A brief history of the Arab Church in Daytona Beach, Florida, USA
The church began with a direct special invitation to Dr. Wagid Fahim Guirgis (son of Rev. Fahim Guirgis, pastor of the Evangelical Church in the Evangelical Qubba Gardens in Cairo, Egypt) during his attendance at the annual Boston Church Conference on July 5, 1997, to serve and to start an Arab evangelical church in Daytona Beach, where he has been practicing medicine since 1982.
After returning from the conference, he contacted his friend Mr. Mofeid Samuel Wahbee (son of pastor Samuel Wahbee, pastor of the Evangelical Church in Attarine, Alexandria, Egypt) who lived in the same city and they agreed to start the church, and therefore a few faithful friends were invited to establish the church.
The group started with the first meeting at Dr. Guirgis’s house two weeks later, a meeting in which four people attended. The small group decided to look for an American church in the area to start the Arabic church in its facility. The choice was on Westminster by-the-sea Presbyterian Church on the same street as Dr. Guirgis lives.
They decided to contact the pastor of the church, Rev. Jeffrey Sumner, where they met with him in the presence of his assistant, Rev. George Painter, in a restaurant in the same area. After being told how the call for church began, Pastor Sumner immediately agreed to grant the Arabic Church the use of their American church building for meetings there free of charge.
The church began its first official meeting in the American Church building on August 3, 1997. Pastor Wissam Khalaf served in this opening and the hymn was led by Dr. Wagid Fahim Guirgis.
The group decided to name the church the Arabic Evangelical Church of Daytona Beach, as it preaches the gospel in Arabic language, and belongs in its creed, foundations, and constitution to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Egypt, Senod Of The Nile. The church was officially registered in Florida on November 17, 1997.
The Church Council, consisted of Pastor Wagid Guirgis, Mr. Mofeid and Mrs. Suzan Guirgis, invited several ministers to serve and several evangelistic revivals were held, and the attendance in these meetings was more than expected by anyone, and the presence of the Holy Spirit in these meetings was wonderful and many souls were saved.
Because there was no official pastor for the church, Pastor Nichola Abdo, pastor of The Nazarene church in Jacksonville, attended and preached with us weekly in the church, where the Lord gave him the grace and spirit of responsibility for this work so that the Lord would complete the work according to His will.
Dr. Guirgis joined the Faculty of Theology (Florida Christian University) in the same time he was participating in the service with Pastor Nicolas Abdo during his studies at the Faculty of Theology until he graduated from the Faculty of Theology on August 22, 2001 and was ordained pastor of the church by Pastor Menis Abdel Nour, Pastor Nicola Abdo, Pastor Sumner and other pastors from the same city, and the celebration was very wonderful.
Rev. Dr. Wagid Fahim Guirgis began his official ministry as pastor of the church on August 22, 2001, in addition to working as a physician in his private office that he established since 1982.
The church has held annual conferences since 1998 called “Jesus on the Beach” as the church and conference in Daytona Beach, Florida, overlooks the Atlantic Ocean.
Weekly church services on Sundays, public Sunday service, the practice of the Lord’s Supper, and Bible study provided by Pastor Dr. Wagid, as well as prayer and praise meetings in the middle of the week.
Rev. Dr. Sabri Tanios also served with us from July 2019 to August 14, 2023.

First implant
First implant
In 2002, Pastor Wagid met with Pastor Gerges Youqeem by chance in Orlando, Florida, and learned from him that there is a group of believers in the city of West Palm Beach in the same state who want to have an Arabic speaking church. Both agreed Pastor Wagid and Pastor Gerges to travel to this city where they with some Christian believers there and agreed with them to start church meetings in this city. After agreeing with the American church there to start meetings at their church headquarters, and indeed work began by Pastor Gerges and the church opened its doors with a celebration with the invitation of Pastor Wissam Khalaf, and the service was great and the turnout for the church was very encouraging.
The church is now 21 years old and is served by Pastor Gerges Youqeem, and the church has held annual activities and conferences that have been encouraging to the people in this region. it continues its missionary work in the area and with some newly settled families in West Palm Beach.

Second implant
In April 2008, at the time of the “Jesus on the Shore” church yearly conference of our Daytona Beach Arabic Evangelical Church, one of the sisters attended the conference and accepted the Lord and asked that we establish a church in the city of Tampa, where she and her family lives. We started with meetings in the house of Mrs. Mariam Boutros and her husband, Mr. Isaac Boutros, with several people counted on the fingers of one hand.
As the numbers began to grow, we were looking for an American church that would allow us to hold our meetings in its facility. We had some problems at the beginning with two churches in Tampa and finally a Baptist church in Clearwater accepted to hold our meetings in its facility and work there has continued regularly weekly until now.
This church was officially registered in 2008 and named “The Arabic Evangelical Church of Tampa Bay”, and Rev. Dr. Wagid Gerges continued to serve there weekly for two years until the Mr. Isaac Boutros, husband of Mariam Boutros, graduated from the Faculty of Theology and was ordained pastor of the church in 2010. This church is also still very successful and has grown a lot and the number of members is more than fifty people, this church also holds conferences and revival services throughout the region and beyond, a church that is successful in its work in serving new members and families who arrive in the region.
Our church has been searching for young pastor when it invited Rev. Michael Malak Azab to join the church since June 2024, so both decided to soon start serving the church together until pastor Azab gets approved by immigration then he will lead the church and pastor Guirgis will retire. We pray for this new pastor and ask for the Lord’s guidance in the service of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

This brief was written June, 2024