Wafeek Samuel Wahbi

For many years, Dr. Wafeek Wahby—an Egyptian American—has been involved in ministries to the Arabic-speaking people. His unique lay ministry, blending music and Bible teaching, encompasses Egypt and other Arab countries as well as Arabic-speaking communities in Asia, Europe, England, and North America.

A civil/structural engineer by profession, Dr. Wahby also holds degrees in theology from The Cairo Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church of Egypt, and John Stott Institute for Contemporary Christianity, London, England. Before coming to the USA, Wafeek represented Egypt in many international gatherings, such as the Keswick Convention (England), Eurofest (Belgium), Gideons International (USA), Christian Artists (USA), and other meetings. Dr. Wahby is an ordained elder in the Coptic Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Egypt, and served as a member of the Evangelical Council of the Protestant Churches of Egypt before his moving to the USA in 1993.

Wafeek is a prolific songwriter who wrote the lyrics and the music of many of today’s most popular Arabic youth hymns—an incredible number of over 1000! His music is also broadcast over Trans World Radio, Far East Broadcasting Association (FEBA), High Adventure Radio, HCJB, Voice of Forgiveness, Call of Hope, and in several Arabic language broadcasts in North America, Europe, Asia, and in Australia. Wafeek’s music has also been used by Arabic Cable Christian television in Canada and USA. He also has a very popular YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOeMW_cKunHhUiIgYH03Odw

For many years, Wafeek served as Chair of the National Committee on Church Music for the Synod of the Nile—the national body of the Coptic Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Egypt. In 1972, he and a team of dedicated leaders launched the publication of the “Arabic Youth Hymnbook of The Year,” popularly known as “Taraneem AL-Sayf” series (ترانيم الصيف). This annual song compendium continued uninterruptedly for 34 years, through 2006. These hymnbooks, featuring lyrics and musical notations with their companion audio tapes, were widely used in Arabic-speaking Christian communities throughout the world. They still serve as a treasury of music and vocal scores of modern Arabic Christian songs of that era that constituted its main hymnary. Many song books that were published in the late 20th and early 21st centuries depended on this series as their “reference” for authenticated, Bible-based songs. Wafeek helped many songwriters and composers edit, organize, and publish their songs for the first time through this free platform. Wafeek also served as Music Director for the Arabic language version of the dramatized radio series “Unshackled!” produced by the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago, IL.

Wafeek has lectured on Middle Eastern culture, music, in many churches, seminaries, Bible schools, and Christian colleges across the USA, Canada and overseas. Examples are Cincinnati Bible Seminary, Dallas Theological Seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary, Moody Bible Institute, Montreat College, Reformed Bible College, and other leading institutions.

Wafeek hails from a family that has produced a long line of Egyptian Evangelical preachers, elders, and church leaders since the birth of the Coptic Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Egypt in the 1850s. His late father, Reverend Samuel Wahby, started his ministry as an Egyptian missionary to the Sudan in 1937, where his ministry encompassed Northern & Southern Sudan and neighboring countries such as Ethiopia, and Eretria, then pastored the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Luxor, Egypt, during which time Wafeek was born in 1949. Subsequently, Wafeek’s father pastored the Attareen Coptic Evangelical Church in Alexandria, Egypt from 1950 to 1993, where Wafeek was raised, completed his engineering and theological education, worked in the Egyptian Government construction sector, private sector, and as adjunct instructor at the Faculty (School) of Engineering, Alexandria University. This continued till his coming to the USA in 1993.

Since then, Wafeek continued to write and arrange many songs and choral anthems in Arabic and in English. These have been performed at several churches such as his church, Christ Community Church (formerly the Montreat Presbyterian Church) in Montreat, North Carolina; Brookside Christian Reformed and Seymour Christian Reformed Churches in Grand Rapids, Michigan; First Baptist Church, Charleston, Illinois; ACTS—the Students’ Pentecostal Church of Charleston, Illinois; as well as in local chapters of “Promise Keepers” in Asheville, NC, and elsewhere. Most recently, he and his brother Victor S. Wahby, M.D., Ph.D., have written two cantatas, one for Christmas and one for Easter. Preparations for publishing these are underway.

Wafeek received several awards and honors for his professional and Christian work. Examples are: Ellis Island Medal of Honor, Eulalee L. Anderson International Friendship Award, ATMAE University Faculty Award for Academic Excellence, NAIT Award for Outstanding Industrial Technology Professor, EIU School of Technology Chair’s Outstanding Service Award, and EIU Excellence in the Use of Technology Award.

After immigrating to the USA, Wafeek worked as a structural engineer in the construction private sector in North Carolina, then moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to work as a professor of civil/structural engineering at Calvin College (currently Calvin University), followed by his working at Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, Illinois, as a professor of Construction Technology at its School of Technology, and Graduate School and International Programs. Wafeek retired in 2017 and returned to North Carolina.

Wafeek Samuel Wahby