Purpose-Driven Life

A ‘chance’ meeting with an Athletes in Action representative led Joe Abraham to saving faith in Christ—and an incredible journey following Him

by Nancy Huffine  /  March 17, 2025

“I had a crazy dream that I had died and nobody came to my funeral, including my family. That's how miserable I was.”

Joe Abraham was raised in a religious Lebanese family. They each believed in God. They believed in faith. But as Joe puts it, “There was no Word coming into my life. I had never heard the gospel. I had never heard that Jesus loved me.”

When Joe graduated from high school, he left his home in Detroit and headed off to the University of Michigan. He struggled to fit into the college culture. That’s when Joe decided that “I was tired of being a good person, and at the age of 21, I did what most 21-year-old people who don't know the Lord would do. For about a year and a half, God allowed me to be very miserable. I was never at peace when I went to bed at night.”

The gospel changes everything

As a senior, Joe served as manager of the university’s track and field team. Although the team’s coach was an atheist, he allowed a representative from Athletes in Action, an evangelistic sports ministry, to speak to the athletes before one practice.

“He basically shared the gospel and said if anybody wanted to have lunch, he would take them out,” Joe remembers. “I was pretty poor, and lunch sounded good!

“He shared the gospel with me, and in my heart, I knew it was right. But in my head, I thought—you can't tell me that everything I've done up to this point has been wrong. I kind of fought it, but the guy never argued with me. He gave me a Bible. I was almost 23, and it was the first time I'd ever had a Bible.”

Joe began reading that Bible, one chapter a day, beginning in the book of John.

“The Athletes in Action guy asked me just to pray for God to reveal Himself. When I got to chapter 10, it cut me in shreds. My life had been pretty down. I got to John 10:10, where it says, ‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full’ or ‘abundantly.’ I didn't understand the thief part at that time in my life, but I knew I didn't have that abundance thing, either.

“Then when it said later in the chapter, ‘My sheep hear my voice and follow me,’ I was in my apartment, and I just hit my knees in tears. I said to God, ‘You could come into this room right now and scream my name, and I wouldn't hear You because I don't know You. I didn't even know I could know You.’”

The next time Joe met with the AIA representative, the two prayed together, and Joe received the gift of salvation.

Discovering Moody Radio

Joe graduated from the University of Michigan in 1973 and moved to Cleveland, Ohio, to pursue his dream of becoming a sportswriter. He admits that he struggled in his new faith.

“My fellowship was cut off. I wasn’t really going to church, and I was kind of lost,” he says.

Then he discovered WCRF, Moody Radio’s station in Cleveland. “WCRF at that stage in my life probably became my discipler,” Joe says. “Listening to David Jeremiah and Chuck Swindoll and John MacArthur, that's where I got my first Bible teaching from those ministries that were on WCRF.”

New passion for full-time ministry

Writing for Sun Newspapers at the time, Joe heard about a Halloween haunted house outreach that was being presented by Youth for Christ.

“Something in me said that these are the kind of guys I was supposed to be hanging out with because I didn't have any fellowship,” he says. “So I said, ‘Hey, I can write a story for the newspaper to help you guys.’ And I went to the haunted house dressed up like a monster and covered the event from the inside out.”

Joe stayed connected with Youth for Christ for a few years and eventually joined its self-supported staff in 1977.

“I had just been offered a job to go to Saudi Arabia as part of a team to help develop five Olympic sports programs. That would have paid good money, some $60,000 more than my YFC position. At YFC, I had the privilege of raising my $10,000 salary myself. I never looked back!

“God gave me 4 1/2 great years of ministry in one of the richest suburbs of Cleveland, and then He moved me for almost 8 1/2 years to one of the most violent neighborhoods in Cleveland.”

Unexpected career change

In 1988, Joe felt that something new was about to happen in his life. He had been working with teens at Youth for Christ, but he sensed God calling him into the pastorate. God led Joe to Scranton Road Bible Church, which happened to be the initial home of Youth for Christ Cleveland in 1944.

“The church had previously been Czechoslovakian Baptist Church, and it was dirt poor, with only about 35 or 37 white people,” Joe says. “And there I was, a 100-percent Arab-Lebanese guy—and not Baptist!”

After serving an internship, Joe was asked to succeed the church’s pastor, Dan Widlicka, a Moody graduate, upon Dan’s retirement. Though the job description was fairly standard for pastoral ministry, Joe requested one big change.

“I said, ‘I will do 75 percent of this job description, but I need 25 percent to be involved in the greater kingdom work within the city. I will train up people to do the other 25 percent.’”

Entering the nonprofit world

Over the years, both Scranton Road Baptist Church and the surrounding neighborhood became much more diverse. Joe completed his Master of Arts in Ministry Leadership at Moody Theological Seminary, and he later founded Scranton Road Ministries CDC (Community Development Corporation), a nonprofit organization.

“We're in six or seven schools in the local neighborhoods where we do character training,” Joe says. “We do Bible studies, we work with the teachers, and we do tutoring and after-school programs. We started a legal clinic that’s helped thousands of people in Cleveland at no charge. We do leadership training, job and resume training, and we’re active in four high schools.

“We also have a soccer camp every summer where we work with a group called Ambassadors Football. The coaches come from all over the world, and they're all believers. It's just really cool.”

Paying it forward at WCRF

Still connected to Moody Radio after more than 45 years, Joe has become more than a listener. He’s been a featured guest on WCRF’s Mornings with Brian, and he’s lent his support during Fall Share and Spring Share, Moody Radio’s annual fundraisers. 

Ron Eastwood, news anchor and part of the Mornings with Brian crew, says, “We’ve had local pastors come in to Share to help us raise funds. Joe gladly gave his time for this. He has always been a supporter of WCRF, on the air and off. 

“He talks about how the station discipled him as a new believer, and he still learns from it today. From our perspective, it is very helpful to have local pastors come in and throw their support behind WCRF because it is like a five-star review on Yelp. Because they trust Joe, by extension, they can trust us.”

Now semi-retired but still serving the community through both the church and the nonprofit outreach, Joe can also be heard as one of several voices participating in WCRF’s Pause for Prayer feature. The Pause for Prayer team pulls together a group of volunteers who craft a short message and prayer that airs on the station.

“Joe is one of these who shares his unique perspective on life and then prays,” Ron says. “It is encouraging to hear these simple prayers, and it’s encouraging for newer believers who realize you don't have to be all ‘flowery’ when you talk to God.”

“I run into people all the time who hear Pause for Prayer,” Joe says. “When my sister died five years ago, she was at the Cleveland Clinic for the last 21 days of her life. I would talk to the hospital staff during those last few days, and at least three times that week someone—the receptionist or a nurse—said, ‘I know that voice!’

“You just never know. It’s kind of amazing. I've had people come to church and have even seen people get saved as a result of hearing Pause for Prayer.”

‘It’s just been very precious’

Pausing to reflect on his spiritual journey, Joe is deeply grateful for the role that Moody has played in his unpredictable but profoundly meaningful walk with God.

“It's been an organic thread line, not really a normal one,” he says. “I don't think I would have even known how to ride this path without Moody, but God offered it, and it's just been very precious.”