Email me at michele.cumming@alumni.duke.edu

About

The two most important things to know about me are: 1) that when I was a teenager, Jesus changed my life, and 2) that I have been profoundly changed by the experience of living in the same house with ordinary Muslims in North Africa for 15 years.

Rev. Dr. Michele Pezdirtz Cumming, B.S.N., MAICS, DIS, serves as Team Leader Supervisor and Lecturer for the Woodberry Intercultural Institute, which seeks to promote peace between Muslims and Christians and to equip Christians to be faithful witnesses to the love of Jesus Christ, in addition to continuing the small-scale work of Doulos Community, a Christian humanitarian organization working among the poor in North Africa. She homeschooled her twins from kindergarten through eighth grade, during much of which they were living in Mauritania.

Mauritania

Michele grew up in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina, and then lived the formative years of her early adult life (15 years) in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania – one of the poorest nations on earth. She currently lives about half-time in Egypt and half-time in Dearborn, Michigan, but continues to visit Mauritania regularly. During her years in Mauritania, Michele directed a large Maternal-Child Health program providing health education, nutritional monitoring and food supplementation to 20,000 malnourished children and mothers. She also helped oversee Doulos Community’s wider work in agriculture, literacy, education, microcredit and other areas.

During their 15 years in Mauritania, Michele and her family committed themselves to living among the poor as the poor. Michele and her husband rented one room (then, after their children were born, two rooms) in a house with two local Mauritanian families, with no running water or electricity, and sharing an outdoor latrine with their neighbors. As Michele shared in the daily struggles of her Mauritanian friends and neighbors, and as they shared in hers, both she and they were deeply touched and changed.

Yale

From 2012 to 2022 Michele served as Co-Pastor of the International Church at Yale University - a hospitality outreach to international students and scholars and their families.

Academic work

Michele holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing (B.S.N.) from Duke University, and an M.A. in Intercultural Studies (concentration: Islamic Studies) and a Doctorate in Intercultural Studies (DIS) from Fuller School of Intercultural Studies. She speaks fluent Arabic and French, and has some knowledge of German, Spanish and Koiné Greek. Her doctoral dissertation research focused on the role that hospitality plays (giving and receiving) in breaking down barriers between Muslims and Christians.

Her areas of expertise and interest include public health and nutrition in developing nations, spiritual formation, intercultural communication in Muslim-Christian encounter, and the concerns and challenges of Muslim women.

Current work

Since 2022, Michele lives about half-time in Cairo, Egypt, and half-time in Dearborn, Michigan. In Cairo she and her husband Joseph oversee an academic exchange program with Al-Azhar Al-Sharif. She also serves as a culture coach and advisor to individuals and groups working in the Middle East and North Africa.

Family

Michele and her husband Joseph are parents of twins – a daughter and a son – born in June 1992. Michele has several years’ experience in homeschooling them, and they also attended Mauritanian schools for three years. Michele's and Joseph's children have blessed them with four grandchildren.

A video of Michele speaking at a conference at Yale University can be viewed here.