Hey UniteBoston! You may remember Kika Ghobrial, our incredible emcee in UniteBoston’s annual concerts such as last fall’s “Love Boston” concert. Did you know that Kika also planted a church called “Lighthouse” for young adults in West Roxbury, and has been working to produce a new Podcast called “Social Media Revivalists?” This new podcast highlights how Christians with hundreds of thousands of followers are using social media to share the gospel. We had the chance to catch up with Kika to hear more about this initiative – Read his story below to hear how people are creatively sharing the gospel and engaging with future generations.
UB: This sounds incredible. Kika, tell us how did this project get started?
Kika: Yeah it’s been a fun journey and honestly, I’ve always been interested in videos and the media world and love having some sort of creative outlet. At the end of 2020, I was ready to commit to doing something big like this so I finally made it happen! I reached out to some “big Christian Tiktokers” who have hundreds of thousands of followers to hear a bit of their story and how they are seeing God use them to bring people to Christ! Here’s a quick clip of one video that shares a bit of that story that I’ve used to promote the show on Tiktok as well. It really is amazing to see Christians online bringing real world revival and I’m just here to listen to their stories and share the good news with the rest of the Christian world.
UB: Why do you think these posts on social media took off?
Kika: I think that the pandemic increased the isolation and brought many people to ask the big questions about God, the meaning of life, and seeking greater purpose. Christians took to social media platforms, especially to Tiktok, to publicly share their faith and the strength of trusting in God in challenging times. As you’ll find out on the show, there are testimonies after testimonies of young people starting their faith journey because of what they heard others share online. In fact, in a Tiktok livestream, a young man named Elijah Lamb saw over 300 people give their life to Christ! All in one night!
UB: Wow, how does that work for all those people to indicate a profession of faith online?
Kika: With the livestreams they can see how many people are in attendance and then people can respond on the chat so Elijah had people respond through that. Crazy stuff! There’s a lot more going on that I thought when I first started this podcast – I never thought the impact was that wide-spread. You can watch the Elijah Lamb soon as it will be released on Monday night March 22.
UB: Awesome, Kika. Can you tell me more about yourself and what else you are passionate about?
Kika: I live on the Gordon College campus with my wife Rachel who is a resident director there. One of the perks of living at Gordon is that we live close to the beach and can go surfing when it’s warm enough!
I’m also passionate about connecting with young adults and growing the influence of their church to impact the local community. The big project I am working on currently is launching the English church at the Arabic Church which will be called “Lighthouse Church” and will open its doors on Easter! When I look back, it’s been quite a journey since I moved to West Roxbury from Cairo, Egypt in 2002 when my father accepted the position at this church!
UB: What do you appreciate about UniteBoston?
Kika: I love the vision of UniteBoston and the opportunity to bring Christians from all backgrounds together to unite in worship. I have built incredible relationships through those worship nights as well as through the West Roxbury community dinners that UniteBoston also hosts.
UB: What’s next for you with Social Media Revivalists?
Kika: I’m dreaming of creating a resource with names of churches and youth pastors in all major cities, so when young people give their life to Christ through online social media platforms like this, they can get connected to a local church. I recognize that this is key for life-long discipleship – and I am talking to a few people about that now!
UB: What’s your take-home message to Christians in the Boston area?
Kika: COVID has made it challenging to reach out to others to share our faith because we can’t see people as easily. What if we learned to be comfortable on social media and share our faith through the technology that is available to us? While some say technology is bad, God can use anything and redeem all things, so I would love to see us continue to find creative ways to share the hope that we have even in the midst of a pandemic!
Kika will be releasing an episode of “Social Media Revivalists” every other Monday – Check it out on Kika’s Youtube Channel, Spotify and Apple Podcasts
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