Upstate pastor Jim Oliver and his wife Becky were among a group of guests March 25 who heard the wife of imprisoned pastor Saeed Abedini ask for prayers for her husband.

It has been more than a year and a half since Naghmeh Abedini last saw her husband, a 33-year-old naturalized American citizen who was arrested in Iran in September 2012. She recounted her family’s ordeal while in Charlotte, N.C., at a gathering sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

“I can’t even express the depths of pain,” Naghmeh said in a story posted at the BGEA website. “One, as a wife seeing your husband being tortured, and two, as a mom seeing your children suffering.”

With two young children and the full-time job of keeping her husband’s story alive, Naghmeh said she must decide every morning to trust God and cling to Jesus, according to the article.

“It was inspiring to hear her speak,” said Oliver, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Roebuck. “We need to pray for those Christian brothers around the world who are suffering in Jesus’ name. It’s a place we can be in America if we’re not careful.”

Saeed traveled to his native country of Iran in the summer of 2012 — with the assistance and blessing of the Iranian government — to build an orphanage he and his wife started in 2009. But everything changed when he was arrested and sentenced for supposedly undermining Iran’s national security.

“The basis of the law was the gathering of Christians,” Naghmeh said in a Feb. 24 Baptist Press story. “They called it a soft war and are treating him as a political prisoner, not a religious prisoner.”

Placed under house arrest in July 2012, Saeed was awaiting a call from officials about a potential hearing when, on Sept. 26, 2012, he was met instead by a violent house raid.

“It was just a shock to his siblings and parents,” she said. “We didn’t even know if he was alive for the first week.”

Since then, Saeed’s parents have been allowed to visit him every week, but his condition is failing and prison doctors say he needs surgery.

Saeed was once a radical Muslim, but after his conversion channeled his passion toward evangelism. He went into the streets sharing the gospel and launching house churches. And despite serving time in prison, he has not stopped sharing his faith.

BGEA president Franklin Graham has been vocal in his support of the Abedini family and said Saeed’s case highlights the need for believers to pray for persecuted Christians around the globe.

To read the full BGEA article, visit http://goo.gl/auwFM2.