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 fight for justice against the Iranian government but an encounter with Jesus led her to join a different fight.
 
Asrin shares with us about the moments she’s spent with Jesus and how it led to a transformation in her heart with love for all people despite their ethnicity, race or religion.

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 featured in the Scriptures in Iran season, episode 3). He holds a PhD in biblical studies from a Western seminary and has seen God move in miraculous ways in his life. We’ll hear from Afshin about experiencing God for ourselves and the tension of explaining the mysteries of Jesus to a Western world that often requires logical answers.

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 her parents became believers through a television program, Niloofar was sceptical. But, after seeing the transformation in their lives, she soon accepted Jesus into her own life. 
Early in her faith, worship music was especially important to Niloofar, having not been allowed to sing in her former life as a Muslim.

 Encountering Jesus through worship gave her hope after the grief of leaving Iran and has continued to take her on a unique spiritual journey as her faith has grown.

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. Today, Moread is passionate about sharing the story of what God is doing in his beloved homeland. 

In this episode, we’ll hear his story of encountering God while still a professing atheist. Moread had forsaken all religion after turning his back on Islam until a follower of Jesus he’d never met before told him things about his life no one else knew.

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 church through His Word and through supernatural visions and dreams. We believe including this message is a great way to pull together all we’ve heard so far in our series on Encounters with Jesus.

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-hosts find a lot to talk about in this Chai time. So, bring your cup of tea and join us for another episode of Jesus Speaks Farsi.