prayer for the lost — the main thing and the key thing working arm in arm.
His best-known teaching, The Change the World School of Prayer, makes the point clear: we must pray for the lost and tell them about the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. This does effect change in the world.
In the introduction of one of his books he wrote, “The deeply personal encounters described here are not to draw attention to my unusual experiences with the Lord…but rather to create in your heart a hunger for more of God and a consuming passion for those who are lost.”
My prayer is simply that by God’s grace, the seeds that were sown in faith by Dick Eastman will continue to bear fruit that will last and continue to produce a harvest of souls unto eternal life.
Dick died peacefully surrounded by his family. Please remember them in prayer as they adjust to their great loss in the months ahead — Dee, his wife of over 60 years, their daughters, Dena and Ginger, and their nine grandchildren.
