2018 Charles W. Colson Conviction and Courage Award Goes to Maggie Gobran

LA MIRADA, California – “Mama” Maggie Gobran was honored on March 14^th as the fifth recipient of the Charles W. Colson Courage and Conviction Award. The award was bestowed at the 89^th Annual Missions Conference at Biola University.

Maggie Gobran set aside a successful career in which she had been on the management team of a marketing firm and a professor at the American University in Cairo. She became deeply disturbed by her experience during an Easter outreach program to distribute food and clothing to families in the slums of Cairo. For the first time, she realized the squalor and despair and the children’s hunger, not only for food, but “for love, acceptance, and value in society.”

More than 30,000 Egyptian families have been reached with the message of Christ’s love and compassion through the Stephen’s Children ministry that Groban pioneered along with several other committed Egyptian Christians.

The Stephen’s Children organization is dedicated to building relationships with the poorest and most vulnerable families in Cairo. The ministry has built 97 community medical centers and schools in the garbage slums and serves over 40,000 children and their families. Stephen’s Children includes almost 2,000 home workers that teach Bible study, pray and bring food to families, risking their very lives to share the gospel in a 90 percent Muslim majority country that is hostile to Christians

“Mama” Maggie’s work in Egypt has been so widely recognized that she was a Nobel Peace Prize nominee in 2012.

Ms. Groban was selected by a committee of esteemed Christian leaders from Biola University, the Colson family, and the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview.

The first Colson Award was awarded posthumously to Mr. Colson. The other recipients have included Baroness Caroline Cox, Dr. Paul Marshall, and Joni Eareckson Tada.

Sources: