Rev. Charles Farag
Pastor of Raleigh Arabic Baptist Church
charles@tbcraleigh.com
Charles Farag was born in Cairo, Egypt, to a Christian family in a Muslim culture. His father, through the influence and leadership of Baptist missionaries in Egypt, converted from the Coptic Orthodox faith of his family to become a Baptist believer and eventually a minister. Charles' parents and his siblings were then considered outcasts, and they were disowned by their Orthodox family and discriminated against by the Muslim community. In 1971, at age 20, Charles entered Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo. While working and attending school, Charles pastored at his first church, the Shobra Baptist Church, in Cairo. In September of 1973 Charles was betrothed to his future wife, Susan Rizkallah. They married in July of 1974. After graduating from seminary with a BS in Theological Studies, Rev. Farag was called in 1981 to pastor a church Hadath, Lebanon. Because of the Civil War in Lebanon in February of 1984 at the age of 33, Charles, Susan and their two young sons, Michael and David, escaped to Cyprus by boat, from Cyprus to Egypt and then, finally, in April of 1984 from Egypt to the United States, where they made New Jersey their home.
In New Jersey, Rev. Farag began a small volunteer church ministering to the Arabic community. He worked many odd jobs, including driving a taxi cab in New York City, to support his family until he could obtain the support of the Southern Baptist Convention. While working in a restaurant in Edison, NJ, Charles received a telephone call from the late Bill Hern, who formerly served as a Baptist missionary in Cairo, Egypt and had know Charles since he was a child. Rev. Hern extended an invitation to Charles to come and lead an Arabic ministry in Raleigh, NC.
In October 1986, Rev. Charles Farag began work with Trinity Baptist Church to minister to the Arabic community of the Triangle. Charles graduated from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC, in 1989, where he received a Master of Divinity degree. While continuing to minister at Trinity, from 1993-2003, Rev. Farag launched and maintained a television ministry program entitled, “Prophet or God?” to help Muslims understand that Christ is more than a prophet: He is God manifested in the flesh. In 1995, Rev. Farag was nominated to serve as the Multi-cultural/Ethnic Ministry Consultant with the Raleigh Baptist Association.
Most recently in 2008, Rev. Farag has begun a new international ministry and video program entitled, “How to be Like Jesus,” via the Arabic satellite networks in order to reach Muslims around the world. Charles and his wife Susan continue to minister to the Arabic community of North Carolina and to call Raleigh their home. Their two sons, daughter-in-law, and firstborn grandchild, Noah, along with other extended family also reside in Raleigh. They look forward to the exciting new things God has in store for them.