Christian Books & Publishing
“Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!” (Job 19:23).
After compiling thousands of pages for the ByFaith website, brothers Paul and Mathew felt compelled the in-depth Christian teaching should be transmuted in another form, but how? The website wasn’t perfect for delivering hundreds of pages on one subject. “We possessed thousands of pages of biblical teaching and research, and had much more to give,” said Mathew Backholer. “We asked the Lord for a way forward.”
The brothers met with a leading Christian publisher and we’re blessed to be told they wanted to publish our first book. “In my spirit, I knew it wasn’t right,” said Mathew, “and we pressed into God to find a way forward.”
The ministry needed another gigantic leap of faith to meet the industry standards of the era and to understand how production works. A second door opened and several of Mathew Backholer’s books found distribution worldwide. Sadly, the publisher struggled and the ministry needed an alternative approach.
“The Lord revealed we could manage the process from the first word to all the technical details,” said Mathew. “The industry was far more complex years ago and you needed a higher level of technical knowledge to proceed.”
It was a steep path to walk as the brothers gained the skills to complete each part of the production task, and the miracle which began with the website, missions and TV programmes continued with the books.
“The Lord sowed deep truths into us,” said Mathew’s brother Paul, “and it was exciting to deliver them into books, and to get the witness documented in the British Library and for readers worldwide.”
Missions, Christian revival and Church history became the focus for the first selection of books, followed by discipleship, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, Divine revelation and biblical archaeology. The ministry expanded into biographies and autobiographies, with the legacy of Rees Howells bursting through.
Years passed and ByFaith Media hosted a large variety of books and an increasing number of distribution paths. When eBooks appeared the brothers completed a test with one eBook going online. “It sold immediately,” said Mathew, “and we realised we need to develop an additional set of skills to release our entire catalogue as eBooks.”
At the beginning of the ministry, the Lord spoke to Paul Backholer through Psalm 22:30-31. ‘A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation, they will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has done this.’
The Holy Spirit impressed upon Paul future generations need to know what God did in this age, and ByFaith Media books and documentaries will play a role in passing on this legacy from one generation to the next.
Today ByFaith Media also publishes books from several authors which can be purchased globally in a variety of formats; hardbacks, paperbacks and eBooks, from bookshops, stores, online and from a plethora of eBook distributors.
