In today’s episode, Chrissy and Dara Lynn have a conversation with Amir, a young Iranian man currently living in North America. Amir shares about his experience of growing up in a Christian family in Iran, becoming a refugee in Turkey for 9 years, and finally, being resettled in Canada. Amir’s story gives helpful insight into what life as a refugee…

In today’s episode, Chrissy and Hannah have a conversation with our resident historian Tom Hawksley on the story of Iran’s church through the ages. They also explore why so many Iranians are responding to the Gospel in recent decades. Tom, a British missionary, has served the Iranian church for 40 years alongside his Iranian wife Mojdeh, who serves…

As we kickstart the podcast back into a new season, this first episode features a conversation with Magda, an Iranian woman who works in ministry to Persian-speaking women. From all the stories we’ve shared on this podcast, we know that persecution is a very real threat for Christians inside Iran, but we can mistakenly think that that only means th…

Welcome back to Jesus Speaks Farsi! We've got lots of new stories and conversations from the Iranian church that we're excited to share with you. Today Jenn, Dara Lynn and our new host Chrissy have a chat about what's coming up on Jesus Speaks Farsi in the next few weeks. We're so glad you're here! Send us a Text Message. Support the Show.…

In this episode of Chai Time, we’re wrapping up our last series of 2023, “Many Threads, One Tapestry.” Jennifer and Dara Lynn have a conversation about what it means for our individual stories of meeting and following Christ to be a part of the larger story that God is writing for His church. So, pour yourself a cup of tea and join us for another e…

In this third episode of our “Many Threads/One Tapestry” series, Hannah has a conversation with Hessam, a well-respected pastor and teacher in the Iranian church who has been a follower of Jesus for 40 years. Years after his life was transformed by the Gospel, Hessam continues to train and equip the next generation of leaders in the Iranian church.…

In this second episode of our “Many Threads/One Tapestry” series, Dara Lynn has a conversation with Darya, a German/Iranian worship leader whose songwriting and worship ministry has had a significant impact on the Iranian church in recent years. She shares about God’s restoration of her family, what living and ministering across two cultures is lik…

In this first episode of our “Many Threads/One Tapestry” series, Dara Lynn and Jennifer chat with Dani, a young Iranian man whose unique story includes growing up in a Christian family inside Iran. He also shares about his mother's work as a Bible translator, his miraculous escape from Iran as a teenager, meeting his wife Niloofar, and working in m…

In this episode of Chai Time, we’re wrapping up our most recent series, “Church planting in the Iran region.” Joe, Jennifer and Dara Lynn have a conversation about what planting a church in the Iran region looks like as well as how that differs from our Western understanding of church planting. So, pour yourself a cup of tea and join us for another…

In this third episode of our “Planting churches in Iran and Beyond” series, Dara Lynn talks with Keyvan, an Iranian man who came to faith as a teenager and now plays a significant role in helping train church planters in the Iranian church. If you’ve ever wondered how church planting works in the Iran region or how church planters become church pla…

In this second episode of our “Planting churches in Iran and Beyond” series, Joe talks with Samuel, an Argentinian pastor and evangelist, about God’s calling him to minister to people across the world from his home country, specifically in Iran. His unique church-planting story includes smuggling Bibles into a closed country, meeting and marrying h…

In this first episode of our “Planting Churches in Iran and Beyond” series, Joe talks with Kambiz about his story of encountering Jesus as a young soldier in the Iranian army and ultimately becoming a prolific church planter in the Iranian church. In this conversation, Kambiz shares his on-the-ground experience of what planting Persian-speaking chu…

In this episode, Joe sits down with David Yeghnazar, Executive Director of Elam Ministries, to talk about the recent growth of the Iran church and the lessons the global church can learn from what God is doing among Iranian Christians today. They also share compelling testimonies of ordinary Iranians being transformed by the Gospel and going on to …

In this episode, we’re wrapping up our most recent series, “Life After Prison.” Joe, Jennifer and Dara Lynn get together to chat about this series’ conversations with Anahita, Ladan and Sara. They talk about what it means or doesn’t mean, to be “on fire” for Jesus, how being young (in life or in faith) doesn’t exclude believers from the call to min…

As part of our series on Life after Prison, this episode includes a conversation with Ladan, a senior leader in the Iranian church who ministers to Iranian women in the Iran region. In this episode, Dara Lynn and Jenn talk with Ladan about how her experience of being in prison for her faith and how she learned what it meant to fully trust God in an…

As part of our series on Life after Prison, this episode includes a conversation with Sara, a senior leader in the Iranian church who works directly with Persian-speaking youth. Sara’s story highlights how God turns difficult seasons into blessing and beauty from ashes. She also shares about her recent experience of losing her father and how that h…

In this season, we’re catching up with a few of our Iranian friends about what life and faith have looked like after their very personal experiences with persecution. Today, Dara Lynn is joined by Anahita, a senior church leader in the Iranian church who serves in the Middle East alongside her husband Matthew. In this episode, we’ll hear about how …

In this episode, we’re wrapping up our most recent series, “Pray, Give, Go, Stay.” Joe, Jennifer and Dara Lynn spend some time talking about the implications of each of these opportunities to engage with the global church. They also share how their own imaginations were stirred as they talked with friends of the Iranian church about what it can loo…

As part of our Pray, Give, Go, Stay series, Neil and Celeste Rogers share their experience ministering to refugees within their own community in rural Texas. They encourage those looking for ways to reach the nations to simply look in their own backyards. The opportunities for mission work among Afghan and Iranian refugees where we all live only co…

As we continue our series on how to effectively engage with the global Church through praying, giving, going, and staying, this third episode focuses on what it can look like to courageously go. Today, Joe and Jennifer are joined by Tom Hawksley, a Brit who has spent his adult life in ministry, particularly with the church in Iran. He shares about …

As we continue our series on how to effectively engage with the global church through praying, giving, going, and staying, this second episode focuses on the personal and wider impact of obedient giving. Today, Dara Lynn and Jennifer are joined by Mark Howard, a non-profit development director with a pastor’s heart. He shares with us the impact obe…

In this season of Jesus Speaks Farsi, we’ll be talking to friends whose lives have been deeply impacted and shaped by the story of Iran’s church – even though they’re all from the West. Our hope is that in hearing their stories on how they’ve become involved, your imagination would also be stirred for ways the Lord might have you become more deeply…

This Good Friday, we wanted to share our friend Bahar’s story with you again. Her story is featured in our earlier series on Women in Iran, so if you haven’t already, we hope you’ll go back and listen to these incredible Iranian women share their experiences of meeting Jesus. In this episode, Bahar shares her story of growing up as an Iranian woman…

In this bonus episode, we're marking the twentieth anniversary of the modern Farsi translation of the New Testament. 2.5 million copies later, stories of life transformation like the one we share in this episode are happening every day in the Iran region. In this episode, Joe sits down for a conversation with Rasool, an Iranian Christian whose life…

In this episode, we’re wrapping up our Encounters with Jesus series. Jennifer, Joe and Dara Lynn get together at Jennifer’s farm to discuss the conversations in this series about what it can look like to encounter Jesus and the difference that made in each of our guests’ lives. Sharing their own personal experiences of spiritual encounters, our co-…

David Yeghnazar, Executive Director of Elam Ministries, shares how God is moving supernaturally in Iran’s church today. This episode is a recording of a 30-minute message David gave at the 2022 Lausanne conference in Asia titled “Recovering the Supernatural.” In his message, David explains how Jesus is presenting Himself alive today in the Iranian …

In this episode, Joe is joined by fellow podcast teammate Moread, who handles the design and publishing for Jesus Speaks Farsi. We love having Moread on the team and we’re so grateful for his insight and first-hand experience of Persian culture. Born and raised in Iran, Moread left the country as an adult and has since become a follower of Jesus. T…

In our third episode of the Encounters with Jesus series, Dara Lynn and Jen will be speaking with an Iranian woman who leads worship for thousands of Farsi speakers and encounters God’s presence in more ways than just worship music. Niloofar grew up in Iran in a nominally Muslim home where being a daughter was less valuable than being a son. When h…

There are a lot of encouraging stories of people from a Muslim background encountering Jesus in the Iran region, and many of us in the West may be asking the question, “Why isn’t God doing that in my church?” In our second episode of the Encountering Jesus series, Joe speaks with Afshin, a noted Old Testament scholar and teacher (Afshin is also fea…

In our first episode of the Encounters with Jesus series Joe will be speaking with an Iranian woman who spoke with Jesus face to face through a dream. Asrin is from a Kurdish family who are typically hated by the government in Iran. After a terrifying experience as a teenager because of her ethnicity, she wanted to join the Kurdish Militia and figh…

A short conversation with Dara Lynn and Joe to celebrate one year of Jesus Speaks Farsi. They'll discuss current events in Iran, recap the past year of episodes and let you know what we have to look forward to in 2023 on the podcast. For more information about the recent history and incredible growth of the Iranian church please visit elam.com/iran…

Thank you to everyone who joined Elam’s International Day of Prayer for Iran recently. People and churches from over 60 nations around the world came together to pray for the current situation in Iran and on today’s episode, we’ll hear from one of the leaders of this prayer initiative. Roozbeh has been on a previous episode of Jesus Speaks Farsi an…

The nation of Iran is at a tipping point as its people, mainly led by courageous women, are taking to the streets against the injustices of decades of oppression. Many are saying these are the most intense protests since the Iranian revolution in 1979. Despite the hardships and the hardline Islamic regime, the people of Iran continue to receive the…

In this final episode of the Scriptures in Iran series, Joe, Dara Lynn and Jen sit down over a cup of chai to talk through the stories we’ve shared. We discuss our thoughts as Westerners about the stories we’ve heard about the impact of the Scriptures in Iran. Grab your cup of tea and join us for another episode of Jesus Speaks Farsi. For more info…

In today’s episode, Joe speaks with his good friend Ali about Ali’s fascinating journey to faith and his current work, Bible translation. Just like Afshin (episode 3), who is a mentor of Ali’s, Ali is working on translating the Bible into languages that have never had the Scriptures before. Ali’s team is currently working on 20 translation projects…

On today’s episode, Joe shares one of his favorite stories from the church in Iran about a man whose dream about Jesus led him to a Christian who gave him a Bible. Joe reminds us that behind every incredible testimony like this is the faithful obedience of countless believers who have prayed, shared, given, and served. While Jesus is the story's he…

Join Dara Lynn as she chats with Afshin, one of the only Iranians with a PhD in biblical studies. As a student, Afshin's focus was on the Old Testament, specifically the Psalms. Not only is he a celebrated teacher in the Farsi-speaking world, but he is also part of the team that translated the Bible into modern-day Farsi. His wealth of knowledge of…

Today, Roozbeh is a beloved Iranian worship leader, but as a young man his life was full of anger and hate and he always felt like a storm was raging inside his heart. In today’s episode, Joe and Roozbeh talk about Roozbeh's experience reading the New Testament for the first time and how he became a follower of Jesus while living inside Iran. They'…

David Yeghnazar, Executive director of Elam Ministries, joins Jen and Dara Lynn today in the first episode of our new podcast series, “Scriptures in Iran.” In this series, we’ll be hearing from different Iranian believers about how the Bible in Farsi is transforming lives across the region despite its being banned by the Iranian government. In toda…

There are some stories too good not to share. In this episode, Sara tells a short story about another Iranian woman who loves the Scriptures - her mother. For more information about the recent history and incredible growth of the Iranian church please visit elam.com/iran-story. For more information about our organization, please visit elam.com. Sen…

In this final episode of the Women in Iran series, Joe, Dara Lynn and Jen sit down over a cup of chai to talk through the stories we’ve shared. We discuss our thoughts as Westerners about the stories we’ve heard about women from Iran. Grab your cup of tea and join us for another episode of Jesus Speaks Farsi. For more information about the recent h…

In today's episode, Joe has a conversation with Sara, a woman who has been instrumental in the growth of the Iranian church. We hope you’re encouraged to hear how, by God's grace, she helped plant seven churches inside Iran, despite persecution and the challenges of being a single woman. For more information about the recent history and incredible …

In today’s episode, Jen and Joe will be chatting with Amirhossein about his experience growing up as a man in Iran and his perspective on the oppression women face there. We hope you’ll be encouraged by our conversation with Amirhossein as he shares why “women are meant to fly.” For more information about the recent history and incredible growth of…

In today's episode, we'll be talking with Bahar. As a woman born and raised in Iran, Bahar always sensed that the way women were treated in her culture wasn’t right or how things were meant to be. She was told to be quiet, to never laugh and to stay in her place. In this episode, we’ll hear how she ended up finding her place in the story God is wri…

Today’s episode is the first in our second podcast series - “Women in Iran.” In this series, we’ll hear from three women about their extraordinary journeys to the Christian faith while living in a culture that systematically oppresses women. Mojdeh, our first guest was born in Iran and raised in a Christian home before the 1979 revolution in Iran. …

In this bonus episode, Jen will be joined by fellow podcast teammate Moread who handles the design and publishing for Jesus Speaks Farsi. We love having Moread on the team for his insight and first-hand experience of Persian culture. Born and raised in Iran, he left the country as an adult and has since become a follower of Jesus. Today, Moread is …

In this final episode of the Persecution series, Joe, Dara Lynn and Jen sit down over a cup of chai to talk through the stories we’ve shared in this series. Persecution and suffering go hand in hand and bring up a lot of difficult questions for our Christian faith: Why does God let his followers go to prison? Where is He in all the suffering? What …

We’ll be checking back in with Farshid from our first episode ( One Year in Solitary - Persecution E1 ) in this series to hear what life was like in prison after leaving solitary confinement. The majority of the 120 leaders arrested along with Farshid, like Ladan and Anahita, had been released from prison, and many had even left Iran. Farshid, howe…

In this episode, Dara Lynn talks with Anahita, a senior leader within Iran’s house church movement. We’ll hear how only a few months into her marriage, she and her husband Matthew were both arrested for their involvement in church planting. She’ll also share the fascinating story of their escape from Iran over the mountains. For more information ab…

In this episode, Jennifer’s talking with Ladan, a senior leader in the Iranian church who has shared the Gospel with thousands of people across the Iran region. She’ll be sharing her story of meeting Jesus and planting house churches in Iran. We’ll also hear how that led her to take a taxi to jail and ultimately spend nearly a month in solitary con…