The roots of the Tehran Bible Church can be traced back to 1964 when Dick and Doreen Corley, missionaries with International Missions (later called Christar), hosted an American soldier who expressed an interest in Bible teaching for his wife and children who were soon to arrive in Tehran. The Corleys were concerned for the missionary children living in Tehran, as well. Services were started at the soldier’s home in the Tehran Pars neighborhood, with fifty-three persons initially attending. Dick Corley was in charge of the church service and did the preaching. Joel Slaughter (also with International Missions) taught the Adult Sunday School class. There were Sunday School classes for children, as well.

Walt Holske, serving with the Bible Baptist Mission Board in Pakistan, was called to pastor the church in 1966 and ministered for just a short time. When Walt left, Allyn Huntzinger volunteered to step in as pastor in 1969 while he continued his Persian Bible Correspondence ministry. The church then voted to call him. He acted as interim pastor from 1969 until the summer of 1972 when Tom Wiley left his pastorate in Colorado, USA to become the new pastor. Virgil Amos, in addition to his missionary work with Operation Mobilization in Iran, was added as a visitation and youth pastor a short time later.

Through Tom’s ministry the church continued to grow. Tom and Tilli Wiley faithfully ministered in the church for five years. In December of 1976, the location of the church was changed to the Tehran Assyrian Evangelical Church in Tehran. A house was rented across the street to use for Sunday School classes. When the Wileys left in 1977, the church tried to call another full-time pastor but nothing worked out.

Again, Allyn took over temporarily as pastor until going on furlough in July 1978. Arif Khan agreed to fill in next, but left a few months later because of the unrest leading up to the overthrow of the Shah and the establishment of the Islamic Republic. Mickey Walker, with Operation Mobilization, became the last pastor until the church disbanded in 1979 due to the revolution.

Here are some interesting facts about the Tehran Bible Church:

After initial services were begun on Sunday they were soon switched to Friday, since Thursdays and Fridays were the official week-end for most English-speaking personnel in Iran. However, the church still advertized “Sunday School” as meeting on Fridays.

Many nations were represented in the congregation, including the United States, United Kingdom, Iran, South Korea, Finland, Canada, Germany, Sweden, The Philippines, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and New Zealand. .

Because of transfers and job contracts, most attendees were only in the church two years or less. People learned about the church through word of mouth, ads in hotels, and advertisements in local English-language newspapers, such as Kayhan.

Many employees of Christian mission boards and organizations (such as International Missions and Operation Mobilization) attended the church, and contributed to its life -- for example, Dick Corley taught the high school Sunday school class throughout the mid-70s, and Allyn Huntzinger taught a “Iran in the Bible” class, which culminated in a church train trip to southwestern Iran in the spring of 1977.

Weekly youth group meetings attracted as many as thirty or more teenagers by the mid-1970s, and were hosted in the homes of church attendees, such as Howard and Betty Mattson-Boze, Jack and Glennie Peterson, and George and Barbara Bodenhammer.

Tehran Bible Church had a strong biblical doctrinal statement. However, realizing the diversity of backgrounds of born-again believers, a person could become a member, or even teach, as long as that person agreed in writing not to promote that distinctive teaching and received an unanimous vote of the deacons and pastor.

The church was located in one of the least-reached areas of the world. At the time of the revolution is was estimated that in the entire country there were less that 300 living born again believers who came from a Muslim background.

In 1977, almost $1000 was given monthly to outreaches in Iran and other countries, such as Good News Ministries, Iran Radio, village evangelism, Child Evangelism Fellowship, Operation Mobilization, Campus Crusade, and medical work in Pakistan.

For a few years during the mid-1970s, a summer camp retreat was held at the Caspian Sea. There was even a scary incident one summer where the Iranian army was practicing shooting nearby and some stray bullets hit the building where people were staying.

Two overnight train and bus trips to Shush and Haft Tappeh were taken to visit the Biblical site of queen Esther and Shushan the Palace.

This is the present situation of the previous pastors:

Dick Corley. Although Dick and Doreen officially retired from Christar, they are still very active in Persian ministry, traveling to meet Iranians in many parts of the United States, as well as spending stime overseas working among immigrants who have fled from Iran. Currently, they live in Columbia, South Carolina. The Corleys may be contacted at ddcorley@juno.com,

Allyn Huntzinger. Allyn and Diane are still active with Christar in North America. Allyn spends twenty-five percent of his time in Persian ministry, and the reminder overseeing thirty workers with Christar doing ethnic church planting in North America. His book, “Persians in the Bible,” developed from teaching a class at the Tehran Bible Church, can be downloaded for free at www.farsinet.com/persiansinbible. Diane works in the finance office of Christar. They currently live in Shillington, Pennsylvania. Allyn may be contacted at allyn316@gmail.com, and Diane at diane@imi.org.

Walt Holske. After Walt left Iran he ministered in the Virgin Islands starting in 1971, and then went to Puerto Rico in 1979. He retired in 1991. Walt went to be with the Lord December 13, 2006.

Virgil Amos. Virgil began his missionary service in 1962 with Operation Mobilization, working for ten years in Mexico, Europe, India, Sri Lanka and Iran. In 1982, he founded Ambassador Fellowship (AF) which is focused on getting minorities, particularly the African-American church, involved in missions. Virgil is currently the director of AF.

Tom Wiley. After Tom and Tilli left Iran, Tom was the pastor of several different churches in New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania. After briefly retiring in 2000, he returned to the ministry as a part-time assistant pastor in Blandon, Pennsylvania, finally retiring in 2007. He and Tilli currently live in Oley, Pennsylvania, sharing a home with their daughter, Trudimarie, and her husband, Jim MacArthur, and the MacArthur children. Tom and Tilli can be contacted at tomtilli@gmail.com.

Arif Khan. After leaving Iran, Arif and his wife, Kathleen, served in the Waziristan territory of Pakistan (an area recently known for serving as a principal operating base for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda), the country where Arif was born. He worked in evangelism and helped a small struggling Christian church in Pakistan. Arif and Kathleen were martyred for their faith in August, 2007. A web search of “Arif Khan Pakistan Christian” will bring up many articles of their martyrdom.

Mickey Walker. After leaving Iran, Mickey and Kathy Walker moved to Ireland where they continue to serve under Operation Mobilization, USA. Currently, Mickey trains others in direct evangelism. Mickey’s specialty is open air and motorcycle evangelism. We heard of an occasion on which Mickey dressed up in a Santa Claus suit, stood on top of a trash container, and preached to a curious crowd. Mickey can be contacted at walker.mickey@gmail.com.

[This history was written by Allyn Huntzinger, Diane Huntzinger, and Doreen Corley. Any suggestions for additions to this history are welcome.]