History
Celebrating 20+ Years
Phase 0:
“The Holy Spirit fell in wave after wave of power,” said Paul Backholer, “as God purged me of the old life, preparing me for a life in Christ.”
“By faith, by faith, by faith,” was the Divine thought running through the spirit of missionary Paul Backholer in 2001, as he sat beside the Pacific Ocean at Kavieng, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea. Paul was over 10,000 miles away from home, having shared Christ in Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore and Papua New Guinea.
With the ByFaith website online reaching large numbers of people for Christ, brothers Paul and Mathew Backholer were free from ongoing writing and coding to follow the missionary call once again.
One of the exciting features of travelling for brothers Paul and Mathew Backholer is the ability to document their world adventures in film and photo for TV series, documentaries and books.
Some of the greatest explorers in history were Christians, sent out by a call from God and anointed by the Holy Spirit to change the destiny of nations. That was the legacy of the missionary and explorer David Livingstone in Africa.
Phase 5
With the ByFaith website, TV and missions growing brothers Paul and Mathew Backholer focused their hearts on an ongoing passion which became one part of the triangle of Christian hope for ByFaith Media: Mission, Revival and Discipleship.
Phase 6
After compiling thousands of pages for the ByFaith website, brothers Paul and Mathew felt compelled that the in-depth Christian teaching they created 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,” said Mathew Backholer, “and we asked the Lord for a way forward.”
Phase 7
With the publishing side of the ministry of ByFaith Media growing, brothers Paul and Mathew Backholer addressed some false narratives of our time. Fake news becomes fake history. “We publish books and produced videos that challenge the narrative about Christian history in the media,” said Mathew Backholer.
Phase 8
The first archaeological adventure brothers Paul and Mathew Backholer undertook took place in Israel over twenty years ago. When you enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre you wonder, is this the place of Christ’s burial and resurrection? Thoughts like this led to years of research to undertake a greater knowledge of biblical archaeology.
Phase 9
The ByFaith website 1.0 grew into one of the largest interactive Christian websites in the world and needed a new look, transforming from the original colouring to a red and white design, known as ByFaith 2.0. Then social media arose.
Phase 10
With more than a decade of ministry behind them and several TV productions, brothers Paul and Mathew Backholer witnessed how technology was changing the means to reach people with the Christian message.
Phase 11
With ByFaith Media books, missions and documentaries growing, the Lord sent Paul Backholer in an unexpected direction. In the early hours of the morning, the Lord woke Paul saying, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
Phase 12
The legacy of Rees Howells and the powerhouse of intercession at his Bible College have touched the lives of millions of people. Brothers Paul and Mathew Backholer arrived at Rees Howells’ Bible College in the late 1990s, whilst the ministry was being led by Rees’ only son, Samuel Rees Howells. In their first year, Reinhard Bonnke, a former student returned to film his life story reaching millions for Christ and testifying of the impact Samuel Rees Howells had upon him.
We discover what’s possible by learning from those who lived the impossible. “Reading Christian biographies is absolutely important,” said Mathew Backholer. “They teach us the days of miracles are not over. It happened before; it is happening now and it can happen in our lives.”
Phase 14
Change is inevitable; innovation and creativity demand it. With technology changing, the Lord opened the door for the new website, ByFaith 3.0, to be built by a younger generation.
Phase 15
As the world entered the 2020s, an unacknowledged new ‘faith’ was taking over the world, undermining Christian values, whilst claiming to possess the high moral ground.
Phase 16
“The purpose of the arts is to bear a mirror to ourselves with the eternal vantage,” said Paul Backholer, “and to see what we have become or could be. Christians have explored Christ’s sacrifice and the meaning of discipleship through art and literature for centuries, and we felt drawn to discover this heritage.”
Phase 17
In early 2020, the Holy Spirit spoke to Paul Backholer about the 2020s, warning him this decade will endure a period of unfolding crises, each pushing the world closer to chaos. The purpose of prophecy is to reveal God’s will, lead us back to Him and place Christ on the throne of our hearts.
“Smartphones were a game changer for social media,” said Mathew Backholer, “because young people began documenting their lives and uploading their experiences in portrait videos. As each Instagram Reel or TikTok was only a scroll away, we needed new content for contemporary social media.”
The promises of Christ’s return and the warnings about the end times are central to the teaching of Jesus, and brothers Paul and Mathew Backholer sensed it was important to provide resources online, for free, for people to devour, study and prepare.
Phase 20
In a world bewitched by consumerism, entertainment and selfies, it’s formidable to reach people with the message of discipleship, until you realise people are hungering for something more than the world’s empty promises.
Phase 21
“Throughout history, great men and women of God have experienced God’s power and walked under the anointing of the Holy Spirit,” said Paul Backholer.
Phase 22
“For over a decade I’ve borne a burden to release the entire ByFaith Media book catalogue into audiobooks,” said Mathew Backholer, “because the Lord deposited it into my heart that people were busy, driving, walking, and working and needed good Christian material that could be easily accessed and consumed at their convenience.”
Phase 23
Walk the Bible is an exciting multimedia project produced by ByFaith Media that will reveal the mysteries of biblical archaeology and take viewers on a stirring adventure throughout ancient Israel and beyond.