Trailer
We’re taking a look at 13 inspirational people and stories from those we interviewed in our previous seasons. These people have remarkable stories of courage, conviction and faith. They have been game changers in mission, Bible Translation, academia, business, caring for the vulnerable and they remind us that God changes the world ‘one life at a time’. We hope their stories inspire, challenge and encourage you.
1 mins
Episode 01 - CHOSEN - Billy Kim
As we see from this episode, the story of Billy Kim is a remarkable one. Today he is an influential Christian leader in South Korea. He has been instrumental in leading many thousands of people to Christ but his story begins as a child growing up in poverty under Japanese occupation in the 1930s and 40s, and then the traumas of the Korean War in the 1950s. An interesting feature of Billy’s journey to faith is that the original impetus came not from another follower of Jesus but from an American soldier, Sgt Carl Powers, who sponsored his education in a Christian school back in the US. The Lord can, and often does, use non-believers to achieve His greater purposes. As Karl Faase comments at one point in the episode, “this story has the fingerprints of God all over it.” In many ways, we can conclude that Billy was chosen by God for His purposes at this point in history.
26 mins
Episode 02 - CAPTIVE - Maryam and Marziyeh
In this episode we meet two strong, and courageous women whose lives were transformed by Jesus. Captivated by Jesus’ grace, they became captives for Him. In the closed, and repressive country that is modern day Iran, Maryam and Marziyeh grew up as sincere Muslims. Coming to know Christ through dreams, the witness of friends, reading of Scripture and personal encounter, they began a journey of discipleship that eventually led them to being arrested and tortured for their faith. Theirs is a riveting story of courage and commitment in the face of inhumane treatment. Unbroken, even in the midst of a notorious Iranian prison, they sought to influence those around them for Christ. Though free now in the US, they are passionate about speaking up for those persecuted in the land of their birth.
26 mins
Episode 03 - THE LEAST OF THESE - Krish Kandiah
Born to parents with mixed racial and religious (Hindu and Roman Catholic) heritage, Krish came to follow Jesus in the UK. He was driven by a desire to share the message of Jesus with others, serving with his wife for a number of years in Albania as a missionary. Upon returning to the UK he became a pastor. For years his mission was to the ‘many’. A mission-shift occurred in his late 20s. His wife, Miriam, (‘the hero in my life’) indicated she believed they still had capacity to love children, and so suggested they become foster parents. Reluctant at first, with three young children of their own already, Krish nonetheless engaged with this new direction, challenged by friends, and words he encountered in Scripture. They began to foster vulnerable children. As a result of this journey, Krish discovered an important new direction in his missionary vocation. He discovered that he was being called to become a missionary to the least of these.
26 mins
Episode 04 - LEGACY - Robert Woodberry
Parents frequently seek to leave an inheritance for their children, usually something in material form, whether wealth or property. What if we were more concerned with leaving them (and the world) a legacy that was non-material and had a hugely transformative impact? In this episode, Karl talks with Robert Woodberry about legacy in two dimensions. First, there is the legacy of his missionary family. The other is the legacy of western Protestant missionaries across the globe. As an academic sociologist and historian, Robert has critically examined the social, educational and political influence left by Protestant missionaries in many parts of the globe. This episode encourages us to hear Jesus’ call to go “to the ends of the earth” with the message of the Gospel, and that applies as much to secular academic settings as it does to geographical locations. In Robert’s words “Christ wants to be there too.”
26 mins
Episode 05 - COURAGEOUS OBEDIENCE - Mike Gore
In this episode Karl interviews Mike Gore, CEO of Open Doors Australia and New Zealand, a Christian charity that serves the persecuted church around the globe. Born into an ‘untouchable’ Hindu caste, the Dalits, in India, Mike was abandoned by his mother immediately after birth. A remarkable, perhaps even miraculous, set of circumstances led to his adoption by an Australian family and eventually to becoming a follower of Jesus. Perhaps even more remarkable is the case made in the episode that “persecution … is a hallmark of successful Christianity”, while the greatest threat to vibrant Christian faith is materialism. One might think that the appropriate response to persecution would be attempting to end it or enable those being persecuted to leave for safer places. Yet Mike challenges us, especially those of us in the Western church, with the idea that persecution of believers has actually been a driver of church growth, more than freedom has. Rather than trying to avoid persecution, the follower of Jesus is best advised to seek strength in order to remain under persecution.
26 mins
Episode 06 - HEART LANGUAGE - Eddie Authur and Kirk Franklin
In this episode, Karl, Eddie and Kirk explore the transformative power of the message of Jesus as it is translated into the local language of people around the globe. Eddie Arthur, and his wife Sue, took their young family to live in a remote village in Ivory Coast, a country in West Africa, learning a language never before having a written form. He and his wife then helped to translate the Bible into that language. Kirk Franklin’s parents did the same in remote villages in Papua New Guinea. What motivated them all was the call of God to help others encounter Jesus by hearing and reading His story in their mother tongue, their heart language. This work continues today around the globe with its 7,000 different languages. The passionate commitment of Bible translators from the very early days of the Church but especially in the 19th and 20th centuries has been to get the Bible into the heart language of every people group on earth.
26 mins
Episode 07 - IMPOSSIBLE LOVE - Craig and Medine Keener
As Karl draws out in this episode, while this is an “incredible story of love”, we have much more to discover as we listen to Craig and Medine’s story. We should not just get lost in the drama of the events that eventually brought them together. Nor will just focusing on the “happy-ever-after” conclusion of their trials and tribulations exhaust the benefits of this episode. There are richer themes around faith, trust and grace to be discovered. Additionally, we can observe qualities of character that lay a far stronger foundation for enduring relationships than usually present in many modern romantic portrayals of love. Through Craig and Medine shine qualities of patience, trust, commitment, endurance and courage. Even more, their story of impossible love points us to the God whom they both trust, believe and serve. This is the God who reaches out to humanity one person at a time, bringing us “out of the mire and on to solid ground.” (Psalm 40:2)
26 mins
Episode 08 - NEVER GIVE UP - Hassan John
Hassan John lives in a country radically different to most of the places from which people reading this will come. It is a location where physical threats to Christians abound, daily hardship is the norm, churches are bombed and “pastors can be killed at any time”. Hassan follows Jesus in northern Nigeria. It sounds like a place from which most of us would seek to escape. In this confronting episode we meet a courageous, intelligent, articulate young man who chooses to stay and never give up. Under the daily risk of attacks by fanatical Muslim extremists (such as Boko Haram), Hassan John pastors a church and provides leadership to many other Christian pastors. Why? Because he has experienced the game-changing impact of Jesus Christ upon his life. Born prematurely into a poverty-stricken and abusive family, Hassan was not expected to live. Miraculously he did live. Eventually, through other remarkable circumstances, he gained a good education up to tertiary level. At this point in his life, though a follower of Jesus, Hassan had no intention of becoming a pastor, desiring instead to find work that would lift him out of poverty. God, however, had other ideas. The Anglican Archbishop proposed to Hassan that he take on the role of leading a church. Very resistant at first, but encouraged by his wife, Hassan took on the role of minister at Trinity Chapel in Jos, beginning his work there in the ashes of a church burnt down by extremists.
26 mins
Episode 09 - BECAUSE IT'S TRUE - Ian Harper
Having been turned off Christian belief by his time in a Church school, Ian Harper was angry when his wife began to seriously explore Christian faith. A relational crunch came when one Sunday she said, “I’m going to church. I’m taking our sons to church. You can do what you like.” By that time Ian was an academic at Melbourne University in the discipline of Economics and began attending church with enormous reluctance, a critical mind and a sceptical attitude. Over a period of time, challenged by the minister, Ian began to rigorously think through the evidence for Christian belief. A shift occurred, culminating in a Christmas Day Communion service when for the first time, and willingly, Ian went forward to receive the Communion elements. When asked by the minister why he did so, Ian responded, “Because it’s true!” Ian’s encounter with Jesus transformed his relationship with his wife. They were now both “on the same page” spiritually. However, it brought change across other dimensions of his professional, intellectual and personal life as well.
26 mins
Episode 10 - THE MOTHER OF EVERYONE - Jessie Fubara-Manuel
The link between Edinburgh in Scotland and Calabar in Nigeria is far from obvious. In Jessie Fubara-Manuel’s story we discover a remarkable and powerful link. It is a link across time and cultures, forged by a courageous woman who was part of the 19th century missionary thrust from the then Christian West to much of the globe. Her name? Mary Slessor. Inspired by Scottish missionary-explorer, David Livingstone, Mary sensed God’s call to Africa. She lived there for 37 years, eventually dying without ever having returned to the land of her birth. Shaped by her commitment to Christ, Mary served the marginalised in Nigeria. Jessie Fubara-Manuel stands in the heritage of Mary Slessor’s work over one hundred years before. Converted in a church named after Mary, and like her missionary forebear, Jessie sensed God’s call to serve another marginalised group in modern Nigeria – those suffering HIV-related disease. Nineteenth-century colonialism and Christian missionary expansion frequently worked hand in hand. Commonly today they are accused of bringing much injustice and oppression. Karl points out at the end of the episode that this needs to be acknowledged, but as we discover in the lives of two courageous, intelligent, bold women, Mary and Jessie, over time God brings about His good purposes.
26 mins
Episode 11 - HUMILITY AND REVELATION - Bishop Harry Jackson
What do you do when you become aware that you harbour God-dishonouring and life-limiting prejudices? Harry Jackson, the African-American minister in this episode was brought to this stark realisation, and that his church was stuck as a result. As the black pastor of a multi-racial church plant, the sobering truth was revealed to Harry that, mirroring the racist divisions in his nation, he himself was bound by racist attitudes towards some white people. Often, when confronted by unpleasant truths about our sins, we can become defensive or take flight, but Harry faced his racism with humility and revelation. With God’s grace, he changed. In his own words, he “learned to love the least of these cross-culturally”, the ‘other’, and in doing so, he and his congregation moved ahead with a release of fresh power from God’s Spirit. SPECIAL NOTE: Bishop Harry Jackson passed away on 9th November 2020, after serving as pastor at Hope Christian Church for over 30 years.
26 mins
Episode 12 - AGAINST THE ODDS - Ermias Mamo and Tefera Endalew
In this episode we encounter two remarkable leaders from a country which was one of the very earliest adopters of Christian faith - Ethiopia. The two modern day leaders are Ermias Mamo, Deputy General Secretary of the Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church, and Tefera Endalew, Director of Wycliffe, Ethiopia. Both of these men experienced poverty and hardship early in their lives, with few opportunities available to them. Indeed, there seemed to be little hope of life itself for them but as we see in this episode, God brought life despite the odds. Miraculous healing for Ermias came as his parents turned from animism to Christ. He then went on to train as a teacher, became a pastor and now leads a ten million-member church which sends out missionaries around the globe. For Tefera, he was gaoled with his family as a thirteen-year-old by the anti-Christian Marxist Government of the day. Close to death and despair, the witness of an uncle, followed by a miraculous release from prison eventually led him to faith in Christ.
26 mins
Episode 13 - FOLLOWING THE MASTER - Laurel Bunker
Laurel Bunker is a passionate, confident and eloquent African-American pastor, working as campus pastor at Bethel University, Minnesota, USA. She is an example of a trend over recent decades, where fixed denominational allegiances have declined and been replaced by a willingness for people to move across denominational boundaries to link with a church that meets their spiritual longings and needs. In Laurel’s words, she was raised in the Catholic tradition, where she learnt to fear God. In her young adult years, she found Christ through Campus Crusade for Christ, was called to ministry in a Baptist Church, did theological study in a Lutheran seminary and then was filled with the Holy Spirit. Laurel has also crossed and challenged other boundaries: racial, cultural and theological, in her desire to keep following the Master. Having been “enamoured with Jesus” as a young person, having heard the call of the Spirit to become a theologically-trained pastor, Laurel’s course was fixed on following Jesus. This inspirational episode reminds us that, like Laurel, believers are to love Jesus and love the Gospel.
26 mins
Jesus the Game Changer season 3 is a different in style and approach to previous series, focusing on the story of one or two guests and sharing in more detail these lives that Jesus has changed. They include Dr Billy Kim from South Korea, Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh who were jailed in Iran for distributing Bibles, Hassan John a church leader from Nigeria and Eddie Arthur a Bible translator from the UK.
Billy Kim
Billy Kim is a prominent Christian evangelist and humanitarian. As a young boy during the Korean War, Billy was working as a house-boy for one of the American soldiers, who helped him get an education in the United States. From there, Billy gave his life to Christ, and eventually returned to Korea to evangelise to his family and friends. Billy was a pastor for many years and is now the chairman for the Far East Broadcasting Company. He has spoken at countless churches, conferences and events, including translating for Dr Billy Graham during the 1973 South Korean Crusade. He has also released his autobiography, ‘The Life of Billy Kim: From Houseboy to World Evangelist’.
Bishop Harry Jackson
Late Bishop Harry Jackson was an American Christian pastor, Pentecostal bishop, and author who served as the senior pastor at Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Maryland, and served as the presiding bishop of the International Communion of Evangelical Churches. He died in late 2020.
Craig and Medine Keener
Craig Keener is the F.M and Ada Thompson Professor of the New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, KY. He holds a PHD from Duke University and is known for his commentaries on contextualising the New Testament in its early Jewish and Greco-Roman setting. Medine was a Congolese refugee during the Second Congo War, and their amazing story is told in Impossible Love: The True Story of an African Civil War, Miracles and Hope Against All Odds.
Craig Keener
Craig Keener is the F.M and Ada Thompson Professor of the New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, KY. He holds a PHD from Duke University and is known for his commentaries on contextualising the New Testament in its early Jewish and Greco-Roman setting. He has authored numerous books and journals and has taught in every continent except Antarctica. Craig’s wife Medine was a Congolese refugee during the Second Congo War, and their amazing story is told in Impossible Love: The True Story of an African Civil War, Miracles and Hope Against All Odds.
Eddie Arthur
Having worked with Wycliffe Bible Translators for many years on the Ivory Coast in Africa, and translating the Bible into the local language there, Eddie is now studying how the theology of mission agencies affects the work they do. He also works with Wycliffe and other mission agencies and churches, in thinking through the best way to engage in mission in a changing world.
Ermias Mamo
Ermias Mamo is the Deputy General Secretary of the Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church. Born and raised in rural Ethiopia, Ermias attended first the Evangelical Theology College in Addis Ababa, and then obtained his doctorate from Fuller Seminary in Pasadena. He has lectured in missions for many years and has written the book, ‘The Maturing Church: An Integrated Approach to Contextualisation, Discipleship and Mission’.
Hassan John
Hassan John is a Canon of the Anglican Diocese of Jos. He is the vicar of the Trinity Church in Jos, and holds a Doctor of Divinity. As a trained journalist, Hassan has been reporting the radical Islamic terrorist Boko Haram insurgency in northeastern Nigeria, since 2010, and subsequent Islamic Fulani herdsmen militia attacks on Christian communities. He led the CNN team of reporters to break the story of the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls by Boko Haram to the world. Hassan has also trained over 300 pastors and church workers in apologetics.
Ian Harper
Ian Harper is one of Australia’s best known economists. He has worked closely with governments, banks, corporates, and leading professional services firms at the highest level. Ian recently chaired the Federal Government’s Competition Policy Review, a ‘root and branch’ review of Australia’s competition policy, laws and regulators, and is often asked to comment on economic and financial issues in the media. As well as being a top economist, Professor Harper is a devout Anglican whose book Economics for Life was the 2011 Australian Christian Book of the Year. He also co-edited Christian Theology and Market Economics. As a member of the celebrated Wallis Inquiry, he was at the forefront of financial market reform in Australia. He is Professor Emeritus at the Melbourne Business School—following a 25-year academic career—and is also a partner at Deloitte Access Economics.
Jessie Fubara-Manuel
Jessie Fubara-Manuel is an ordained Elder of the Presbyterian Church in Nigeria, as well as a human resource/training consultant working for economic and gender justice, especially for people with disabilities. She works with church leaders in Nigeria and delivers training and seminars to theologians on the topic of church competency in response to HIV issues. Her book, ‘Giver of Life, Hear our Cries’, assumes the voice of African women, and tells of the joys, pains and systematic evils they battle daily.
Kirk Franklin
Kirk Franklin was born and raised in Papua New Guinea, where his parents worked as Bible translation missionaries. He started working with Wycliffe 35 years ago, and took on the role of Executive Director of Wycliffe Global Alliance in 2008. He obtained his doctorate from the University of Pretoria in South Africa and has authored the book, ‘Towards Global Missional Leadership’, as well as a number of journal articles about missiology and leadership.
Krish Kandiah
Krish Kandiah is Founder and Director of the adoption and fostering charity Home for Good and an Ambassador for the relief charity Tearfund. He is in demand as a speaker, consultant and social entrepreneur.
Laurel Bunker
Laurel Bunker is the Vice President of Christian Formation and Church Relations at Bethel University. She also holds a role as a Campus Pastor, regularly preaching and providing ministry opportunities. When she’s not preaching at Bethel, Laurel teaches and trains at colleges, churches, and parachurch organizations in the areas of leadership, spiritual development, and biblical issues in 21st-century Christianity.
Marziyeh Amirizadeh & Maryam Rostampour
Marziyeh and Maryam are authors and speakers, sharing their incredible testimony of faith through trial and persecution. Born in Iran into a Muslim society, Marziyeh and Maryam were separately seeking for religious truth which they found in Jesus Christ, and converted to Christianity. Their book ‘Captive in Iran’, tells of how they were arrested for this faith, their experiences in Evin Prison and how God used them as His light in the darkest of places.
Mike Gore
Mike Gore currently serves as the CEO for Open Doors Australia and Open Doors New Zealand, a role he took on in 2015, after joining the company as Youth Manager in 2009. Mike’s passion for sharing stories of the church living in persecution with Christians in Australia and New Zealand sees him regularly writing articles and speaking in churches around this topic.
Robert Woodbury
Robert Woodberry is a sociologist and senior research professor at Baylor University in Texas, with a doctorate from the University of North Carolina. He specialises in the impact of religion on political development and economic change. His award-winning article, ‘The Missionary Roots of Liberal Democracy,’ analyses his research into the long-term social, political and economic impact of Protestant missionary activity in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Tefera Endalew
Tefera Endalew was born in rural Ethiopia, in a remote village. He first encountered the Christian message when a German Wycliffe missionary came to his village to translate the Bible. He and 14 other new converts started the first church in that village, and went on to other nearby villages, preaching the Gospel. In time, he saw 95% of the people in his home village become Christians. After training with Wycliffe himself, and starting schools in and around his home village, Tefera was able to form Wycliffe Ethiopia, of which he is now the director.