On this day in 1994, Brother Haik Hovsepian was abducted in Tehran. His wife and four children waited the next week and a half for news and were informed of his death on Jan. 30, 1994. As General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God Church, and Chairman of the Council of Protestant Ministers of Iran, Hovsepian was a respected, influential evangelical leader with a heart for bringing Christ to Muslims in Iran. An activist for religious freedom, he spoke out openly against discrimination and persecution of Christians, and brought international attention to the imprisonment of Pastor Mehdi Dibaj, who had been tried for apostasy and sentenced to death. In a letter penned just a day before his abduction, Hovsepian wrote, "I am ready to die for the cause of the Church so that others will be able to worship their Lord peacefully and without so much fear."