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Premier Christian Radio Interview
Premier Radio's Inspirational Breakfast host John Pantry,
discovers more about Europe's first global Christian reality TV
series in a 20 minute interview this year.
J.P: Paul and Mathew Backholer have recently returned from a series of missions to 14 different countries; they carried
with them a video camera, to record the places and people, gathering the testimonies of many. They’ve now edited these
down to produce a series of DVDs. Welcome to the studio guys.
Mathew: It’s great to be here.
J.P: This is a brave thing to do, where did you start?
Paul: We didn’t plan and say, “Let’s go to 14 countries and share the gospel.” We would go on a mission and afterwards
pray and say “Lord where do you want us to go next.” One mission led to another.
J.P: Can you reel off the fourteen countries that you visited on mission?
Mathew: Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, France.
Paul: Ireland.
J.P: Britain of course.
Mathew: Tunisia, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam.
Paul: We also went to the Channel Islands and got to share the story of some martyrs from the days of the Reformation.
J.P: Did you come close to martyrdom yourself!? Did you ever feel “My goodness how are we going to get out of this one?”
Mathew: We were in North Africa and people started throwing stones at us, but it was because of politics around the world, not because of our
mission.
Paul: We never had any problems in relation to our Christian ministry. But in India, we did meet with Christian leaders
who shared about how they are caring for new Christians, who are being persecuted by their families because of their
conversion.
J.P: What work did you do in these nations?
Mathew: When we were in Italy, we had such an amazing opportunity to share the gospel with all these guys in the hostel
we were staying in. We always pray for divine appointments saying, “Holy Spirit what are you doing today, if we are a
part of it, please make it plain.”
Paul: “We didn’t edit our preaching into the series, because in the developing world, we wanted to give a voice to the
pastors, who have given their whole lives to sharing the gospel. So we share their testimonies in the series.”
J.P: Oh yes.
Paul: The series is called ByFaith, a Journey of Discipleship. It’s not just about entertainment or missions; each
episode has a theme about discipleship. In Nepal, the theme was discouragement and our need to overcome. We had a
wild journey into Nepal, we expected an easy bus ride, but it turned into a 48 hour journey of roads that were
crumbling into the rivers.
J.P: Oh my goodness.
Paul: It was a nightmare getting in, but it was exciting. 70% of the episode is the reality of our travelling and
after the mission failed, we realised how God desired our obedience, not our success.
J.P: Where can people see the series?
Paul: From byfaith.co.uk. We have also
designed it so youth groups or cell groups can watch an episode and use the Bible studies designed with it, or
they could use a three minutes scene, for example of a testimony of a persecuted believer and talk about that.
J.P: Would you do it all again.
Mathew: This is what the Lord has called us to do, so we would.
Paul: Overall, we are trying to say to believers that Jesus not only wants to be our Saviour, but He wants to our Lord
as well. What that means, is that once we have repented of our sins and accepted Jesus into our heart, we know that
we are saved, He is our Saviour and we going to heaven.
But if He is your Lord, then the direction of your life, now belongs to Him. And He will say “This is the direction
that I want your life to go in.”
Paul: We want to encourage people to surrender their lives to the Lord, as Romans 12 talks about, to be a living sacrifice
and to see each believer say, “Lord I want your direction in my life.”
J.P: Fantastic. Those two British brothers, Paul and Mathew Backholer there. You’re listening to Premier.
The ByFaith adventure is also available on DVD here.
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