Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 1356 | My First Prayer Was Darker Than Most People’s Worst Nightmare

Episode Date: June 16, 2026

An Iranian refugee puts a human face on the fight for freedom from Iran’s regime as author, speaker, and pastor David Nasser joins Al, Zach, and Jase to tell the story of his family’s escape from Iran after the 1979 revolution. David describes the terrifying moment soldiers dragged his father away, their desperate escape plan, and the loneliness he felt after arriving in America as an outsider. But a group of Christians serving as volunteer waiters in his father’s restaurant changed everything, eventually leading David and his whole family to Jesus. The guys also discuss the difference between Iran’s people and its tyrannical regime, the courage of underground Iranian Christians, and why freedom is a gift Americans should never take for granted. In this episode: John 3, verse 16; John 14, verse 6; 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21; Romans 2, verse 4; Mark 8, verse 36; Romans 12, verse 2; 1 Peter 2, verse 9; 1 John 4, verse 8; Ephesians 2, verse 14; Esther 4, verse 14 “Unashamed” Episode 1356 is sponsored by: https://preborn.com/unashamed — Visit the PreBorn! website or dial #250 and use keyword BABY to donate today. https://www.covesmart.com/unashamed/ — Use code UNASHAMED at checkout for up to 70% off your first order! http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ — Sign up now for free, and join the Unashamed hosts every Friday for Unashamed Academy Powered by Hillsdale College Listen to Not Yet Now with Zach Dasher on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or anywhere you get podcasts. Check out At Home with Phil Robertson, nearly 800 episodes of Phil's unfiltered wisdom, humor, and biblical truth, available for free for the first time! Get it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! https://open.spotify.com/show/3LY8eJ4ZBZHmsImGoDNK2l Chapters 00:00 Zach’s Surprise Hot Tub History with David 04:35 David’s Family Faces the Iranian Revolution 09:20 Escaping Iran  13:30 Life as an Iranian Refugee in America 18:20 A Pothead Invites David to Church 24:37 Eight Weeks of Gospel Conversations 28:30 David’s Baptism Costs Him His Home 36:53 The Underground Church in Iran 41:01 Dreams of Jesus in the Middle East 45:53 Al’s Iranian Doctor Saves His Daughter 48:40 “Duck Dynasty” in Farsi 52:39 5 USA vs. Iran World Cup Game — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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What about you? So welcome back to Unashamed. Sometimes, Jay's, you know, you tell a story because you're famous for telling stories. Am I? Yeah. You tell a story and then things happen. And our guest today happened because of a story you tell. It really is true.

Well, it was an experience. I was in Nashville, which I think specifically Franklin. And we did the Good Friday thing with Chris Thomas. which I think it was a 10-year anniversary. It was, yeah. It's the first time we had been there. My wife and I, and we took a couple of grandkids and two of our kids and my son's new wife, and boy, what an experience.

But we were sharing before we started this, because our guest is David Nassar today, and you got up and spoke. And everything was in secret, which I didn't know how that event goes, but it's like he reveals the guess when you get there. So you don't know, like, who the special guests. So we were all thinking, what's he talking about? Where's the program at?

But it's all kind of a surprise. But you spoke, and I had a special place in my heart for the Persians because I was involved with a missionary who was a friend of the podcast. And I shared to many people about that story. I got to speak to a group of people who were refugees that he helped out. They gave their life to the Lord. and then they wanted to go back to Iran and share Jesus with their family.

So when you got up and they described you being from Iran, with all the current world events right now, I thought, I think it was meant for me to be here and hear this. And then I was wowed by your faith and your story. And I came back and I'm like, we must have this guy on the podcast. And then Zach, after I talked for 20 minutes and told the story, he's like, yeah, I know him.

Well, then, Zach, you never said this on the other podcast, but then just now as David is here, which welcome David, by the way. Yeah, thanks for having me. Jack, Zach's like, oh, yeah, I spent the night at his house. I was like, you spent the night at his house. And he went in a hot tub with him. We just found that out. We were been in a hot tub together.

Oh, wow. Please explain that. Yeah, we were. Me, David. And half of Shane and Shane was there, too. Yeah, Shane Ebert was there, which David said, What did you say two fat guys and a skinny guy? So I'm trying to figure out who is that.

He was being kind. He said three fat guys, but I'm looking at the day if he's not fat. So he meant to... Oh, I thought he said two fat guys and a skinny guy. I meant fat like P-H-A-T. Like, you know, the good kind of fat. Okay.

All right. But yeah, we stayed the night there, David. He's known for his hospitality, which I have to say. That was, I mean, I was very impressed, David. I mean, very, very seldom do I get in the situation where I'm like, man, I mean, everything was, it was, every time I get a national, I want to state your place. Man, you guys are welcome anytime. It was great to meet you that night. Yeah, Shane Everett was going to be in town.

We've been long friends for years and years. And he said, you've got to meet my friend, Zach. He said, he's going to be here, man, can he come and let's grill out fat steaks and just hang out? And, you know, they came over and we start just hanging out and talking lots. And it's amazing. We have a lot of common friends, not just Shane. Do, ever. But, and then one thing, you know, like long dinner goes to like more hang time and back porch time.

And then the next thing, you know, they were spending the night at the house. Like my wife, Jennifer was like, we got a couple guest rooms. Y'all don't go to a hotel room or whatever. Next thing, you know, it's like 1230 at night. And Shane Ever is like, that hot tub running hot. One, four, maybe. That's how I run. So the next thing, you know, these guys barred a few shorts.

No, you brought the shorts. I'm wearing your shorts, I think, if I remember correctly. Yeah. But, man, I mean, I've listened to the show before. I'm a fan of the show. So grateful for you guys. And so it was great to meet Zach. And, man, thanks for having me on.

What an honor. Look, I want our listeners to hear your story. I was, I laughed, I cried. I thought, is this real? When you got up and shared your story and just to have that invitation to speak, it was very powerful. So I guess tell us how you got to America and how this happened. Yeah. I was born in Iran, and in 1979, the Iranian revolution happened. And so when the revolution happened and the Ayatollah Khomeini and his religious zealots took over Iran,

Iran used to be a monarchy where we had a king, and then it became a theocracy, where the Khomeini and his zealots kind of took over the government. And when that happened, guys my father was high ranked in the military at that time so when everybody who was anybody you know was overthrown um i remember those days where like our lives were in a lot of danger as a family my dad was high ranked in the military and so um when when all that happened i remembered the instability of it i remember soldiers uh actually coming to our home one day and grabbing my dad out of our home we lived in the army base that uh with in some housing areas.

And they got him and they were dragging him to the door. I'll never forget my mom hanging on to the leg of one of the soldiers. And as they were taking my dad to the door, she just kept screaming over and over again. Just kill them quickly. Just kill them quickly. And when you're nine years old and that's happening, you don't understand why somebody is being told by your mom to kill your dad quick.

But my first memory of prayer, and we were Shiite Muslims back then, My first memory of prayer was when they took my dad out of her home that day. My mom grabbed my hand, grabbed my sister's hand, and so let's pray. And she just kept saying over and over again in prayer, let him die quick, let him die quick. And when she said, amen, I said, why are you saying that? And my mom explained, she said, look, they're using fear. That's what terrorists do. Fear is their great weapon.

And they're using it to, you know, stifle any opposition. And so they're going to go make an example of your dad. They took his best friend the day before, and they took him to the same. part that they're taking him and his best friend was tied to a tree they took a pair of pliers they started with his fingernails and worked their way in and they tortured them to him about seven hours to bleed him out and so we need to pray that your dad's not tortured slow and he's killed quick and so when you're nine years old guys and you're praying that my that dad will be at least killed quick the last thing you're thinking is that god loves me and has a wonderful plan for my

like that afternoon God didn't I mean my dad came home and he wasn't killed and so we knew at that time we needed to get out and I remember my mom and dad just kind of putting it on front burner that we're gonna escape from Iran as fast as we can

and my mom at that time had these heart issues and so they kind of leveraged that on as their excuse to get out they went to these doctors that my mom had been going to see and they said look we need to get out of Iran

and so if you'll help us escape we'll give you our home, our cars, our clothes, everything that we own. You can have it all. We just need to get out of here. And so the doctors got in on the plan, and a couple of days later, my mom acted like her heart was bothering her. It was all fake. And Millons came and got her, took her to the hospital. They took her in this back room.

And they came out and said, she needs a bypass surgery immediately. And she needs to go to Switzerland for this surgery, because we don't have the technology for the kind that she needs. and that the family should go along for support. And so we bought two-way airline tickets like we were going and coming back. And we called for the homework assignments and the house sitter. But all that was fake.

We were just, we were going and we weren't coming back. And I remember, I literally remember, holding my dad's hand in the airport. And his hand just kept shaking and he kept saying to my mom, if they find out we're escaping, they're going to kill us right here on the spot. But you know, what's crazy is,

when you look at your story, it's how God knew you before you. knew him, how God was for you, even when you thought he was against you. You're thinking, like, I remember thinking, I don't know what we've done to make God so mad. Why is he hurting us? But I can look now and realize he was actually holding us. Yeah. And God just held us that day. And he took us out of Iran. And man, we got to, we got to Switzerland for this operation. And instead of going to the hospital, we went to the American consulate. And we pled for what's called political asylum, which is just a fancy way of saying, hey, we want to be refugees.

legal refugees in America. But at that time, guys, nobody was allowing somebody from my neck of the woods into your neck of the woods. We were from the wrong place at the wrong time. People were burning the American flag in Iran.

They were, you know, thousands of them in the streets chanting death to America. We had the takeover of the embassy and the hostages and all that was going on. That's exactly right. It was a big deal. That's right.

And so you remember now when all that was happening. And so 55 Americans were held hostage at the American embassy in Iran. And so here we were, man, we were from the wrong place at the wrong time, stuck in Europe trying to make it here. And for nine months, we tried every way we could. We tried legally. We tried illegally. Man, we just couldn't open doors until one day my mom got us together.

And she had kind of an American idea, you know, that's how I saw it. And she said, since we want to go to America, why don't we pray to Christ? And that's the first time I ever heard Jesus, his name. Wow. My mom mentioned the name of Jesus in a prayer. And man, a week later, God opened the doors. Jesus opened the doors for us that we can know them for ourselves. And so I remember getting on a plane, nine months in and thinking, I hate religion because

I saw it destroy my country. But hey, Jesus, thanks for letting us into your country. I love that quote, too, because I read a piece about you in Christianity and you said, your mom said, let's pray to their God, Jesus. That's right. And I never thought about it as viewing it as a U.S. thing. but it was really interesting. You saw the fruit of it.

I just presume Jesus was like some white Republican that looked like he'd be on Duck Dynasty. I didn't realize he was actually more from my neck to the woods that y'all's neck of the world. It was much more like you, David. That's right. Father's Day is upon us, and it takes me back to 1986.

We were pregnant with Anna, and she came at 29 weeks, so we were shocked that she came so early. And then she was in the NICU for three, I have months, but she came home on Father's Day, which was such a touching thing for me. And, you know, there's a lot of people out there, and a lot of times they're unexpected pregnancies, which was different from ours. But you can be surprised, right?

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Sponsored by preborn. But to me, that's the beauty of God. God is bigger than bad geography or even bad theology. In prayer, we just yell out to him in desperation. And he's a God who's near. He's a God who's for us. And so, man, the Lord just opened the doors. And so we come to America, guys.

But you can understand, we don't go to Erangelis. That's what I call it. Like, that's where all the Iranians move. We go to Texas, but not just Texas. Like, we go to Kaleen, Texas, where Fort Hood, the largest army base in the world is. Because my dad was a pilot, helicopter, who's a military guy? So he thought, maybe I'll just go, you know, be a instructor pilot there. And so we move during the Iranian.

hostage situation now. Can you imagine this? We go to patriotic small town, military town Texas. Largest base I think in this country. And you're from Iran. I mean, can you say wedgy waiting to happen? I'm like, hello, I am David. And they're like, dude, you are so going to get beat up today after school. And I was just this fish out of water. And for years and years, that was me. I was the kid that every day went to school and heard all the nicknames. I got all the

7-11 jokes, a turban joke. I got called bean dip. And I'm not even Mexican. I was like, you're not even accurate in your racism. You know,

we'd escape halfway across the world to honestly unplug from one kind of fear, what kind of terrorism, physical. Yeah, yeah. And plug into a whole other kind, which is emotional. Yeah. And you know,

the weapon of mass destruction in emotional terrorism isn't when you're a kid and people say mean things about you. It's when they don't even acknowledge you're real. Yeah. Yeah. And I remember those days.

I literally remember Zach, like being the one kid, there'd be like 15 kids in our classroom, and there would be 14 birthday party invitations going out, you know, for the skating rink. And I remember the teacher would like put him there on a Friday, on everybody's desk, put mine. And it was a constant reminder that like, man, nobody wants you here. You don't belong. Yeah. And you don't have to be from Iran to feel that way.

Somebody's listening right now. They feel like they go to work and they don't belong. They don't have any friends and they don't belong. Sadly, sometimes people go to church. Yeah. And they feel like they don't ball. That's right. And I know what it's like to just be the kid that every day wakes up thinking, like, I'm going to a place nobody wants me at.

Yeah. And for years and years, that was me until the day my freshman year in high school was about to start. I said to my room when I was crying. My dad heard me. He came in and said, it was wrong. I told him. I said, Dad, I get peed up like a pinata every day. Nobody likes me.

I don't like that. Are you still in Texas? We had moved, interestingly enough, from. Texas to Alabama. But it was the same problem. We'd actually move to a small town in Alabama where there was another army base, Enterprise Alabama, where there's Fort Rucker. And so my dad had actually gotten a job being a flight instructor there at Fort Rucker

for about three weeks, you know, before they realized, well, nobody wants to train with an Iranian. And this is before political correctness, so he'd lost his job. And so we'd moved, but it was basically the same issue, you know. And so I'm sitting there and I'm crying. Tell my dad what's going on. And he felt sorry for me that I was kind of this outcasted kid. And so he tried to fix it.

My dad took me to the mall. And he gave me kind of an extreme makeover on the outside. I got new clothes, new haircut, new shoes. Man, same insecure kid on the inside. I got made over on the outside. And I went to school the very next day. And I called it going from geek to she. You know, I went from, you know, Abdul to Julio.

And I found out what you know already, I found out that people will care more about the label that you wear sometimes than the person that you are. And man, my high school years became that. My high school years became the years where I just, I learned how to the rest the right way and how to end up at the right lunchroom table and how to be cold to be perceived as cool to people

and how to dump the right girl right before she could dump me to climb the social ladder. I learned high school. Yeah, yeah. And it's so true where it says in the Bible, man, what good is it for a man to gain the whole world? But the forfeited soul. And my high school years became these years,

but I just sold out my soul. And at least when I was a nobody guys, I was like David the nobody. But I kind of become this gutless wonder with just anything and everything just to make friends. Even if it was fabricated friendships, when you're that insecure, you just want them.

And I graduated from high school, kind of popular, but I graduated completely emotional. bankrupt and honestly kind of suicidal and just completely just you know it says in scripture do not conform to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind tell that to a kid is completely already deviating who's completely the outside so I just conform to the patterns of this world so I graduate barely graduate and a couple of months after high school this is a weird part of my

story but it's what happened I'm About two months after high school one night, I'm in a car with a buddy of mine. He's the only buddy that hadn't gone off to college yet. And we're smoking weed. We're passing a joint back and forth. And it's almost midnight. And I got to be in like in five minutes, you know. And so we're quickly trying to finish up this joint.

And while we're passing it back and forth, my buddy looks at me and he says, man, you were so down tonight. Why are you quiet? Like normally I'd be like the goofy kid, kind of life of the party. And I said, dude, I hug like nine people goodbye tonight that are going to Auburn and Albury. Alabama and this and this. And he said, okay. And I said, man, we became famous in high school, popular in high school.

And then as soon as we got our cap and gown, it all just kind of faded away. And he looks over at me. And while he's handing me a joint guy, he goes, well, I've got an idea. He goes, you ought to come to church with me tomorrow. Oh, wow. Because in America, there's this thing called the youth group, and it's another social ground. Yeah. And I'm just shocked he's inviting me to church.

And I'm like, you go to church? He's like, I'm a Southern Baptist. For the first time I got invited the church, I got invited the church by Akai was a pothead. And I told them, I said, there's no way my dad's going to let me go to church. So they were still practicing Islam, your parents, and all that? Yeah, my dad was somewhat devout, and my mom wasn't as devout. But there was certainly a lot more devout than me. Obviously, I was in a very devout Muslim, was stoned in a car on a Saturday.

But my parents were. And so when my buddy is inviting me to go to church, right, I'm thinking, there's no way my dad's going to let me go. Exactly. So, man, on a Saturday night, we walk in the house. He gets out of the car with me just to make sure I'm going to at least ask my dad. I think we're going to get a quick no. It's going to be done. He's standing at the door.

My buddy's standing at the door. We had a ranch-style home, you know. I walk down the hallway and I knock on my parents' bedroom door. Like, doors literally closed. I'm in the hallway. Doors between us. And I'm like, mom and dad, I know you're going to say no. Just say no loud enough.

So you can, you know, my buddy can hear and he can leave me alone. And I go, he wants to know if tomorrow I can go with him to a Christian church. But instead of saying no, I figured my dad's kind of waking up for a second, you know, whatever. He kind of quiet for a couple seconds, and then he yells,

What is the name of it? And he wants to know the name of the church. And I'm shocked that my dad would even, you know, be open to the idea, would even consider it. And so I looked down in the hallway. I didn't think we'd get this far conversation. I look at my buddy like, what church? And my buddy yells really loud down the hallway.

He says, Shades. And as soon as he says Shades, everybody in our town knew that as shorthand for this big church down the road from our home called Shades Mountain Baptist Church. And my dad hears the word Shades, and then my dad yells, I know those people, and I'm even more confused. Because what I didn't know was that I'm standing there, guys, on this Saturday night asking my daddy if I can go to church. And in God's providence, what he had never told us was that about two weeks prior to that Saturday night that I'm standing there, there were these people from this church, Shades Mountain Baptist Church, that had come to my daddy's restaurant to eat. My dad had opened up this French restaurant. I know it's confusing.

My daddy had opened up this restaurant. And about two weeks prior that, this guy named Aubrey Edwards, who was the worship leader at this church, and a couple other staff members and some folks from the church had gone to my daddy's restaurant to eat. And while they were eating, they had seen, how he was short-handed on waitstaff at this lunch rush, and instead of complaining about the bad service, these guys got up, Aubrey said, let's get up, and they rolled up their sleeves, and they waited on tables in my dad's restaurant.

And then, Al, you're a pastor, they went back the next day, opened up their ICAL, went back the next day and just became busboys and waiters in my daddy's restaurant for three hours, then they went back the next day and did it again. And then after three days of serving my dad as bus boys and waiters,

They invited my dad to choir practice. And because kindness is a superpower. Yeah, yeah. Romans 2 says kindness leads to repentance. My dad, because they were so nice, went to choir practice. Oh, wow. And then at the end of choir practice, they got out a piece of paper. And Aubrey said, hey, this is my friend, Mr. Nassar.

We got a piece of paper going around. Everybody signed up for shifts to wait at his restaurant as busboys and waiters. and for two weeks, unbeknownst to us, these Christians had parachuted into Cafe de France, my daddy's restaurant, and they'd been serving my dad as busboys and waiters. And so fast forward two weeks later, and I'm asking my dad if I can go to church,

and instead of saying, like, quick no, my dad's like, what do you use the name of it? And then my buddy yells out the name of the exact same people that had been helping them out. So our family, we've had our fair share of randoms coming through the yard, and I know you guys, have two. That's why we take protecting our homes seriously with Cove. But it gives us a lot of peace of mind knowing that our home is covered. We've got cameras everywhere now. Super easy to put up.

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So whether you're building a home on wisdom, faith, or just common sense. Guys, look, go to order your Cove system today. Head over to covesmart.com slash unashamed. Use the code Unashamed to check out for up to 70% off your first order. And if you get a survey, please let them know that you heard about Cove right here on this podcast. That's C-O-V-E smart.com slash Unashamed. Code Unashamed at checkout. So all of a sudden, my dad goes, I know those people.

And so then he says he finishes the sentence. He goes, you can go there, but only there. Yeah. I mean, guys, I was in Orlando a couple months back. I was telling my story. And between the second and the third service of this church, this grandma walks up to me. And I know she was grandma because she had her grandkids around there. And she says, hey, when I was in college, one night I was in choir practice.

And they made us sign up for volunteer shifts. And I was a waitress in your dad's restaurant. Oh, my goodness. We're standing there both crying, and I'm like, it's your fault I'm here. Yeah. And so my story. is not about an Iranian kid that turned out all right.

It's about a bunch of believers that were believable. A bunch of Christians who just showed up. And so, man, my dad said, I know those people and you can't go there. And so I got permission

to go to church because a bunch of, honestly, because of a worship leader led worship. Yeah. But not with a guitar in his hand, but with a mop in his hand in my daddy's restaurant.

That's right. And so I went to church and man, when I got there, it was like, the 1040 window has come to us. We don't need a passport. Yeah. And man, for the next

eight Monday nights in a row these Christians showed up in my house they had this thing called visitation. We called it harassment. They showed up in my house for eight Monday nights in a row and they shared the gospel with me. And one week it'd be John 316, you know, like God so loved the world that he gave his only son

that if you believe in him you will not perish but have eternal life. Next week they'd come back lock and load. It'd be Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father but by me. The next week he who knew no sin became sin so you can become the righteousness of God. Every week it'd be different Bible verse, same truth. I was a sinner.

in need of a Savior, and Jesus was that Savior. Man, they kept telling me about Jesus, and I kept saying to them, guys, I hate religion, I skate religion, I don't want to have religion again, and they kept saying to me, man, we don't want religion for you. As a matter of fact, the people that people that put Jesus on a cross were the religious people. And so we actually want to deliver you from religion. This has been the problem here. You're not hearing us because you make this mistake to think we want redemption for you,

but we want redemption for you, not religion for you. And so for eight Monday nights in a row, I heard the gospel, and for eight Sunday mornings, they would come to my house on Sunday morning and blow the horn and drag me to church until I would get in the car. And I say drag me, but I wanted to go. Yeah. And one night, the preacher Charles Carter was, I remember on a Sunday, was preaching. And, man, I remember this, that night, it just felt like somebody had given this guy a sticky note with all my stuff on it. I don't have you ever feel that way.

Yeah. Yeah. Who passed the pastor? All my info. He's got my number. And, man, I went home, and I was just convicted, and these Christians kept bringing me Bibles every time they'd come to my house for visitation. And so I remember that night I sat in my house, and I opened up a Bible, and that's the

night that the Lord saved me. Yeah. Yeah. And I've never been over it. So how did your parents react after that? Yeah, man. Great question. My parents were out of town that night.

I get home. I get saved. My parents were in Atlanta. They were driving back in. So like two hours later, buddy, my dad comes home And I'm in my bedroom, I'm emotional You know, I just got saved I'm real for me

And so, you know, my dad comes in the room, I'm crying, he's like, what he's wrong, you know? And I'm like, I got saved tonight, I became a Christian tonight. And that is the most devout I ever saw my parents as a Muslim Instantly they were like, we are Muslims I was like, we are, you know?

And I think they thought You know, I think they thought This is just the stage in his life. Yeah. You know, he's got a tennis racket because he wanted to be Andre Agassi and all the tennis lessons never went anywhere. He wanted to be Eddie Van Halen

and we got him like four guitars and they sit down the wall. You know, he wanted to go surf. The surfing lessons that never, you know, he never, like, you know, all that. He's just going to be a Christian. It's like a cold that you catch and it goes away. But they didn't realize when you truly give your life to Christ,

it's a new you. It's not behavior modification. it's the end of you and a whole new you is born again. And the night that it all really came to head was a couple of weeks after I'd become a Christian. I was scheduled to get baptized at the church that, you know, become a Christian. And man, I told my mom and dad,

and they're like, I'm going to go get baptized tonight if you'd like to come and see it. Man, that did not go well. And my mom and dad were like, you will stop being a Christian. Let me ask you a question. How do you stop? We're laughing because we don't know how to start and stop. But there are people, they start on Sunday. And then as a plumber, they go to work and they stop while they're a plumber.

And they do a half hour of work and charge like it's an hour and a half a work. You can start and stop. You've never started. Yeah. That's right. It's not like you can put it in compartments. That's right. And so my dad said, you will stop? And I was like, Dad, I can't.

And I went and got baptized that night. And I came home and he said, did you do that? And I said, yes, sir. and my parents told me I brought shame to the family and they kicked me out of the house. But man, I moved in with six guys that lived in a one-bedroom apartment. And you're what, 18?

I was 18. Had dinner the other night with a guy named Larry Knoe who let me come live with him. We hadn't had dinner in 20 years. We're sitting there. I said, do you remember when I got saved and you let me live with you?

He was like, oh yeah, I remember. We were just reminiscent about just how good the Lord was. Because on paper, it looked like I'd blown my life up. You know? My parents had disowned me. I was no longer allowed to have any of the college money, any of the stuff, you know. But again, God was up to something. But off paper, I was the richest I'd ever been.

I finally had purpose. I finally had peace. Man, I lived with these guys for five months. I mean, I mean, for months and months. And five months after I was a Christian one night, my sister called me on the phone. And the Lord through a campus crusade on her college campus had saved her. And then five months after that, my mom, call me one night, really loud on the phone. She's like, tonight, I become a Christian. I'm like,

why are you yelling? I want your father to hear because he's not kicking me nowhere. That's how she wrote. And so my mom got saved. And then five months after that, my brother Benjamin, that God fearfully and wonderfully made Down syndrome, got saved. And then two and a half years later, the Lord saved my dad. Oh, wow. And one by one, man, my whole family has come to know the Lord. And so, yeah, so it's an understatement when I say, man, the Lord has just, it's so good. Well, I love it because you started by talking about the trauma and then coming here and feeling like you didn't belong. Yeah. And then now, I think after you tell your story, I think about that in 1st Peter 2, you know, you're a chosen people, royal priesthood, a people belonging to God.

So not only did you find that in Christ, but then found that even in a support system, but then that leads to your entire. family. Yeah. Finding the same thing. Amen. I mean, and God use you as the tip of the spear for that to happen. Yeah.

And that's how God always is. Yeah. He breaks a generational curse, but he doesn't just stop there. Oh, yeah. He keeps on giving. Then through the church, I mean,

I think about that, that this happened through the church. I love hearing your story, because you have a deep love for the church. And now, you're the same way. I mean, it's like, sometimes I'll be really critical.

And I was always like, yeah, I would say overly optimistic, sick when I, you know, but the reason why Al is that way, because, like, Al's story intersects. Like, the church literally held him up and brought him in and raised him up. It's very similar to your story in a different way. But, like, I think it's so beautiful because of age like deconstruction and ripping the church, your story was really got, what did you say, believers believing or however you said?

Believers are believable. Yeah. Yeah. Christians that are Christ-like, you know. Love that, man. And the verse that says God is love in first time four. that's proved out by people who love. 100%, you know, and when you show that,

I mean, because if that hadn't happened, they had not done what they did in your dad's restaurant, then he probably wouldn't have let you go that night. I mean, that may have changed the whole dynamic. 100%. They could have changed everything. Absolutely. Well, and it shows you, like I thought of Ephesians, too,

when it says, you know, Jesus tore down that wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile. But we all have our walls when the reason I was saying, so struck by your story is when I went over, you know, in Greece and Larry Bowles is, and our listeners are familiar with him, he's been on the podcast many times. You know, he was like, I want you to speak. I have a group of Iranians. They prefer to be called Persians.

Of course, I'm thinking all I know about Iran is they want to bomb us. Yeah. And it's just in your, yeah, well, it's in your, even, you know, I love the Lord and I love all people, but there was a little bit of that just because that's what I've heard my whole life. And after the first night of us meeting, and it was a large group, almost 50 of them,

we sat around and sang and shared Jesus, you know, just through interpreters, and we laughed. And it was so interesting when me and my wife got back to our hotel, it was like, these people are no different from anybody I've ever met in Jesus, You know, it just you have that stereotype, you meet them, which started this couple of week journey, which, you know, led to me doing that service. And because even in their faith, the whole reason they were there is because now they were refugees. Larry had helped them in his team. He had shared Jesus with them.

And instead of them, like, approaching freedom, you know, just in Christ and freedom to live wherever they wanted to because now they've escaped, they want to. they want to go back and share Jesus with their family members there. And I was so moved by that kind of courageous spirit, because I thought in my own mind, you want to go back? Yeah. But they were just willing to risk their life. And I just thought, you're talking about breaking down the walls that divide us in our culture. I mean, I'm like, these people, I'd give my life for these people as brothers and sisters, you know, in Jesus.

because I saw that courageous faith. Are you one of those media strategy people clicking through slides, scrolling spreadsheets? Yes? Good. This is for you. Because on Spotify, there's an audience that's different, locked in, loyal, invested. They're called fans. Fans don't just listen to music.

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Like go. Oh, I was. I mean, I got up. Oh, well, I just, I mean, I basically, I'm kind of the one string. Me and Larry Bowes have that in common. I have one string. It's an introduction to Jesus. Yeah, gospel century.

Like Billy Graham. It's different every time. But I just thought, you know, if you only got one shot at a group of people, I'm going to introduce Jesus to him. And kind of what you said about tearing down the ideas of religion. It's not like we're offering a different religion. We're offering, look at who Jesus is and what he represents. Because even when you notice in our world, people who don't even believe in Jesus, when they read about him, they don't have anything negative to say. That's right. They're like, you know, he's a pretty good fella. I mean, when you see how he operates, and I think there's

there's truth in that. So I basically introduced Jesus, and it was funny because I had to do it through an interpreter, which is challenging for me. Yeah, get you out of rhythm. Yeah. You say a sentence and then. But I would say a sentence, and then he would go on for way longer than one sentence. And I thought, hey, are you adding?

And he was like, no, no, it's good. It's good. Just put it in proper context. He was a fiery, you know, guy from Iran who had been converted. So he was like, I'm putting a little extra. on there for you. And there's a language barrier also. So I realized in that moment that about 90% of what I say in English are idioms, which doesn't translate well, you know, when you say, hey, you're up a creek without a paddle. He's like, let me put this in our, our, well, it sounds like

what we do in this podcast, Jay, is because we're constantly having to try to go back to the original language to explain concepts because the English doesn't always do it justice, whether it's Greek or Hebrews. Absolutely. So you learn things. But having said all that, after, you know, I shared this with you before we started, I shared with it and it really rallied this group, you know, and they were excited. It was off the charts. But then hours later, we start getting this secret video from phones about people giving their life to Christ, and there was one, two guys standing on the face of a mountain. They had found a little pothole of water, and he was baptizing this guy in Iran. Wow.

And they were saying, you realize them doing this and filming it, if someone saw them doing this, they'd kill them on the spot. Yeah. And it just really galvanized the group. And I just was glad to be a part of it. It felt, I tell you what hit me is I thought, you know what's strange to say is I have way more in common with a person from a different country in Iran who's in Jesus than I do with a fellow American citizen who thought. Thank Jesus is a joke. Amen. It's our ultimate citizenship.

Exactly. It's the kingdom of God. The color of our passports is not it, but our passport is a much higher. Absolutely. And you get into a scenario like I ran. One of my favorite conversations we had when we were together, David, is we got this kind of, I guess, weighty theological discussion, which then morphed into us joking back and forth about that.

But one of the thing you talked about just the simplicity. of the gospel in places like Iran, because you're still connected with a lot of pastors over there in the underground church, and you're very involved in that community. And you told several stories about just the simplicity of people coming to Christ. And I wanted to ask this question because you're much more in tune with what's going on there because it's your place of origin. But I've read all these articles about that I've talked about that there's been more people in Islam converted to Christianity in the, last 10, 20 years in the previous 1600 combined. I've heard numerous stories of people having visions of Christ. And like Larry talks about this, people showing up. I had a dream. And I'd love to hear some of like your experience kind of in what's actually happening over there in people

coming to know Christ and how that's actually happening. Yeah, Zach, you're absolutely right. I think Larry's hearing the same reports that everyone who works in the Middle East is hearing right now. for such a time as this. And by the way, I'm quoting Esther, who was Persian. Exactly. But for such a time as this, God is doing right now exponentially more than he's ever done. You know, it's amazing what God is doing in the reviving work of his spirit in the Middle East. At this moment, in particular, Iran is going through just exponential growth as far as the church is concerned.

The fastest growing church in the world, the fastest growing church in the world right now is the underground church in Iran. And the martyrdom and the persecution has only just really revved it up at a greater capacity. And so we're obviously praying in this moment for Iran to be liberated. In the past few months, it has felt like, wow, finally, you know, after first few months, it has felt like, wow, finally, you know, after, 47 years. I've been praying for Iran to be, you know, to be liberated from the IRGC and these just evil, you know, clerics. And in the past few months, it feels like, man, that's closer than it's been in my lifetime. But here's what I can tell you. What we ultimately need to in Iran is not democracy. I want them to go from a theocracy to a democracy. But what they

ultimately need is revival. Yeah, right? And that's what we want. And so, Two things are true at once. Like in one sense, the fastest growing church in the world is happening there in the underground church. But I believe if this thing tips and they get to come up from the ground and they're no longer the underground church, I think that they're going to play the most vital role of all in the rebuilding of the nation. And not just infrastructure, not just trauma counseling, not just humanitarian work, the soul work that it takes. The love work. Amen, brother.

Amen. And I really believe that the church could ultimately, ultimately have its finest hour. And here's the thing. What if we don't have to relabel Iran, Zach? You know, what if we look at Iran in a few years? And Iran right now, the label over Iran, appropriately so, is Iran is the most dangerous country in the world. Most dangerous nation in the world because it harbors more terrorism. It excels more terrorism.

It funds more terrorism. Hezbollah funded by Iran. 9-11, you can see Iran's handiwork. working in it. The bombing in Beirut, you can see Iran's hand be working in it. All over the world. Iran is the number one instigator of terrorism in the world. So what if in five years, Iran continues to stay? You don't have to even get the sign down. It stays the most dangerous country in the world, but it is now the most dangerous country on the planet for the advancement of the gospel. Because out of the 1040 window, church planners that you preach the gospel to, bro. They got baptized in a puddle that you. You watched are now on fire leading other people to Christ. And so God's doing it. And it's been amazing. We're hearing stories of God, like you said, Zach, just showing up in the life of people in dreams and just kind of priming the pump for lack of better terms.

So that when the gospel is presented to people, they're like, man, I've been hearing about Jesus and dreams. He's been coming to me in dreams anyway. There's a group of ladies that were meeting you told me about that were like, they all got together. And they were like, one was like scared to kind of share her experience. Yes. And everyone was, oh, no. Yeah. Do you remember that story?

Absolutely. Like, you know, five, six ladies came together in this house church. And I'm sorry, I was in a house church. They were just coming together for tea, you know, to have tea. And one of them who's a believer kind of decided, well, we got a gathering care. What don't I see if I could invite these people to our house church? And so she says, hey, weirdest thing. You know, I've been having dreams recently.

And I know this is weird, but. Jesus has been appearing to me in dreams. And this one, it's kind of quiet for a second. Everybody's drinking their tea. And this other lady says, well, if I was to be honest, I too have been, the man in the white robe. And she's like, yeah. And then another one.

And then all six realized they've been, Jesus has been appearing to them individually in dreams. And so then all of a sudden the Lord just paves the road right there, like opens it up. And that lady just shares the gospel. And instantly everyone comes to Christ. Yeah. I got a buddy.

He sells like metal. He's very wealthy guy. When I say he sells metal, he's a salesman, and he flies over to Dubai and Abu Dhabi and the Emirates and stuff like that. And he does work in the Middle East. And he loves the Lord, and he just realized one time at church, like, man, I'm being paid to be a missionary. Like, this is actually my calling. I'm not really selling metal.

somebody's giving me a business class seat and a lot of money to go to Dubai and actually be a missionary. And so he starts asking the Lord for opportunities to share the gospel. Well, he gets over to the Middle East and this client that he's known for years. He normally would get to the hotel, fancy hotel, and meet him for dinner. And the guy says, hey, why don't you come over? And when he gets there, there's a message for him in the room. Why don't you come to our home instead tonight to, you know, Have dinner at our home.

We'd love to have you instead of a restaurant. So he, you know, gets in a town car. He goes over to this guy's house. And when he gets there, he knocks on the door. The maid comes, opens the door. And he walks in and the wife comes down the steps to greet him. The husband had not gotten home yet. My friend had beaten the husband to the house.

They were both meeting there. And the guy was coming in from work as though. And the wife sees my friend. and as soon as she sees him, she panics and she just starts weeping and she runs back upstairs and he's like, man, did I break like a cultural code?

I mean, I'm not, I'm not supposed to reach my hand out and shake their hand or I didn't do that. Did I make eye contact? Did I say something? He's just kind of like, what did I do to, like, I think I offended her? So he's sitting in the living room by himself

going, what did I do? His buddy finally gets there. He comes in, he says, hey, and he says, hey man, I got here like 10 minutes ago. I think I offended your wife. She just, and he's embarrassed. He goes, let me go upstairs, see what's going on. He goes up.

And he comes back down with his wife, the Middle Eastern man, and he looks at my buddy and he says, my wife needs to tell you something. Go ahead. And then the wife says, well, I've been having dreams of this man in a white robe who's been appearing to me. And he showed me you in the dream and said that you're going to talk to me about him. And that when you talk to me about him, I need to really listen. Listen.

And my buddy's like, well, I guess we know what we're talking about at dinner. Wow. I mean, God's already preceded and softened the soil. You know, it's on the one yard line, buddy. Just don't fumble the ball. Staples Preferred Business Membership built for busy business owners because you've got bigger things to think about. With Staples preferred, get free delivery. No minimums.

Staples Preferred unlocks up to 3% back. Plus 10% savings on print and exclusive wireless offers. One less thing on your plate. Actually, a lot less. Visit staples.ca slash preferred. That was easy. And that's, what you've described today on the podcast is been our, because we've been talking about this, obviously, like everybody else,

what does this mean? Of course, you've got a lot of people talking about eschatology and all sorts of stuff about what's going on around. the war, Trump's decisions, this, that, and the other. But we all have this, like, conflict because we understand the regime. We understand the evil that you describe. But we also understand that God's moving and doing something. In the people.

In the people. Amen. And so our hearts have just been there. And so we've been struggling with that. And just to tell you, you know, I have my own story. I guess now that I'm looking at the math of your life, it was when you were in high school. But in 1986, I was 21 years old. Lisa was 20.

our first daughter came at 29 weeks, and she was less than two pounds. Wow. In the NICU, we discover a month in that she's losing weight, and now she's down to like a pound and 11 ounces, and she's dying. And they figure out that there's a heart murmur, and it has to be fixed.

And there's a doctor that had just arrived here, Dr. Fardin. He was from Iran, and he was a personal physician to the Shah of Iran. Wow. And he winds up in Monroe, Louisiana for some reason, at St. Francis Hospital. And we go in, and he can't speak hardly any English, but the nurse has now been with him long enough to she's kind of translating what he's telling us has to be done. And one thing I got was he said, what I have to tie off, literally tie off, is the size of a cat hair.

Because that's how tiny my little girl is. And he did it. And she survived. And on Father's Day, 1986, she came home at four pounds. and now she's 40 years old. And so I've always had a heart. Yeah. Because this guy came like you did.

He got here. And in our case, if he wouldn't have been here, then I probably wouldn't have my daughter, I'm not three granddaughters. Yeah. When you think of Iran. That's what I think about it. You think of an individual. That's right.

You think of a human being made in the image of God. You don't actually think of a people group or a nation. That's right. And I love that because it's such a great reminder for you and for me and for all of us that, man, Iranians are not the enemy. That's right. They're the prize. That's right.

Now, Islam has strangle held and held these people hostage, you know, a false religion that has held them hostage. And so the enemy is the IRGC. The enemy is of these Mullahs. But at the same time, 90 million people in Iran are individuals that God so loved that he gave his son for. That doctor is an individual. And so he's first and foremost the human being that God has called you to be a missionary. That's right. God's called you to love.

And then further down the line, he happens to be Iranian. His nationality is not his primary identity. That's the walls I was saying that's been destroyed. And we know the evil one works in this way to get you to think of this picture. But I want to tell something funny because when I shared with those underground churches and all that, well, they brought up videos of our show, our Duck Show, Duck Dynasty. And I was like, somebody translated that. to

Farsi? Yeah, Farsi. And they were like, oh yeah, some members of the church. And I was like, what? And so then they were

familiarized themselves with the show. I was like, well, there's not a whole lot spiritual on the show, but they're like, but you could tell at the end of the day

when we gathered as a family because these people were all families. Yeah. And praying to God, it was motivating for them.

Man, your show was so spiritual. First of all, it was the Andy Griffin. you know, for a generation. That's exactly, yeah. And also, you guys just, it oozed out of the pores of the way you treated your wives,

the way you treated your children, the way you raised your children, the way you, you know, John Luke was one of my student workers at Liberty when I was a campus pastor. Oh, that's where I met you at. Yeah. I met you there when we all came. That's right. That's right. I knew I'd met you somewhere.

Did you cook him steak? I did, man. I cooked them a fat, you know, rib-eye. No, he took us into the beach. big prize room. We got a prize for it. Oh, y'all got to pick a gift. That's awesome.

But what I can tell you is, like, my introduction to your family was, oh, wow, here is, you know, here, here's a reality show that is, that is just showing people what it looks like just every single day. They just live in Christ and live for Christ. And just, and to struggle with your faith. Like, y'all, you know, you all showed, you all showed the mess and the ministry. All of it, you know. And then, but, you know, people watch that.

And then they go, you know, it's edited. A lot of the bad stuff ends up on the, and they probably have a deal that, like, lets them have final right of refusal, and they probably take out any of the back. And then I met John Luke. He comes in as a student worker, and I'm thinking, this kid's a celebrity, you know,

he's got two million people follow him on social media, this, this, this. And first time I met him, he was visiting our school as a guest, and Sean Hannity was our guest that day. And Sean Hannity had him, handed him a $50,000 check for some ministry he was starting. Yeah, and I was like, not a lot of 17-year-olds get $50,000 check. So, like, to me, I was like, what's it going to be like to have him as a student worker? That kid came in, had a broom in his hand every day, served hard every day, was there early, stayed late, did nothing.

Like, you know, it was just a humble servant. And I'm telling you that to say, like, your family has put on display the gospel. And so people are watching it. That's great commission work in Iran. But you're right. People in Iran are watching Duck Dynasty. People are always surprised when I tell them, the number one artist for a 12-year-old girl in Iran is Taylor Swift.

The number one show for a 45-year-old man in Iran is Yellowstone. For a guy my age is Seinfeld. You know what I mean? Yeah. People are going to do what they're going to do. Human beings are human beings. They watch our shows. They love our blue jeans.

They love our way of life. And so, matter of fact, we're doing on my Instagram, we're doing like 12 things you should know about Iran. And I'm trying to like bring some of the humanity of it. Like number five on the 12 things that we just, we made the videos and we're going to post them in the next couple weeks. Number five is Iran is the nose job capital of the world. seven times than American average.

Oh, wow. You know, Iranian kids, all these little things that are just very much the reality of like people are people everywhere under the shroud or outside the shroud, people are people. And the reason they love Doc Dynasty is they love family.

Yeah, that's what I was going to say. The family connection. That was kind of my punch line. Well, look, before we, I know we got to go, we're out of time. But I have to ask you, there's a possibility that the, USA and the World Cup could play Iran in Texas.

On July 3rd, is that what you, if it happens? So where are you at with that? What will it do for the country with everything going on? This is what is so crazy. You're right. So this is what all the supercomputers and all the odd makers are saying that the most inevitable outcome is that on July the 3rd, on July to 3rd, on the eve. that we celebrate, not even just a fourth of July.

Yes. On the eve of the biggest Fourth of July of our lifetime. Yeah. Where, not in Brazil, not in Paris, not in Abu Dhabi in some soccer stadium, at Jerry's World, home of the Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys. Where the roof can open so God can watch it. Amen, brother. At Jerry's World.

Iran is hopefully going to get to meet the USA at a soccer match. Oh, wow. And if that happens, by the way, here's what's weird. I am scheduled to preach in Texas in Dallas on July the 4th weekend. So I'm going to be there. And so I can't wait. Whether they get there or not, you're going to be there. I'm going to be there.

And what's great about it for me is this is what happened. This is what's beautiful about sports. For 90 minutes, people will see Iranians. and not some nation. Because when you make eye contact with people, they stop being like, it's easy to be racist. It's easy to be hateful.

It's easy when you don't know people. And here's what I mean by that. It's not just that we're going to get to see Iranians. Iranians will get to see Americans. Yeah, that's right. And you'll see the humanity of it. We'll see the sportsmanship of it. We'll see the reality that, like, man,

at the end of the day, you know, we're just people. That's it. They matter to God. So I'm excited about that one. Dave, it's been great. Man, we've got to do this again sometime. What a blessing you are to us. I love your family.

I'm so grateful for you guys. And how can people follow you and what you do? Is there anything you want to post on that? We can put it up under the screen. Yeah, I went to your website. So kind. Yeah. Thanks, man.

Yeah, David Nassar.com. N-S-S-E-R or at David Nassar on Instagram. And our Twitter is the same at David Nassar. And like I said, we've been posting more and more content about what God's up to in the Middle East and through that, and ways that people can join us in the work there. And so, yeah, David Nasser on Instagram. I love it. Thanks for being here.

It's very inspiring. Zach, come on. Come back to my house, bro. I'm coming this time. Yes, all of you. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcast. And don't miss an episode.

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