Becoming Christian from Muslim

Introduction to www.ChristianfromMuslim.com

Welcome to www.ChristianfromMuslim.com! Our website/YouTube channel hosts hundreds of videos for Muslims interested in the Christian faith, and Christians who care about them. They include short answers, testimonies, full lessons with study guides, and reality scenes from the life of a formerly Muslim new Christian.

Hopefully you have watched the Introductory Video on our home page. Here we explain more of how the website works – the videos and the study guides. Below that, you will find the bios of our contributors.

Ten years in the making, We believe this is an excellent tool for:

• Christians – individuals and groups wanting to learn about Islam and reach Muslims for Jesus
• Muslim Seekers – interested in knowing more about Christianity
• New Christians, formerly Muslim – to learn and grow from teaching tailored to them
• Mixed Christians and Muslims – to watch together, to learn and discuss
• Christian Colleges and Organizations – to offer for training and credit

What to expect from our Videos

Our Video Index lists mostly Short segments on a narrow topic. But we also have half-hour Lessons, for people and groups wanting to go deeper.

Most videos are adapted from our world-wide television series on the discipleship of a former Muslim, over her first year and beyond as a Christian. They include a variety of content type, which keeps the pace moving.

You will find real-life views of Huda, a new Christian from an Arab Muslim background. You will see her real-time reactions as she learns about the Bible and the Christian faith. You will hear the questions that she, and most Muslims have. It will be almost like you are living it with us!

This format lets us explain the faith in a way that current and former Muslims understand. Their questions and comments provide viewpoints that would not occur to Christians. Watching them, Christians can learn the Muslim way of thinking.

With hundreds of videos to choose from, it can be confusing knowing where to start. So we included a Suggested Viewing menu on the home page to help you find the videos most suited to your interest.

What to expect in Christian from Muslim Video Lessons

Lesson Topics cover the most important issues in Muslim evangelism and discipleship, starting with the initial 16 postings, and gradually increasing to about 40. These video lessons explain the Christian faith – from the gospel, to growing and living as a Christian, plus essential theology and apologetics.  And it is done in ways that Muslims can understand, answering their questions.

Opening. Except for live-filmed lectures and specials, each lesson opens with a brief testimony from Huda, inviting you to join her as she learns and grows. This is so that whichever lesson you watch, you will understand its context: it is explaining our faith to a formerly Muslim, new follower of Jesus.

Reality. Most lessons include a segment of what is actually going on in Huda’s and Dr. Cynthia’s lives. In a group setting, they also provide a few minutes buffer for latecomers.

These everyday activities are usually connected with the topic of the day. You will notice in the reality segments how often Dr. Cynthia uses current activities to draw spiritual analogies that help Huda learn. Cooking, eating, driving, chatting, gardening, harvesting, entertainment and travel, can all be used for teaching. These segments are real-life examples of what you could do too.

Sometimes the activities trigger Bible stories and parables. Studies have shown that telling stories is one of the best ways to help people remember a concept. Jesus typically used this teaching style, and it still connects well with many Muslim cultures.

Teaching segments. Dr. Cynthia usually teaches Huda in these. Huda appears just as who she is – a new believer from a Muslim background. She speaks about her former life, and what she is now learning. Her questions and her life are authentic, and representative of many Muslims.

Defending, and Challenging. Our lessons and study guides include defense of the Christian faith against Muslim criticisms and doubts. We clearly but respectfully deal with areas of disagreement between Christianity and Islam. Occasionally we challenge Muslim beliefs, but that is not our focus.

Short features are included to reinforce the message, or present a short but important point. These include testimonies, and cameo appearances by both well-known and lay Christians, and Letters to Huda, in which mature Christians give advice to new believers. In Huda’s Side and Dr. Cynthia’s Side they independently give their real views on how Huda’s discipleship is going.

Questions Muslims Ask are special segments where experts answer questions from Huda and other Muslims.

Questions Christians Ask are answered in our videos, and especially the study guides.

Speakers. Dr. Cynthia is our host. Our notable Guests bring you wide experience and expert opinions: Georges Houssney, George Saieg, Nabeel Qureshi, Fouad Masri, Mike Licona, Bob Siegel, and other Christian brothers and sisters.

What to expect in Christian from Muslim Study Guides

Each video lesson has a Study Guide to download for free.  These review important points of the lessons, things you might have overlooked, and give additional information.

The study guides are developed for use by individuals as well as groups. For people who want a full course about becoming Christian from Muslim, they include background information, examples, and documentation with Bible and Qur’an references not presented in the videos. We also explain Muslim thinking on the topics, so Christians can better understand and share with them.

Not every study guide is of the same length. On topics of great interest, they are longer. Because of that, and because user interest varies, the study guides are designed to be easy to skim. If parts are too detailed for you or your group, simply skim the headings to find what interests you.

Study Questions are provided at the end of each study guide. These help viewers reflect upon, apply, and remember what they have learned. They can also provide a focus for group discussion. If you haven’t time to cover them all, select the questions most appropriate for you or your group.

For the video and study guide on Lesson on Building Bridges with Muslims, you will need to send an email to [email protected] with one or two sentences about yourself and/or group. This is really an important topic for Christians reaching Muslims for Jesus. We want to be sure that they have it. We will gladly send free links to the video and study guide – actually a full, 45 page Manual on Building Bridges with Muslims.

(We grant permission for you to copy the study guides for your personal use and that of your group. Otherwise we retain the copyright. It includes our original material, and is not to be sold or published.)

Thank you so much for using www.ChristianfromMuslim.com and Christian from Muslim YouTube. We hope that they encourage you, and assist you with whatever you need for the Christian:Muslim interchange.
 

About Dr. Cynthia

“Cynthia is one of the most effective evangelists to Muslims I have ever met.”

Dr. Cynthia has been involved with ethnic evangelism in America for over four decades. Although not Middle Eastern, her experience, personal, and professional connections with the Muslim World help her to understand and connect with Muslims.

In 1999, Dr. C started ministering more with Muslims. She also began actively studying Islamic source documents and Arabic, to directly learn what Islam teaches – not simply what the media or others told her. Adding practical to book knowledge, she has visited mosques, Islamic institutes, and Muslim clubs in Islamic countries, Europe, and America. There she attended lectures, asked questions, and met their leaders.

But Dr. C doesn’t just learn about Islam. She loves Muslims! Dr. C has personally spoken to thousands of them, shared the gospel with them, and praise God, seen them come to Christ!

She loves The Path of the Prophets evangelism method. This approach explains the gospel in a way that makes sense to Muslims. It confirms truths they already know, without diluting or changing the Biblical message. (See the video tract on our home page, and lesson of that name.)

Dr. Cynthia is a board-certified physician with decades of experience in America, and some overseas. Now retired from medicine, besides hosting for www.ChristianfromMuslim.com, she directs a American Ethnic Ministries, and is still active in outreach, personal evangelism, writing tracts and devotionals, and discipling new believers. She has taught in America and overseas for several renown ministries, churches of various denominations, and in universities. In the past, she held hospital, church, charity, and community leadership positions.

Two television series have been hosted by Dr. C: Woman Who Makes a Difference, and Becoming Christian from Muslim, both broadcast by satellite worldwide, targeting Middle Eastern viewers. Under a pen name, she has published a well-reviewed novel about Islam.

Dr. Cynthia has received an Excellence in Teaching award from a major university, and a Physician of the Year award.

Why just “Dr. Cynthia?” It seemed friendly to her, she says, so she started using it in hospital work, dropping her last name. Now it is her ministry name as well.

Other Quotations about Dr. C:

“Cynthia – you and those with you are heroes in Christ.”  – Josh McDowell

“I like America – when I’m with you.” – Syrian refugee woman with family left behind

“I got goose bumps hearing the things you are doing.” – Christian engineer in Colorado

“Our Imam uses you as an example of dedicated faith.” – serious American Muslim

“God is with you. I can see it in your eyes.” – Persian woman in USA

About Georges Houssney

Georges Houssney, raised in the predominantly Muslim city of Tripoli, Lebanon, came to the Lord as a teenager. At a young age he began to sense God’s call for full-time service among Muslims; preaching, teaching and planting churches. His background in psychology, linguistics, and intercultural studies has contributed to the production of two books in Arabic, Bible translation projects in Arabic and Kurdish, an indigenous Arabic Bible study curriculum in cooperation with David. C. Cook Foundation, and the thirteen-year publication of ReachOut to the Muslim World. His travels to ninety-eight countries and his forty years of experience in evangelism, discipleship, and church planting have culminated in the development of two training programs: Engaging Islam, for church members and missionaries, and Cubs to Lions, for Christians from Muslim backgrounds.

Georges includes Dr. Cynthia as a guest speaker for his training events. They partner together on other projects, especially in outreach to Muslims in France, and discipling former Muslims.

Georges is the founder and president of Horizons International. He along with his family and global staff members, strives to awaken the Church to the task of boldly proclaiming the Gospel to the nations.

For more information on what Georges does, see: www.horizonsinternational.org

About Huda

Born and raised Muslim in the Middle East, Huda found her new identity in Jesus Christ in September, 2009. About six weeks later, after much prayer consideration, filming began to document Huda’s discipleship as a Christian. Over the following years, Huda has shown no inclination to return to Islam.

“She’s powerful! It is so touching to hear from someone from a Muslim background say this.”

Most of our lessons open with a glimpse of Huda’s testimony. “When you become a believer,” she says, “although you still have trouble in your life, you have peace, and a sense of presence which lifts you above the world and keeps you safe. I know. My life has been a journey of adventure and excitement, and also many trials. The Bible says, ‘If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come.’… Come join me as I begin this new life.”

Traditionally, no Christian from a Muslim background takes the risk of showing their face on television. Huda’s love for Jesus gives her the courage to appear on screen as just who she is – a former Muslim learning to live as a Christian.

“I want to join this program,” says Huda, “because there are a lot of things unknown to people like myself who are from a Muslim background. Before, I didn’t know anything about the Lord Jesus. Through this program I am happy to share the answers.”

Huda now encourages Christians to share the gospel with Muslims. Before she moved to America, Huda lived a life of wealth and privilege. She lived between Europe and the Middle East, and traveled the globe. As she compared what she saw and experienced in Christian regions, with Muslim countries and pagan Asia, it became clear to Huda her that there was something wonderful about Jesus.  But no one shared the gospel with her until she moved to America and met Dr. Cynthia.

“All my life I didn’t know about the real God,” Huda says in the show, “I wish anybody came and spoke to me… my eyes were blind.”

About George Saieg

George Saieg, who appears in several of our videos, is an Arab raised in a Muslim country. He speaks and reads Arabic as his native language. George knows the Islamic documents – the Qur’an, hadith, commentaries and other Muslim sources from Muslim schools, and has studied them in their original Arabic.

When George came to America, the Lord put on his heart the burden to reach Muslims with the gospel – something he could not easily do in his native Sudan – and he has been faithful to that quest for over 18 years.

George is unique in being bilingual/bicultural, and willing to publicly share his deep insight into the teachings and practices of Islam. He is the only English-speaking expert we know who is willing to do so on video. Because of their limited Arabic and/or race, Dr. Cynthia and other Christians working with Muslims commonly hear that they either misunderstand or misquote the Islamic sources. George Saieg cannot be cast aside with that accusation, because he is both of the race and tongue of the sources. He gives the claims of www.ChristianfromMuslims.com authenticity and integrity.

Here is another thing we like about George Saieg: he not only talks about reaching Muslims, on-line and at his monthly meetings and conferences, he actively does it. This is not always the case. Besides being expert on the theology and practices of Muslims, George not only effectively mobilizes others to reach out, he leads outreach teams and short-term mission trips.

Through his Ministry to Muslims Network, George organizes weekly mosque outreaches which have visited every mosque in Southern California, as well as others in states with large Muslim populations. He also partners in outreach with Dr. Cynthia and American Ethnic Ministries which she directs.

George Saieg’s many ways of reaching out touch both the heart and head needs of Muslims: Vacation Bible Schools and free events in Muslim communities, visiting Muslim homes, and encouraging former Muslims. Yet he boldly addresses Muslim challenges to Christianity, and organizes Christian/Muslim debates through the Center for Religious Debate.

For more information on what George does, see: www.ministrytomuslims.com

About Nabeel Qureshi

New York Times bestselling author, renown speaker and apostate from Islam, Nabeel Qureshi has partnered with us not only on our videos, but also in training and outreach.

Raised as a devout Muslim in the United States, Nabeel grew up studying Islamic apologetics with his Pakistani family, and engaging Christians in religious discussions. One such discussion with a Christian began years of debate on the historical claims of Christianity and Islam. Nabeel chronicled this spiritual journey, and the apologetics that led him to Christ, in his powerful first book Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. It is the only book ever to win Christian Book Awards for both “Best New Author” and “Best Nonfiction.”

Early on in his ministry, Nabeel joined Dr. Cynthia and Barbie (of our videos) to gain experience in campus outreach to Muslims at the University of California at Berkeley. During the subsequent years, he lectured to students at more than 100 universities, including prestigious ones in America, England, and Hong Kong.

Nabeel was a well-educated, accomplished global speaker. He participated in public debates around North America, Europe, and Asia. When alive, he was Dr. Cynthia’s favorite debater on Islam. Because deep compassion for his Muslim people, although his points were strong, and his presentation style clean, it was without cynicism or disdain. In fact, Dr. Cynthia travelled to London to hear his debate on the integrity of the Qur’an (where she took the included photo). In turn, while teaching on Islam at BIOLA for their Christian Apologetics program, Nabeel invited Dr. Cynthia to address his class on Muslim outreach.

Christianity Today heralded Nabeel as one of “33 Under 33” in its cover story on emerging religion leaders in July 2014. He held an MD from Eastern Virginia Medical School, an MA in Christian apologetics from BIOLA University, an MA in religion from Duke University, and an MPhil in Judaism and Christianity from Oxford University. His other works include Answering Jihad—a balanced examination of jihad, the rise of ISIS, and Islamic terrorism, The Seeking Allah Finding Jesus Video Study, and No God But One.

Following a year-long battle with stomach cancer, Nabeel went home to heaven on September 16, 2017. His wife and daughter aspire to honor the legacy Nabeel established during his brief 34 years on earth.

For more information see: www.nabeelqureshi.com

About Bob Siegel

Bob Siegel is an award-winning author, columnist, radio talk show host and public speaker with decades of experience in media. Although Bob grew up in a strong Jewish home, he was led to Christ while in college.

Jews and Muslims share similar skepticism about Christianity, which gives Bob a valuable voice for our videos. Bob shares some of his experiences with us, and explains how the Jewish point of view is similar and different from the Muslim view. This input strengthens our defense against Muslim challenges.

On his weekly radio show (AM 1170 The Answer, San Diego), Bob has hosted and challenged Muslims. He has also debated many outspoken atheists, including, Dan Barker, Phil Paulson, and Dr. Robert Price.

Other media Bob has contributed to include the Washington Times, San Diego Newsroom, Communities Digital News, and his own top-ranking blog. Bob has been a guest on many radio and television programs, including: The 700 Club, Live from the Washington Times, Good Morning San Diego, and others nationally and internationally.

An award-winning published author of several fiction and non-fiction books, Bob has written an excellent apologetic book I’d Like to Believe In Jesus, But…, that Dr. Cynthia recommends. At the other end of the spectrum, childhood fiction, is The Dangerous Christmas Ornament which won three awards 2017. He also writes and presents dramas.

Bob graduated from Denver Seminary and San Jose State University. For many years he has been ministering to churches and campuses across the country, using a variety of media. And Bob is currently an apologetics Pastor in San Diego.

For more information see: bobsiegel.net

About Fouad Masri

Author and lecturer Fouad Masri was born and raised in the war zone of Beirut, Lebanon. Since 1979, his passion has been for sharing the love of Christ with Muslims and inspiring others to do so. Fouad’s warmth and compassion shine in the segments he filmed for us on Being Friends with God, and other topics.

Coming to America for seminary, Fouad saw the great need for Christians to reach out to internationals, particularly Muslims. In 1993, he founded Crescent Project. Since then, he has trained thousands of Christians to share their faith with Muslims, speaking at more churches on the topic than perhaps anyone else in America. His trainings include the day-long Bridges and more thorough Sahara Challenge. He also produced and teaches in the DVD study, Bridges: Christians Connecting with Muslims.

Fouad has authored 14 books including the award-winning Connecting with Muslims: A Guide to Communicating Effectively, and has served as a guest instructor at several universities. He has been featured in several media publications including Christianity Today, and Newsweek, and appeared on CBN, TBN, the Janet Parshall Show, and Prime Time America.

For more information see: www.crescentproject.org

About Mike Licona

Mike Licona is associate professor of theology at Houston Baptist University and president of Risen Jesus, Inc. He has a Ph.D. in New Testament Studies from the University of Pretoria, which he earned with distinction and the highest mark. Mike was interviewed by Lee Strobel in his book In Defense of Jesus: Investigating Attacks on the Identity of Christ and appeared in Strobel’s video The Case for Christ. He is the author of numerous books including Why Are There Differences in the Gospels: What We Can Learn from Ancient Biography, The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach, Paul Meets Muhammad, co-author with Gary Habermas of the award-winning book The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, and co-editor with William Dembski of Evidence for God: 50 Arguments for Faith from the Bible, History, Philosophy, and Science. Mike is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, the Institute for Biblical Research, the Evangelical Theological Society and the Evangelical Philosophical Society. He has spoken on 100 university campuses and has appeared on dozens of radio and television programs.

For more information on what Mike does, see: www.risenjesus.com