Source: Huff Post

I’ve never found an easy way to explain how an evangelical Christian from rural America came to found an interfaith youth organization with chapters across the world. It began in the summer of 2006.

It was past midnight when I flew into the airport in Alexandria, Egypt, not knowing a word of Arabic. My host from Couchsurfing, an international hospitality club, whom I’d never met, was waiting beyond customs. I was having a Tower-of-Babel moment at the immigration desk. “Enta men fain?” he asked.

“I don’t speak Arabic. … Do you speak English?” After a few rounds of this, an Egyptian in line behind me, hearing me try out different languages, came to my rescue, translating my Italian into Arabic.

I came to Egypt to do independent research on Christian-Islamic relations. I was under-prepared. As a student at New York University, my friends were puzzled by my move. I was studying Music Business and managing an unknown singer named Stefani Germanotta (who later donned the stage-name Lady Gaga), so I was better known for booking rock acts than religion.

Those who know me better recognized the pivotal role my faith as an evangelical Christian has for me, and know of my insatiable curiosity about “the other.” What started as a month-long trip became a lifetime journey.

Back in New York, I became determined to join the interfaith world. I met with several organizations but was troubled: the interfaith events I attended were primarily religious leaders talking about their different points of view. Remembering the conflicts I saw in Egypt, it was primarily young people, both as victims and perpetrators of violence. I became convinced that old people talking can’t counter young people taking action. As expected, I didn’t win too many allies early on with this perspective.

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