This year’s Focus on Faith speaker is Dr. Anne Emile Zaki, Assistant Professor of Preaching and Practical Theology at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo, Egypt, a school founded by early Presbyterian missionaries in 1863. Dr. Zaki grew up in Cairo in a pastor’s home where all of the children had responsibilities and were considered partners in the family’s ministry. At age 16, she was selected by the Egyptian government to represent Egypt at Pearson College, an international school in Canada dedicated to peace and international understanding worldwide. Two years later, she went to Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, seeking a liberal arts Christian education to help integrate her faith and social justice convictions. Dr. Zaki worked at Calvin University for 13 years on the development of global and multi-cultural worship and coordinated international worship conferences in 15 countries.
In 2022, she earned a PhD in theology with a concentration on preaching at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, where she studied under the direction of Dr. Mark Labberton, our 2025 Focus on Faith speaker. Her PhD thesis was on “Crisis Preaching in the Protestant Church of Egypt During and Post the Arab Spring.” In her paper, she examines the nature and will of God in crisis and explores different ways of relating suffering to hope. The central question of her study is how to preach about hope and suffering in such a way as to anchor and advance the identity, mission, and future direction of the church.
She has been teaching courses on Preaching, Communication, Psychology, Worship, and Spiritual Formation at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo since 2013. Her areas of interest include travel, the cultural influences on the church worldwide, preaching renewal, creating new ministries, mentoring youth, administration, poetry, and music. She and her husband are parents of four sons.
Please join us on Sunday, May 3 as we hear from Dr. Zaki during the 8:45 and 11 am worship services, and during the 10 am combined Sunday School hour. A video replay will be shown at the Table worship service.
