Premier Christian Radio Interview


London’s Premier Radio's Inspirational Breakfast host John Pantry, discovers more about Europe's first global Christian reality TV programme 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 DVD. 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: The DVD is called ByFaith - World Mission. It’s not just about entertainment or missions. But in Nepal, We had a wild journey into the capital; 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 part of that story is the reality of our travelling and after the mission in that nation failed, we realised how God desired our obedience, not our success.

J.P: Where can people see the programme?

Paul: From byfaith.org. 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.

ByFaith - World Mission is available on DVD here.