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Dr Michael Youssef and his ministry – Leading the Way – recently held what has been called “the largest Christian event in Egypt’s history”.

In an interview with CBN News, Dr Youssef explained the background and vision for the event – along with the great fruit that came out of it.

The Invitation to Preach

Pastor Youssef, now 75 years old, received an invitation about a year ago to preach in his native Egypt. The request came from an association of pastors and Christian leaders from various denominations.

Youssef explains,

“Twelve months ago I received an invitation from pastors and leaders representing 27 denominations and they said, ‘We have never had an evangelistic outreach of that kind of magnitude. Would you pray about it?’ I prayed about it and I felt, ‘Of course, I will come.’”

With the war between Hamas and Israel beginning on 7 October, there were thoughts that the invitation would now need to be declined and the event cancelled.

But such thoughts were not at all the intentions of Michael. Undeterred, Youssef responded:

“God knew 12 months ago when this was planned that this [war] was going to happen. This is not taking Him by surprise.

“Can you imagine an announcement made that the evangelist is not coming because he is concerned about the situation in the Middle East? What kind of a God do I worship? I am going no matter what. And I knew that I could trust God, this was God’s plan and we want to be on His plan.”

Wonderful Fruit from a Message of Hope

Consequently, the gospel crusade went ahead last month in Cairo, where more than 17,000 attended. In response to the gospel message over 7,800 decided to place their trust in Jesus.

Michael gave a message based on Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 24:37 that “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in days of the Son of Man.”

The atmosphere at the gospel crusade was described as “a foretaste of heaven”. Youssef explained the incredible circumstances this way:

“It was an amazing experience. Past midnight, people didn’t want to leave. And they said, ‘We just feel the Holy Spirit here. It’s a foretaste of heaven.’ Just praising God together, people from all denominations, from all backgrounds.”

Asked about the reasons the people were hungry for a message of hope, Dr Youssef gave the following explanation:

“I think there are many things that are going on right now. The war on the Northern border with Hamas, inflation is 40% in Egypt. People are really suffering and some are losing hope and they want something to hang their hope onto. They want to have peace and this is exactly the message I brought them. You can have peace in Christ, regardless of the circumstances and regardless of the surroundings, and it just resonated with them and I praise God for that because it was a simple message of the Gospel and the hunger was there.”

Importance of Prayer

Prayer played a central and major role in the lead-up to the event in Cairo. There were teams of people praying around the clock for the entire year. Youssef explained that he did not think the response would have happened without it.

“There have been people who have been praying around the clock for nearly 12 months. I always say this is God’s answer to the prayers of the faithful people there… He responded to their prayers and their faith and gave them what is going to be now an igniting of a movement that is going to continue. It’s not going to stop. We praise God for all those people.”

Christianity Growing in Egypt

Dr Youssef is optimistic about the state of the Church in Egypt. He was born in Egypt (interestingly, against a doctor’s recommendation to his parents that the pregnancy – and therefore Michael’s life – should be terminated). After living in Lebanon and Australia, he now calls Atlanta, USA, home.

Youssef has seen significant growth in the Church since the time he left Egypt. He remarks,

“The church is booming. It is amazing what God is doing. The evangelicals and Protestants may have been 250,000 or 300,000 back when I lived there 55 years ago. Now there are over 2 million evangelicals in Egypt and about 10 million Coptic Orthodox.”

As to what is currently happening in Egypt, Youssef states,

“God is doing amazing work and bringing people to Himself. [Egyptians are] seeing dreams and seeing visions. And they watch our [TV] channel… And they say, “They are preaching about the One I saw in my dream.”

As previously requested on the Daily Declaration in response to the Hamas invasion of Israel, the prayer call went out to

“pray for dreams, visions, and encounters of Jesus in the Muslim world. Pray for an awakening in the Muslim world and a Church explosion. Pray that Muslims become disillusioned with Islam and find true answers in Jesus.”

Let us pray and never give up (Luke 18:1) that such “foretastes of heaven” continue.

You can access all the prayer points from the critical call to prayer for Israel here.

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Photo: Screenshot of CBN News.