We were able to sit down with the co-founders of Call of Love, Samya and Mike. They have faithfully listened to the Lord’s calling for the past thirty-five years by serving in ministry and sharing the Gospel with Muslims.

We already shared Mike’s portion of the interview last month, and now we get to hear from Samya, our Chief Operations Officer!

How did you come to know Christ?

I was born and raised in a Christian family in Lebanon. I started going to Sunday school when I was almost six years old, and that is when I accepted the Lord! I can still remember it:

It was summertime, and the teacher had brought out the classic flannel board for a story. As I sat in my little chair, I realized I needed to pick Jesus as my Savior personally, instead of relying on my family’s faith. We had been given small green books that explained the salvation story to us, and explained how to pray. I asked Jesus to become my King in that Sunday school classroom.

Throughout the years, I would have doubts. I was worried, so I went to my dad. He told me, “If you feel doubts about your salvation, this means the devil is trying to make you live in fear. And he would only do this if you’re a true Christian.”

I got baptized when I turned thirteen, then I began serving in Sunday school and youth groups. Those experiences helped me later in life as I went into ministry.

Because I accepted the Lord so young, I always say, “Do not think that just because your child is young they won’t understand the salvation message. It is good for us to experience Jesus when we are young, because He protects us from so much in this world!”

What is the greatest change you have seen God make in your life?

I believe the Lord has protected me from many things that could’ve gone wrong or bad decisions I could’ve made if I did not choose to walk with Him early in life. I had dreams of being a surgeon or an architect, but because of the civil war in Lebanon I could not go to any universities for those fields. They were on the Muslim side of the city, which was barricaded off from us by walls of sandbags and militias.

I studied art instead, which led to me getting a job at a Christian radio station! I was told I had “the radio voice,” and I was quite skilled at writing. This was when the Lord called me to ministry. Because I grew up being grounded in the Word, I was able to share the Word from my heart. Then God began equipping me with tools to serve Muslims with the Gospel as I wrote and recorded hundreds of radio programs in Arabic.

If I hadn’t known God from such a young age, these gifts would not have been used for His glory.

What has been the hardest part of working in ministry over the past 35+ years?

The hardest part has been the periods when it felt like God was silent. We all have valleys and mountains in our lives, but a valley in a ministry context is a whole new level compared to a personal valley. The doubts begin to come in, where you wonder if you deserve to be in ministry, if you are equipped enough, or if you are making enough of an impact. Those times where God was silent were always really hard for me.

In the past ten years, the Lord taught me to start seeing those times as beautiful pauses. Like in a symphony, when there is a pause before entering the next stanza, it makes it more beautiful.

“Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:13-14

Those times when God is silent is when He is pointing to things that need to change– either on a personal level or within the ministry itself. Or it has been God’s way of saying, “Hold on and take a deep breath. I am in this. This is the rest before another jump to higher ground.” I have only learned this after years of walking with the Lord.

Sometimes it is still challenging to me, but I have learned how to be patient through these periods. I praise, I wait, and I listen to signals from others! Especially as a leader of a ministry, the team can be impacted by how I respond to God’s silence. But please don’t think I am perfect! There are times when I forget and I stumble, but my Heavenly Father does not keep me there for long! He comes to the rescue! 

The Lord has never let me down. It has been and continues to be a joyous journey filled with amazing glimpses of God’s sovereignty, faithfulness, and grace. The key is humbling yourself and opening your heart.

What do you wish the western church knew about Islam and Muslims?

I believe that the Church needs to be able to differentiate between Islam, the religion and ideology, and Muslims. Muslims are the followers of Islam, and quite honestly, most of them are victims. They are born into this religion that they inherit from their parents and they are not given the opportunity to decide for themselves or change what they believe.

If we, as Christians, want to be angry at something, let’s be angry at the religion and ideology of Islam, which is all about death and surely has evil forces behind it. But towards Muslims themselves, we need to be loving and compassionate because most are victims and they are part of John 3:16.

Also, the western church needs to fund more ministries and missionaries who are trying to reach the Muslim world. Sadly, even though Muslims make up 24% of the world’s population there is not nearly enough funds spent to reach them compared to the missionaries spending on reaching non-Muslim groups. We need more believers to invest in reaching the huge worldwide population of Muslims with the Gospel.

The first step has always been evangelism– sending the message around the world to Muslims. But once people respond to this message and have a relationship with Christ, we need to disciple them. We have been able to do this with an online community of new converts who have left Islam for Christ.

We also want to be a part of the international church and help provide support for our Muslim-background brothers and sisters in Christ in whatever way we can! We will send support to the underground church around the world, so that they can continue to have in-person fellowship.

What's the biggest financial need of the ministry?

My ministry responsibilities include overseeing the monthly expenses and income. It is common for partners to get excited when there is a new project or a unique initiative going on, because they can see exactly where the funds are going.

The ongoing ministry expenses are what we need support with. These go to the payroll for our staff who keep the ministry going. We don’t require them to raise their own support like other ministries do. When we began this ministry twenty years ago, we took on the role to pay their salaries, because we know how hard it can be to individually raise support.

One of our goals is to increase our staff, and we need to have the continued funds to support this as well as support our many projects. Regardless, I praise God for the ability to spend 91% of ministry funds directly on ministry needs. Less than 10% of what is donated is put towards overhead expenses, like rent, supplies, or printing.

If you are interested in giving, you can give here and select “Ministry Fund”!

What is the biggest ministry challenge to pray about? 

Well, in Mike’s interview he already said finding more people who are called to work in this field– and that is true! So I’ll share the second biggest ministry challenge.

Most of our team members wear many hats because of the lack of workers. Part of my job is to keep an eye on them to make sure that they are not getting burnt out. It is hard to try to prevent our team from being overloaded with projects, but without new team members to help carry the load, it keeps happening. This keeps me awake sometimes, worrying and praying.

Please keep our team in your hearts and pray for us when you can. We are always hard at work, trying to give every Muslim the opportunity  to hear about Jesus and experience our Heavenly Father’s grace and sacrificial love.