Pastor Who Fled Iran at 9 Prays for Democracy

A 9-year-old boy stood at the front of a school assembly when a soldier pressed a gun to his head. Today, that boy is praying for the freedom of the country he barely escaped.

David Nasser's childhood in Iran ended abruptly during the 1979 revolution. His father, a high-ranking military officer, became a target when the government collapsed, making the entire family marked for death.

At that school assembly on a military base, a soldier called three names. Nasser's came first.

"The soldier dropped a piece of paper, took a gun out of his holster and put it to my head and quoted the Quran," Nasser remembers. The soldier said he was sent to make an example of him.

A principal intervened that day, but the message was clear. The family had to run.

They devised a careful plan. Nasser's mother would claim she needed emergency heart surgery in Switzerland. They bought round-trip tickets to avoid suspicion, knowing they would never return.

At the airport, Nasser gripped his father's trembling hand. "If they find out we're escaping, they're going to kill us right here on the spot," his father whispered.

They made it out. America became their safe harbor, granting the family political asylum.

Now a pastor and author, Nasser watches current events in Iran with his heart racing. "I see them, I hear them," he says of Iranians facing uncertainty today.

His prayers focus on two things: protection for those still there, and the possibility of helping rebuild if Iran transitions from theocracy to democracy. "I want to be a part of the solution, for that 9-year-old little boy that I once was," he says.

The Ripple Effect

Beyond political hopes, Nasser sees spiritual transformation already happening. Iran now hosts what he calls "the fastest-growing underground church in the world," with an estimated 4 to 8 million Christians.

These believers face severe consequences. Converting from Islam to Christianity can mean death. Gathering for worship can cost families their homes.

Yet they persist, meeting in secret, risking everything for faith and freedom. They represent the courage Nasser remembers from his own family's desperate escape.

"I came to America, and it was a land of opportunity," Nasser reflects. "I was given the gift of democracy."

Now he wants every Iranian child to have what he was afforded when he managed to escape: a chance to live without fear, to choose their own path, to dream of a future beyond survival.