David finally fit into American culture. He was invited to the right parties and hung out with the popular kids. But he was still empty inside. The acceptance and expensive possessions could not fill the void. A month after high school graduation, David visited a church in his hometown. As a cool 18-year-old, David believed church was not for him. After experiencing the unique acceptance and grace extended by friends who attended the church, David realized the peace and worth he desired was only found in a personal relationship with Jesus.
He saw a freedom from legalism in his new Christian faith, but rejecting his Muslim culture was not an easy choice for David, especially his family.
“(My parents’) first response was, ‘We’ll let it go and in two weeks he’ll be over it.’ They knew I had gone through many stages in life – tennis, guitar, surfing – so they thought, ‘Let him have a Bible. It’s just another stage.’
“What they didn’t realize at first was that this was a new identity for me. Within a few weeks, they saw the fruit and evidence of my conversion. That’s when things got hard. For my father, it was more about pride.
He’d lost his place in the (Iranian) army, his stature, and now because of his son, he was going to lose his faith. For the Muslim faith, converting is like looking back over your heritage and saying, ‘You’ve led me the wrong way all these years, so I’ve found another way.’”
In time, David’s parents and entire family came to know Christ themselves. Then, a few years later at a Christian camp, David met a beautiful blonde-haired, blue-eyed, small-town Baptist girl. Jennifer and David were married two
years later, not without both families wondering what had happened. Yet the couple believed their upbringings – as a Baptist and a Muslim – would be instrumental in creating a home of grace and acceptance. Now, part of the Nasser household of grace includes daughter, Grace (6), and son, Rudy (10).
DNO is growing in the areas of mentoring and consulting, working with ministries such as the Billy Graham Association, Youth Specialties, Student Life, and Acquire the Fire to assist other Christian leaders in their own ministry efforts.
David’s first self-published book,
A Call to Die (2000), has sold more than 125,000 copies. On February 12, 2008, for the first time,
A Call to Die released to retail (Word Distribution).
A Call To Die is an intensive 40-day devotional journey of fasting from the world while feasting on God. Written with his candid and unrelenting passion, Nasser calls out to the reader who longs to answer the call of God, the call to die, while summoning the reader to dare define Christ’s radical call.
2008 Spring Tour Dates with Shane & Shane, Starfield:
April:
24 - Victoria, BC
25 - Vancouver, BC
26 - Abbottsford, BC
27 - Kelowna, BC
29 - Edmonton, AB
May:
1 - Regina, SK
3 - Winnipeg, MB
9 - Cambridge, ON
12 - Montreal, QB
13 - Chatham, ON
14 - Catherines, ON
17 - Louisville, KY