I got excited about starting this mission while reading the newspaper one day. I rarely read the newspaper, but this particular day, an article caught my eye. It was on the front page of the Houston post in Houston TX. It was an article describing ‘Generation X’. It was about 16 years ago, and Generation X- nobody had really heard of them at that point. They were describing this generation, and as they went through the characteristics of this generation, I felt like they were describing me. So I thought, ‘you know what, I understand these people. I want to reach these people for Christ,’ because it seemed like nobody else was. So I founded an organization, a non-profit called “Mission X.” The vehicle of the ministry became a rock band I started in Amsterdam Holland. We were called The Friendly’s. We used music and media to spread the Gospel of Christ, and we ended up touring all over the world doing nightclub evangelism. I think we toured to about 12-15 countries either being the opening band for other bands (NLM, HOUK, Drinkwater,etc.) or being the main band ourselves. I was the vocalist. I would then give an invitation. Our music style was “hard core” style before the term had been coined at that time. People would respond most of the time, but-not always. Some of the time of the time the crowd would respond by throwing bottles at us. One of the drummers got his knee cut and had to get some stitches. Sometimes they would spit on us because they didn’t always like our message. But, they would respond to the Gospel much of the time too. We’ve had memories where people flooded the stage-crying, weeping, and saying ‘please tell us more about the God you are describing.’ So that was the beginning of Mission X.

Yes, I think it’s probably always best to have a one on one conversation with people. That’s what Jesus did, and I think he would still be doing that even if He had the Internet and television. But, I also believed that if Jesus, at His time, when He was here on earth, had Internet and television - I believe that he would be using it too. So what I like to think of is that TV, media, and different forms of communication…the best way I can describe it is that through these great tools you can reach the most amount of people in the shortest amount of time. So, that’s why we do what we do, in the way we do it.

THAT is a great question. The best way I can answer it is: I’m going to quote someone I think is a totally beautiful person, known around the world. His name is Billy Graham. Here is what Billy Graham said about reproducing God’s word. He put it like this: ‘Every Culture has its own language. This present youth culture is speaking a different language than I do.’ So, Billy Graham said, ‘We need to interpret the Gospel in their language so we can communicate together.’ So, that’s what he said about re-presenting God’s Word.

What’s unique about our approach is, after about 130 episodes and over 13 years of continual broadcast, MXTV remains the only show on TV that creatively re-presents God’s word in an evangelistic, culturally relevant way. Ending each episode-what we do is close each episode with an opportunity to respond to the gospel. THAT is the commitment that makes MXTV unique.

Yeah! The way that teens and young people, as a whole, are responding to the gospel today, is very unique, but it is also the same as it ever was. Unique as: what I have found is that the communicator-if he is authentic and does not put on a bunch of ‘airs,’ trying to act like somebody he’s not… If you will be yourself, that is a huge piece of the puzzle. The audiences today, especially young people, have been communicated to a lot through advertising, so they have had to become smart, wise consumers. They can smell out something that’s not real. So, in order to present the Gospel properly, you had better have your own affairs in order and be comfortable to be the communicator that God has called you to. His message has never changed. That is the cool thing. People respond to the truth either way. They respond by rejecting it or respond by accepting it. In that way, they respond in the same way that they always have for centuries. I am responsible to give them the Truth, with character, with authenticity. That is my job, and the rest is up to the Holy Spirit.

I really appreciate that question. I have been in the over 30 countries doing missions and or evangelism. I can see that this is a big question on many hearts that are trying to reach today’s generation in it’s own language… being relevant. The best answer, I think, that I could give you is that the methods of presenting the Gospel…they’ve got to always be changing, but the message, it’s never changed. What I mean by methods is: Can you imagine us using the same methods that King David did? King David wrote some awesome Psalms. It was very current in his generation. But, he used a harp, and we don’t usually use a harp in today’s youth culture. So, we each have a responsibility to God to be current in our generation. Be who God created you to be. You have a tremendous freedom to be culturally relevant if you’ll listen to God’s Spirit in your heart. That’s the best power of being relevant that you have.

I would say that the greatest danger that ministries have is to hold on to the old methods as though those methods are sacred or holy in themselves. They are not. Like I said, the message is a holy message, and that should never be changed, but we should always be changing our methods. That is easier said than done. Its an uphill battle. But, it is a battle that has to be fought in order to be relevant to your generation that GOD HAS SPECIALLY DESIGNED YOU TO REACH. Be bold. His will, His bill.

I see that most of the Christian media companies, organizations, and media ministries today are almost exclusively being used to communicate to the Christians. So, it’s Christian organizations talking to the Christians- which definitely has its place, and it’s a good thing. But, we don’t feel we are personally called to use our media and the numerous formats that God has given us to speak just to Christians. We try to be evangelistic. We are ‘musician-aries’ in the media-field. We are missionaries, presenting Christ to the unbeliever, those awaiting their redemption. We want to be there to offer Jesus to them in that moment.

Well, to answer the second part of the question first- there is no need to change the message of God’s word. I think the Bible says that you’re going to burn in Hell for doing it. So, don’t do that! That’s a bad idea. Don’t touch that, because there’s no need to! It’s perfect, and why would you need to change anything that’s perfect? Besides that, it’s wrong. So don’t do that. But, again, the methods can be changed, and I believe that what the current culture is making demands on us to do so. We gotta stop waiting for people that don’t know the Lord to come to us as Christians… so we can ‘reach’ THEM. You don’t have to wait for people to come to you. Through media and social networking you can go to them. Some of those blessings are making, in essence, demands on us as communicators of the Gospel to use those methods, or else we are going to get left behind in the current forms of modern God-ordained communication. We need to utilize those gifts. In essence, again, it’s back to needing to speak the language. The language is media. Today it’s done through radio, TV, music, social networking, and the Internet. We HAVE to use them. Period.

I think I have a good answer for that. It’s interesting because some things have changed. Up until just a couple years ago, sociologists and other leaders determined that the four things that support or ‘hold’ society together today are ‘family’, ‘school’, ‘church’, and ‘government’. Those are like the four pillars on the edges of the building that hold everything up. Up until two years ago, those were the four pillars. Well, they have decided that there is a fifth pillar- a fifth column or support structure of our society. They now say- it’s media. Those are the things that support our decision making processes. They form our society.- family, school, church, government, and media. So, you say, ‘What is the church doing to be relevant and utilize these things?’ Well, we have a window of opportunity to facilitate the recovery of our society, man! I guess the only way to answer that question is to ask a question, what are YOU doing? What are you doing to help facilitate this change?’ - We can start with our family. We can start with our schools. We can start with our church. Some of us can start with the government, and some of us can start with the media.

Yes, yes, yes! That was very exciting. My band got to do a lot of concerts all around the world, and that turned into the TV show, to make a long story short. From the TV show, I also felt called to work in a church, and I was the assistant pastor. I later moved from Texas to Tennessee and became a senior pastor in Tennessee. Now, I now do MXTV full time, because I believe that we can reach the greatest amount of people in the shortest amount of time. God just continues to create all of our stories when we let Him. He is a great author if we give him the pen. Lately He is writing some really cool stuff!

Oh yes, I love to tell this story. There is a guy named Shawn, and he was watching TV. He was in prison with a life sentence meaning he was not going to be getting out. He was watching MXTV in jail. He prayed with us to receive Christ at the end of the show. He wrote a letter to me to let me know that that had happened. So I wrote back to him and said, ‘Awesome! Here is some things maybe you should read.’ We stayed in touch for a little bit, but then two years later, he wrote me a letter and said that things were still going well, and that he had started a Bible study there in his cell block. There were six or eight different inmates that were attending! Of course, I told him that was fantastic! Again two years later, he told me he got his degree there in prison. Then two years later he was ordained into the ministry…right there in prison. He’s a fantastic man, and I will tell you something else that is really cool. This crazy guy, Shawn, sends one dollar and fifty cents every month in the mail to support our ministry. It’s just heartwarming to know that that is probably a tenth of all of the money he has each month…and he gives it to us.

Yeah, that is a little bit of a difficult question to answer, but let me give you my best answer I can. MXTV has a potential audience of reaching 3.4 billion viewers. That means that MXTV goes into the air and can be received by that many people if they have an antenna or if they provide themselves with cable or satellite. It goes into over 200 countries around the world. Isn’t that crazy? I’ll tell you something else that has been happening lately, something God has done just in the last three or four months. We have been contacted by several ministries that want to translate MXTV into their native tongue. Its being presently translated into 5; Russia, Ukrainian, Indonesian, Chinese & Korean. And soon to be in; Dutch, German, Urdu, & Arabic ! Isn’t that crazy?

Online video consumption is up 16% from last year, and there seems to be this crazy appetite for media-especially for online and mobile programming. It’s only adding to this feeding frenzy of media that seems to be going on. We, as MXTV, recognize that this current culture contains these crazy, unique trends. They force us – Or I believe they should force everyone- to face a new reality. We believe that the best way to reach people where they are, which is in front of their TV, at their computer, or on their cell phone. Now, this is excluding, like I said in the beginning, the one-on-one conversations that you have with people as well as going to a really good church. Other than those things, the best way, in my opinion, where people are at, is in front of their TV, at their computer, or on their cell phone.

Yeah, the best way for people to utilize some of the things that we are doing is to go to our website! We have a lot of shows on there that are divided into shorter pieces. If you want to be a missionary, or a media missionary yourself, go on there, find some stuff that you like, and send it to a friend! You can send good content, meaning you can witness to your friends who don’t know God. So that is a great source. If you minister to 15-30 year olds here is what I say they should do: Go and look at the teaching sections of the shows that are on the website, and if you want to use those teaching sections…use them! They’re free! Go for it, and have conversation afterwards. You can let the video speak for four or five minutes and, afterwards, have questions with your group. Then go back into three or four minutes of teaching, etc. Go back and forth like that. That’s what we do on the TV show, but a youth pastor or something like that can stop whenever there is a music video and have discussions with their youth group. That’s a good way to do it.

I would say the best way to help us do what we do is to get interested in it yourself! Here is what I like to tell people: ‘if you like it, use it. If you don’t like it, don’t use it.’ But, if you do like it, please utilize the great sources that we’ve given you: good music and good teaching that you can send to your friends or watch yourself. That’s how you can help us. Utilize the website. Talk MXTV up to your friends; befriend us, make friends of us with Facebook, and things like that. We can communicate to you if you communicate to us. That is a great way to help things get bigger, better, and stronger.

One day at a time is my best answer! Don’t take no for an answer when you know the right answer is yes. - We are always in need. I guess it’s because we are always growing. But He is a good God, and He is a great provider. He will always meet our every need, and we have a great freedom in serving this great God, to being the person that He created us to be. My favorite verse is Ps 37:4 ‘delight yourselves in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.’ My life is a testament of that.” If I can say one or two things about the provision of money and or the fulfillment of Godly desires…’ I’d say that it doesn’t always come as fast as you would like it, but when it does come, it’s twice as good as what you thought it would be. I just also want to remind you that God is not at war - He is NOT at war with your personality. He created you for a special reason - for a special purpose. It is worth the effort to find out what that is. A lot of it that comes by trial and error and hard work …and a lot of that comes by putting your face into His good book, reading His word, and getting to know His heart, and serving Him with passion and your whole heart. I hope that you continue to live Godly lives. If you do that, it’s been my experience that He will bless your every effort. Hang in there, turn it up, and don’t forget that it goes to eleven! God bless you guys. Worship at full volume. Peace.