Well my Dad came and shared his story with Grace this past Sunday. It went better than I could have expected. Our attendance jumped from 319 (100 less than usual) last week to 419 this week. We had many visiting people who were interested in hearing the story of my Dad.
He was a Palestinian muslim who joined the ranks of Yasser Arafat after the '67 War. He is now a Christian who ministers to Jews and Muslims, sharing his story with the hope that they will find the true peace they are looking for through Jesus Christ. You can check out his ministry called Hope for Ishmael.
I was really challenged yesterday to examine my prejudices towards Arabs and Muslims. Kind of strange being half Arab and having a little prejudice within me. (No I don't hate myself). It's very difficult to see the things like the bombing in London, 9/11, and all the terrorist attacks in Iraq and NOT be angry at the Arab world. My Dad challenged us to consider the fact that he was once a member of this violent and destructive society, but God showed grace upon his life. To pick and choose who I think should be allowed to partake of the hope I have in Christ is wrong. What a great exhortation for me on Sunday!
As the worship director over the service, I was INCREDIBLY pleased and shocked that my pops stuck to the time allotment. I really expected him to go over the alloted time of 25 minutes. WAY TO GO DAD!!! Great job to all who made yesterday a wonderful experience for those in attendance. Amazing job on the video bump Doug. I need a copy of that! To Dean our Director of World Missions, great Q&A at the close!
I'll post the link to the audio file when it gets uploaded this week to the Grace Church website.
UPDATE: click here for audio link.
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