One of two Syrian preachers held in an underground prison has been released and is on his way to a secure location where his wife and church family are waiting. The second preacher remains in solitary confinement, and approximately $55,000 is still needed to bring him out.

“We rejoice to announce that our preacher has been released,” Jon Nelms wrote to supporters. “The long ordeal is over because of you, who gave. Praise the Lord for His goodness.”

Why two preachers were in prison

When the Assad government fell in December 2024, a coalition of militias led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, long known by his war name Abu Mohammad al-Julani, took control of Syria. His forces began hunting anyone connected to the former regime at any level: bus drivers, power plant electricians, public school teachers, maintenance men in government buildings.

Syrian Christians were caught in the middle. They had not fought for Assad, so Assad counted them as enemies. They had not taken up arms against him either, so the new rulers counted them as enemies too.

Two Final Frontiers preachers had worked as low-level administrative employees in the government communications department, in effect the state-owned phone company. In much of the developing world the government owns the utilities, and a job there means only a salary to feed your children. After the new regime took power in January 2025, both men were fired and arrested on religious and sectarian grounds.

Both were saved through the ministry, trained by it, and have served with it for more than 18 years. Both are over 45.

Underground and alone

The two men were kept underground in isolation cells, separated even from each other. Neither had seen the sun or sky since his arrest. Each cell held a bucket for waste and nothing else: no soap, no paper, no ventilation, no light.

They were beaten regularly, deprived of sleep, denied medical treatment, and given dirty water and inadequate food. The ministry paid the prison every month so that each man could receive a meal and a bucket of hot water to wash with and avoid skin disease. The prison is known for the “hot seat,” in which a prisoner is tied naked to a metal chair above a bucket of red-hot coals.

Their captors did not know they were pastors. “If it were known that they are pastors and leaders of our movement, they would be immediately executed,” Jon wrote in the first appeal.

The only way out

For more than eighteen months the ministry tried every legal effort and personal contact that had worked in the past. None did.

The commander of the prisons, a sheik, finally gave his terms: “You are Christians, and the only solution is to pay the Jizya.” The jizya is a centuries-old tax on non-Muslims living in an Islamic land.

For fifteen months he would not lower his price by a dollar. Then, after intense negotiation and much prayer, he agreed to a far smaller amount. Release also erases their prison and employment records, so they cannot be rearrested on the same grounds.

A race against time

Gifts came in, but not enough for both. Then word arrived that one of the men was near death. He had collapsed during a torture session and been taken to a prison hospital, as Jon put it, “to save his life so they could beat him more.”

This brother came to Christ from a Muslim background and gave his life to distributing Bibles and preaching. The family he was born into denounced him for converting, and he is dead to them. Years ago, men hunting him for his faith came to his home while he was away on a mission and killed members of his household. That grief weighed on him through the months of isolation and beatings. The church became what Jon calls “his new family.”

The authorities agreed to let him go if the rest of his jizya could be raised. The other preacher chose to stay behind, since there was not enough to free them both. “He knows he is not forgotten,” Jon wrote.

Released

Supporters responded so he could be brought out without delay. He is now in the hands of protectors and has time to recover and let his many wounds heal, with his wife beside him.

“What a dream come true! What an answer to prayer!” Jon wrote. “The church in Syria is rejoicing today and praising the great name of our Savior.” He hopes to meet the freed preacher in a few weeks and bring back news firsthand.

One man remains

Two needs are still open. Anyone who pledged and has not yet given is asked to do so now. And the second preacher is still underground, where his release will take approximately $55,000.

“Let’s not leave a man behind.”