The beginning of Pentecostal movement in Iran

Andrew D. Urshan, Pentecostal preacher, missionary, and author.  The oldest son of a Presbyterian pastor in Iran. He was born on May 17, 1884 in Persia, Orumeyeh, in a village called Adabjaloo. Andrew was converted in his homeland in 1900.  

In 1901 he came to the United States, landing in Yonkers, New York. He began preaching the gospel in 1904. In 1906, in Chicago, he witnessed a new touch of God's sanctifying grace and a fresh divine anointing that set him on fire to win lost souls. He immediately began personal work among his fellow Assyrian people, with marked success.

Two years later, in 1908, the Holy Ghost baptism fell upon converts in an unexpected manner in the upper room in Moody Bible Institute. This led him to seek the Lord again, with a new determination to receive this heavenly outpouring of God's Spirit. On July 4, 1908, the Lord baptized him with the Holy Ghost, and he spoke with tongues for several hours. The Lord opened the door for Brother Urshan to not only preach in the United States, but also in the British Isles, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, and Persia (now Iran). 

He was ordained in 1910 in Chicago by William Durham. In 1914 Urshan returned to Iran as a missionary. During World War I he became a refugee in Russia for several months during 1915 and 1916, establishing Pentecostal Churches in Tiflis, Armaear, and Leningrad. "Dictionary of Pentecostal And Charismatic Movements, Zondervan Publishing House, 1988"