2 of 2

Now 22, Sam moved to California at age 15 and was soon lured by the drug-riddled Persian clubbing scene. As the charismatic host of a Farsi entertainment show, he shared studio space with ICC pastors at a secular satellite company before the church had its own. The pastors saw a wayward teen wounded by his father's return to Iran. Eventually, Sam was discipled by several ICC men he moved in with. He's now hosting a weekly show called Why Christianity? He grills pastors with questions his Muslim friends are forbidden to ask back in Tehran.

"I put myself in their shoes," Sam says. "I want them to know I'm not Iranian-American. I'm an Iranian Christian."

The TV-based outreach to Iran is creating a missional heart for reaching California's Muslims. Sam's old clubbing friends have visited ICC: "They want to know where this love I have comes from," he says. His dad has phoned in to say on Christian TV that he's proud of his son.

Ali, 27, dreams that his own Muslim father will unite the family in one faith. The American-born software developer is sitting in a pizza joint after church with 20 friends from ICC, shouting at a televised (American) football game and recalling how an American classmate had introduced his sister to Christ. They had spent years attending an American church, until their mother's conversion prompted a search for a Farsi fellowship. Before walking into ICC one Sunday, Ali had never heard someone pray in Farsi.

"It didn't seem real," he said, his eyes moistening at the memory. "It felt like coming home."

Copyright © 2008 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Previous articles on Iran and technology are available on our website.

first page |  2 of 2

share this page

September 2008, Vol. 52, No. 9