By Movieguide® Staff
SNL alum Jay Pharoah recalled a life-changing moment that connected him to his faith — courtesy of the “Celebrity Evangelist.”
“So I got my Bible app, right?” Pharoah said during a recent appearance on THE TAMRON HALL SHOW. “I was reading on my Bible app because I said, ‘I want to finish the Bible. I want to read the whole thing.’ I was reading my Bible app, but it didn’t feel right, because every time you’re on your Bible app, you get all these distractions…you got Instagram, you got Facebook, you got all these things coming up. And I said, ‘The word of God should not be limited to an app…what I’m going to do is, I’m going to get myself a hard Bible like I had when I was a kid.’”
He explained that, when he was a child, he had a blue Bible with his name written inside of it.
“I was in Columbus, Ohio, and it was the Friday night show,” Pharoah continued. “There was a pastor that drove all the way from, I think it was Tennessee, and he didn’t get in, but he stayed outside of the show. He came up to me after the show. He goes, ‘God told me to give you this.’ It was a blue Bible with my name on it.”
Related: Celebrity Evangelist Dylan Novak Gifts Ozzy Osbourne a Bible
The comedian added, “And here’s the kicker. I can’t make this up…in the Bible was a bookmark at the exact mark that I stopped reading on my Bible app.”
The man who gave Pharoah that Bible? Dylan Novak, a.k.a. the Celebrity Evangelist. He took to Instagram to share his side of this amazing story.
“I prayed, ‘God, is this somebody you want me to go talk to?’” Novak explained. “And I felt very peaceful in my heart and my spirit to go talk with Jay…it was simply obeying the great commission in Mark.”
Novak gave Pharoah the Bible, the two chatted and then parted ways. A few hours later, the SNL star called Novak, who had given him his contact info, and shared his testimony. The pair have stayed in touch since then.
“Hearing this story shared on national TV just gave me such an encouragement for Jay being unashamed of living for the Lord, for the power of the gospel, and the power of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” Novak shared.
Pharoah has previously spoken about his faith. In a 2022 interview with MrFeelGood, he said, “I have veered off the path and got back on many times. But as the Bible states, a saint is just a sinner who fell down and got up.”
“Everybody has their center point, and God is mine. That’s where I find solace, where I can always go,” he concluded.
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