Egyptian Pastors Flocking to Alexandria for Training
by Allie Martin
November 16, 2005
(AgapePress) - - Despite the threat of violence, hundreds of pastors are preparing to attend an evangelism training conference in Egypt.More than 600 ministers are expected to attend the All Egypt Pastors Conference during Thanksgiving week in Alexandria. The four-day conference (November 21-24) is sponsored by Ramesh Richard Evangelism and Church Health (RREACH), a Plano, Texas-based ministry founded in 1987, and features training, workshops, and two evangelistic events.
Dr. Ramesh Richard, who teaches expository preaching and worldview apologetics at Dallas Theological Seminary, says there are several events associated with the conference that are geared to unbelievers. Those events, called "opinion leader" events, attempt to expose "people of influence and affluence" to the gospel, says Richard. That group, he explains, includes successful business and community leaders.
"We ask [pastors] to bring 50 percent unbelievers to an event like this, and I'm presented as a spiritual philosopher -- and I present sort of a winsome case for Christ," the ministry leader explains. "They've asked me to speak on the issue of success; I have a talk on 'Successful Success,' based on Jesus' words 'if you gain the whole world and lose your soul, have you really been a success?'"
According to Richard, recent violence against Christians in the area could have resulted in the plans for the conference. He explains what happened.
"About two weekends ago a Coptic church was attacked because of a play that featured the story of a Christian who had joined the majority religion, and then re-converted from the majority religion to Christianity," he says. "And that re-conversion was seen as a defamation of the majority religion's founder."
But the conference agenda, says Richard, will not be altered because the organizers wish to press on. "These men are so committed," he says. "When we asked if we should consider postponing [the conference], they said absolutely not."
The latest government data indicate 94 percent of the Egyptian population is Muslim.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
