Pastor Ara is the Senior Pastor of Grace Iranian Church in Los Angeles. He and his wife came to live in the US nine years ago as refugees, and he became a US citizen four years ago. Before he left Iran, he experienced house arrest for two years for trying to get Bibles into his church. He decided to leave in pursuit of freedom to live out his beliefs and impact the Iranian community in the US. A few unconventional aspects of his ministry with Grace Iranian Church include a soccer fellowship group and children’s Sunday school in Farsi.