Former Muslim, now ordained Presbyterian, to lead local services

 Once filled with anger in the streets of Mash’had, Iran, shouting “Death to America”, in 1981 Mansour Khajehpour met the Prince of Peace. He was born and raised into a Muslim Shi’ite family. The best incident in his life was to meet Jesus Christ at age 15.

God has blessed Mansour, but following Christ has not been without a price. Disowned by family, disappointed and bitten by friends, disassociated by some members of society, discriminated at work, lost jobs, arrested and imprisoned by the government, and finally displaced as a refugee are some of his life experiences.

For the first fifteen years of his new life, he lived and served in Iran as a Christian Youth Leader and Church Elder. He studied Management at Tehran University, and Practical Theology at the Presbyterian Bible School in Tehran, Iran. Many years later in 2008, he graduated with a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary.

In 1993, Mansour met his soul mate for life, Nahid Sepehri. Nahid is also a former Muslim background believer. She worked at the Iranian Bible Society until the Islamic government confiscated and closed it. Following their move to the US, Nahid continued serving with the Bible Society. From 2001-2007, Nahid led a team of scholars and dedicated believers to finish the simplest and most accurate translation of the Bible into Farsi, known as Today’s Persian Version. In 2015, she became the Founder and Executive Director of the Iranian Bible Society in the Diaspora (IBSD).

Nahid and Mansour live in Seattle, Washington with their two children, Rebeka (21), and Matthew (16). Both of them are committed Christians, active volunteers in their home church, and successful students. Rebeka attends University of Washington, while Matthew enjoys high school.

Mansour planted four Persian-speaking churches in Greece and USA, and has been well engaged with planting house churches in Iran. He has translated several books into Farsi, including the Persian Presbyterian Hymnal, the Gospel of Luke with Study Notes for Muslim readers, Purpose Driven Life, and Healing the Wounds of Trauma.

Between 1998 and 2014, Mansour served as Pastor of various Persian and English-speaking congregations in New Jersey, Kansas, and Washington State. He loves studying Old Testament and enjoys teaching Old Testament at Pars Theological Centre in London, UK. For a period of two years, he led one of the Christian TV satellites in the Middle East until the Lord called him to join World Witness as a missionary to the Persian World.