When did you trust Christ?
I was raised in a believing family and came to a personal faith in Christ very early. There is an intense fear aspect to this (hell, judgment, and the Lord's Second Coming were strongly emphasised in our environment). With time, I think I came to a greater appreciation of God's love as revealed in Christ Jesus, supremely at the cross, as the perfect sacrifice. I continued in weekly fellowship and started early on to develop personal quiet times. I was baptised at 18 in the church I was attending.
What do you hope to gain from participating?
I hope to gain some new insights on witnessing to Muslims and look forward to exploring some aspects of this in greater depth, especially looking into the life of Muhammad (as compared to the life of Christ), compilation of the Qur'an, its manuscript history, and ways of explaining doctrines such as the Trinity to Muslim enquirers. I am also interested in the different ways Muslims have come to faith in Christ and hope to benefit from the experiences of others in this area. It would be fascinating to learn from Dr. Shehadeh, a native Arabic speaker, and benefit from his perspectives.
What is your ministry?
The first one is Christian journalism as (founding) editor of CNE. I am responsible for the editorial direction of the news platform and for pressing issues nowadays, such as same-sex marriage. Being fresh and innovative is a lot of work. But I enjoy it very much. The second ministry is being an elder in a Reformed Church congregation. I am also the secretary of the local consistory. So, this has a pastoral aspect (visiting, comforting, etc) and an administrative aspect (making policy together and taking the secretarial responsibility for that).
What is your leadership role or what were your past leadership roles?
I am on the leadership team of a local church and help with the Sunday messages and mid-week Bible studies. I am also a seminar presenter and member of the leadership team of Hasat ('Harvest') Church Ministries, which aims to provide part-time theological training for local churches. I am also the chairman of the Board of the Bible Correspondence Course, which is an evangelistic ministry. I am the representative for Langham Preaching, which has arranged training conferences for local speakers and those in other Word ministries. I also conduct Zoom meetings for group sharing. I am chairman of the Board of Donat, a local ministry dedicated to producing TEE materials and training group leaders.
