Faith & Life Story

My name is Joseph Louis. I grew up in upper Egypt in a faithful Christian family that taught me faith since childhood. I was blessed with amazing parents who reflected God’s love and His true image. My local Church, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Ayoub, had a significant role in shaping my faith, knowing God, encouraging me, and discovering God’s call to my life. Early on during my university study, I realized God’s voice in my life to be a pastor.

        But before achieving that, I had a deadly accident on November 3, 2010, that changed me and everything in my life. I was grateful that God saved me from certain death and gave me another life to follow His call and goodwill to my life. I had to go on several surgeries, but I lost my right leg. It was a time full of doubts and confusion! I remember that I didn’t lose faith, but I lost hope. I thought I would never walk again, and everything was over, especially God’s call for me to be a pastor. In short, during my recovery and the following years, I discovered new deep dimensions about knowing God, myself, and helping others. I thought that the real miracle was only God saving me from that terrible accident. However, God’s formation and shaping of my life and personality is the greatest miracle. I experienced God’s love and providence to me. I got my natural life back by using my prosthetic leg. God inspired me through my suffering to help many amputees who passed in similar circumstances. To be empathetic with others’ pain, especially those who lost something precious to their hearts. Since then, I’ve been helping people with physical disabilities by supporting them not to lose hope in their new challenges in life and get their lives back.

        God confirmed his call for me to pastoral ministry when I was accepted into the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo (ETSC) to study the M.Div. program in 2012. For me, ETSC is one of the most important stations in my life. It helped me think critically about the ideas and concepts about God and Christian life, in general, to strengthen my faith and confirm God’s call. One of the great principles I learned from ETSC is that learning and spiritual formation are lifetime journeys. I need to be humble before the grace of God and always acknowledge my limits and the need to deepen my relationship with God and myself.

        During my ETSC internship in the summer of 2015, I visited a small local church called Garf Sarhan in Assuit. It’s a small Presbyterian church since 1925 and the oldest one in the village. I felt God’s call in that Church because they didn’t have a pastor before, and the Church couldn’t afford one. I felt their need for a pastor to be with them. After graduating from ETSC in May 2016,  I accepted God’s call to serve in Garf Sarhan Church with joy. I was the first ordained pastor in the history of the Church in 1925. Although it was challenging to start my ministry in a church with poor capabilities, I was grateful to God for the work he entrusted to me. I have been blessed beyond measure for more than five years in Garf Sarhan church! I was amazed by how God could use our limited possibilities for great things to build His kingdom despite all the challenges. During my ministry in Garf Sarhan, God blessed me with a great wife, Enas, and two beautiful daughters Lily and Lora. Besides magnificent pastoral experiences and stories that witnessed God’s love and goodness. Despite it being five short years of pastoral ministry, it changed and influenced me before my congregation.

        On August 1, 2021. ETSC invited me to join the seminary faculty as a full-time teaching assistant in pastoral care and counseling. It was a massive shift for me to move from the pastoral ministry to the academic field. God’s call to be in ETSC was surprising for my family and me; I didn’t think about it before. But I figured out that God was preparing me for a long time for that mission. Being in ETSC in such a position is no easy task. It is a big responsibility to be in one of the Middle East’s ancient theological institutions since 1863, with more than 500 hundred students currently studying in different programs. It’s a great honor to play a role in preparing the future leaders of the Church. 

Education

• 2022 – 2023 Master of Theology Th.M., in Pastoral Theology Concentration, at Union Presbyterian Seminary, Richmond, Virginia.

• 2019 Studying Master of Theology Th.M., in Middle Eastern Christianity Concentration, at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo.

• 2012 – 2016 Master of Divinity M.Div., at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo

• 2008 – 2012 Bachelor of English Language and Literature, Minia University.

Church Positions / Service

• 2021 Full-Time Pastoral Counseling teaching assistant at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo (ETSC).

• 2016 – 2021 Senior Pastor at Jarf Sarhan Presbyterian Church (Upper Egypt). The Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Egypt, Synod of the Nile.

List Of Courses I Teach

• Field Ministry

• Youth Ministry

• Introduction to Pastoral Care

• Family Counseling

• Crisis Counseling Course

• Disability and the Church