Source: The Christian Post, September 10, 2013
Egyptian Christian Maged Medhat raps about Jesus in Arabic and English and is touring the United States this month in Oklahoma, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles.
Although he was raised in a Christian home, Medhat said he never took his relationship with God seriously. As he grew up, he started listening to hip hop and rap in the streets of Alexandria, Egypt. He described “the underground rappers in Egypt” as “really bad people.” They encouraged him to rebel against the government and the schools and to foster hatred against others.
Then Medhat began to examine his faith and came to a saving knowledge of Christ. “I surrendered my heart to Jesus,” he explained and then “fought with God for six months” over whether or not he should become a full-time Christian rapper.
After six months, he dedicated himself to Christian hip hop.
In addition to his own music ministry, Medhat serves with Hip Hope International, an organization that trains rap musicians to reach out to “un-churched, unsaved, and nominal Christian youth.” Their training sessions focus on spiritual growth as well as artistic development. In Egypt, their program graduated seven people this year.
The Egyptian rapper asked for prayer that his music would bless people across the world, that Hip Hope International would continue to succeed, and that Egypt – torn by a complicated civil war – may be at peace once again.
» Full story with picture and video.
» Also from Egypt: Members of a church attacked and burned down in August offer this music video as their message of forgiveness (YouTube). Beautifully done.