Dallas Cowboys’ Pastor Tony Evans Calls for Prayers for Wife’s Cancer, Hopes for ‘Supernatural’ Intervention

Pastor Tony Evans has a long list of life accomplishments: Becoming the first African American to graduate from Dallas Theological Seminary; the leader of the almost-10,000-member Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas; creator of a nationwide radio broadcast; chaplain for the Dallas Cowboys; and the longest-serving chaplain in NBA history with the Dallas Mavericks.

But out of everything he has accomplished, Evans has always prioritized being a husband to the woman he loves: Lois Evans. When Lois faced a deadly battle with cancer, Evans called out to his followers and supporters across the country for prayers, as conventional doctors have said they can do no more for her.

Lois has been suffering from biliary cancer, a very rare cancer with fewer than 20,000 cases in the United States each year. Its scientific name is cholangiocarcinoma, but it is often called bile duct cancer as it forms in the bile ducts, which connect the gallbladder, liver, and small intestine. Lois and Tony Evans have been married for almost 50 years, and she has played a key role in his ministries since the 1990s.

After undergoing treatment, it looked as though Lois’s cancer might have gone into remission, but Tony took to Instagram on April 2, 2019, to announce that it was back. “In recent days, we have had quite a bit on us as a family as you know. My faith is being tested in a way I’ve never experienced … but I trust God,” he wrote. He admitted to being shocked by the return of the cancer after doctors were convinced that it had disappeared.

Later that month, their son Jonathan Evans, a former professional football player and the current chaplain for the Dallas Cowboys, posted an update of his own, explaining that his mom was doing her best to follow all the doctors’ recommendations. Meanwhile, Tony was also taking care of his ailing father, who is 90 years old. “It’s been a lot,” he admitted in a video update. “We just need a lot of prayer for my parents [and] the whole family.”

Lois and Tony spoke together in a Facebook video update posted on May 10, 2019, which gave their followers and well-wishers more information, including that Lois was not only trying conventional therapies, such as low-dose chemo on a regular basis, but was also experimenting with homeopathic treatments. “Tony and I and our family are really grateful for your prayers because it has brought us to a place of peace,” she shared.

Calling it her “waiting room season,” as she visited specialist after specialist looking for answers, Lois talked about journaling passages from the Bible that were comforting her.

Despite every effort, the cancer has proved to be resistant to treatment. Since early October, the family has had 24-hour prayer team vigils outside their home in Dallas. Lois has been in the hospital recently due to pain from her recurred cancer, and conventional specialists have come to the end of the road of options for her.

As Evans wrote in a letter to his friends and followers posted on Instagram, “Even though chemotherapy and radiation are no longer options, we still have total confidence in God’s ability to supernaturally intervene and do what man is unable to do.” He notes that while the hospital can do nothing more for Lois, she “is continuing with natural therapies, supplement treatments, and is surrounded 24/7 by with the love of her nuclear and extended family as well as the support of [their] church and national ministry.”

Evans called for continued prayers “during this time of fiery trial.” As Evans emphasized, “We know that God is still on the throne, and our faith is in Him and His Word, and His love for us has not wavered in the least.”