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In the spring of 2001 Mehdi traveled to Iran for the first time
since the Islamic revolution of 1979. "Honestly, I had a
very positive experience," he reported, "and I am hopeful
about the future. There is a new generation of leadership in the
church that is open, energetic, well educated, and aware of the
world."
In Iran, Mehdi will be a liaison with evangelical Presbyterian
churches, which have asked for his help in organizing training
courses for church leaders. He will encourage the Synod to identify
and send qualified persons for further theological training to
the Near East School of Theology (in Beirut) or other seminaries
outside of Iran. He’ll assist the Synod in its efforts to
repair and renovate old church buildings, including the "Garden
of Evangelism," a Bible school, so that the government will
not confiscate them as condemned buildings. In addition to these
duties, Mehdi will also provide counseling and pastoral ministries
in Iran during times of conflict.
In Europe, Mehdi supervises and cooperates with mission personnel
in their outreach and evangelism among Farsi-speaking immigrants.
He visits Iranian Christian groups in Britain, the Netherlands,
Norway, and Sweden to assist in organizing training seminars and
conferences. He corresponds with individual Iranian Christians
in other parts of Europe and those in Turkey on their way to the
West.
In the United States, Mehdi works with the Association of Iranian
Evangelical Presbyterian Churches in North America, serving as
the group’s moderator. He sees his role that as helping push
the group to greater evangelical, educational, and social ministries
among Iranians in the U.S. and Canada. He travels and visits all
the fellowships and churches related to the association and accepts
preaching, teaching, and counseling invitations from the churches
and fellowships. He also attempts to reach various denominations
of Iranian Christians in the U.S. with the hopes of forming strong
bonds so that when the groups return to their home country, they
will already have achieved a degree of Christian unity.
Mehdi is the pastor of a small Presbyterian Fellowship in the
city of Los Angeles.
Prior to his "retirement," Mehdi served from 1988 to
2000 as coordinator for finances for PC(USA)’s Worldwide
Ministries Division in Louisville, Kentucky. He was business manager
of the Stony Point Conference Center, a conference center of the
PC(USA) in Stony Point, New York, from 1982 to 1988. He worked
as a tentmaking minister of the Evangelical Presbyterian of Tehran,
Iran, from 1967-1979, during which time he was the administrator
and financial officer of a government office. He had to leave
Iran in 1979 after the Islamic revolution.
Mehdi holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from
the Faculty of Letters in Meshed, Iran. He has a master’s
of divinity degree from the United Theological College in Bangalore,
South India. He completed a master’s degree in business administration
from the Iran Center for Management Studies, which is an extension
of the Harvard School of Business in Tehran, Iran. He holds a
master’s degree in theology from Princeton Theological Seminary
in Princeton, New Jersey. He was ordained to the ministry of Word
and Sacrament in the spring of 1968 at the Presbyterian Church
of Rasht, Iran.
Mehdi is a minister member of the Presbytery of Hudson River.
He attends the Iranian Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles, where
he teaches, preaches, and performs pastoral work.
Mehdi and his wife Tamara are the parents of two adult children:
a daughter, Roya, and a son, Ramin. Both live in the U.S. They
are the grandparents of three children.
Birthdays:
Mehdi - December 11
Tamara - May 31
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