Hundreds of thousands of people in Egypt heard the gospel preached last week, and tens of thousands reportedly became Christians.

...More than 10,000 people attended evangelistic services at Cairo's Kasr El Dobara Church Nov. 17-20, according to God's Love in Action, the ministry of evangelist Sammy Tippit. The San Antonio-based Tippit preached four nightly services at the 5,000-member church, said to be the largest Protestant congregation in the Middle East.

..."The corridors are full, the grass is full. More people are coming each night," Rany Asham, Kasr El Dobara's missions coordinator, said midway through the event. Hundreds of thousands more people watched the services by satellite and videotape at 600 churches and other venues throughout the region, Tippit's ministry said.

...Church members in a town of 20,000 people set up a satellite system so every home could see the broadcasts each evening, GLIA reported. TV sets were tuned to an antenna positioned on top of the local Orthodox Church, according to the ministry.

..."The preaching is perfect for my culture," Asham said. "The Egyptian mentality is not easily convinced, but this type of preaching will affect my country."

...More than 1,000 people professed faith in Christ at Kasr El Dobara, and the number of those who became Christians at the outlying venues could be 10 times greater, Tippit said. "We don't know the results yet, but we believe tens of thousands have made the same kind of commitment," he told Mission Network News.

...The new converts will bring a revival to Egypt, Kasr El Dobara pastor Menes Abdul Noor said. "God is blessing a new generation of leadership" in the Arab world and Egypt's church will play an important role, he said.

...The Christian church is growing in the region despite opposition. Kasr El Dobara holds regular evangelistic outreaches, and Tippet preached there earlier this year. Argentine-born evangelist Luis Palau held a series of services there in 1998. The church also participated in Billy Graham's Global Mission broadcast from San Juan in 1995, according to news reports.

...Kasr El Dobara is "salt, light, and leaven" in the Muslim society, Noor said, according to news reports. He has hosted a broadcast over Trans World Radio for 20 years and makes regular television appearances on shows broadcast by Middle East TV and SAT-7 Christian TV networks. The church also holds evangelism and leadership conferences for smaller congregations in the area.

...About 85 percent of the Egyptian people are Muslim, and Islam is the state religion, according to the reference book Operation World. About 14 percent of the population is Christian, most belonging to the Coptic Church, an offshoot of Orthodoxy. Evangelical Christians comprise less than 1 percent of the population.

...Christians are denied jobs and schooling because of their faith, and their representation in Parliament is limited to a few appointments by the president, according to news reports.

...Radical Muslims sometimes target Christians for violence. More than 20 Copts died in January in the village of al-Kosheh when Muslim police exacerbated a dispute between a Christian businessman and a Muslim, according to news reports.

...Egypt's government has taken action against Muslim groups it deems dangerous. Fifteen members of the Muslim Brotherhood, an outlawed group that seeks to institute Islamic law, were sentenced to prison recently, The Associated Press reported. Despite the official opposition, 17 members of the Brotherhood recently were elected to Parliament. Brotherhood candidates run as independents because the group is banned.