Facing the Canon with Beth Redman

welcome to facing the cannon and I'm delighted that my guest is my friend Beth Redman Beth it's great to have this opportunity to talk with you and hear a little of your own story where were you born Beth I was burning Crawley on a council estate and brought up there I lived there for 19 years and until I met Matt and Mike Parvati and my life changed direction in a big way well let's talk a little bit about your upbringing how was life in your family and the best thing that ever happened to me was that my mum took me to church from a really young age and probably the hardest thing that happened to me was growing up in a home where there's domestic violence and one of my first memories is sort of a very very negative one that had a big impact on me and I think I just grew up quite frightened quite alone and with very low self-esteem and like I say the best thing that happened to me was going to church and being in a youth group and so I knew that there was a big picture and there was a God who loved me and there was ultimately a way out and he made a way for me and when I left home my life changed in an amazing amazing way so growing up were you scared with regard to the domestic violence how did you feel growing up well there are things that were really normal to me we used to have to have posters on the doors because they were punch holes through bedroom doors there was punch marks through walls you know MDF wasn't concrete or anything yes but you know I have marks on me which I just knew you just had to say that this happened rather than that happened but that was normal to me but I was scared and I realized when I really let Jesus into my heart how much pain I had held in and how how I was then finally able to feel safe which is amazing so did your mother go to church how was it that you ended up going yeah my mum went to church and she really believed in Jesus and she really wanted us to know Jesus and so we were taken along and I went to a church on our councilís day and first of all it was a Catholic Church only in the morning and then it sort of switched over at nine o'clock in there and the Church of England came in and then later on the sort of Free Church came in and I also went to a Church of England school so I was really blessed I went to the Free Church on Sunday and I went to a Church of England primary middle and secondary school so I sort of grew up singing hymns and worship songs and having you know Bible verses spoken over me and that definitely sustained me that definitely so you're kind of multi-flavored oh yeah yeah you tried all the labels of ice cream yeah so when can you remember a particular day when you would say that you were introduced to Jesus or you began to follow Jesus or was it gradual it was like the river that was beside my life all my life all I remember and I loved worship I absolutely loved worship as where I felt safe it's where I felt at home and I'm in one day looking up and just noticing someone's now I think it was Noland Tricia Richards I was probably 5 or 6 I don't know and maybe I couldn't read them made us late for us but and just seeing their name or just knowing that's what I'm going to do with my life with my husband I want to write those songs that the church sings so that was like a really big moment for me as a child but later on I would say I had a definite sort of major conversion when I was about 18 and I went on a Christian skiing holiday to find a boyfriend and and I didn't work out but somebody was talking about Jesus and I was listening to the talk and I was looking at the mountains and I was listening to the talk and I thought you know God is big and he is amazing and he has made me and it's enough of the baggage it's enough of saying that this happened to me or that happened to me it's time to love him and follow him and have fear for him and and at that moment my life changed and within a few weeks I was full-time evangelist telling people about Jesus so it was it was an amazing sort of conversion and what kind of ministry did you start doing well I had done some tape which is really people bring them up and like play them for a joke and they were so awful and and you know my first thought I wrote with ABC Jesus loves me it's easier than 1 2 3 and I would perform that in my church on a Sunday I was they had that song and that was like yeah it's not like great right now I don't really want to matter but I would make these tapes and people would be so sweet in the church and like buy them and stuff and and that somebody gave it to somebody and then I was laying on my floor and had this amazing experience on this skiing holiday and you know I was singing this little song to Jesus on the floor on my keyboard I only knew one chord the chord of C so all my songs are written in the chord of C and and the phone rang and it was this guy and he said I've heard your tape I've heard ABC Jesus loves me and what are you doing at the moment I said well I'm just you know I'm working in sales telly sales you know but maybe this amazing conversion he said why don't you come and do some schools work with us and do some singing so I was like okay then so I quit my job and I started doing that and then I went with use for Christ on a year project then I join the world I met his tribe and then I went to sole survivor and it's just been amazing since that moment and where did you meet your husband Matt I met my husband right here here in this church when I was 19 I was just joined Youth for Christ and then we pulled up at this church and they were two two chaps talking just outside under the porch and there was a Greek chap man with a little cute a little cute uh you know it's pretty hot chap next to him I think the Greek guy was selling peppers he was nice he was nice man in his own special way yeah they were talking they were talking and I honestly this doesn't happen I don't think you should say this to other people but I had a voice and it said you're going to marry that man you're going to marry him in this church and I just wanted to check Jim in the Greek or the other guys you didn't know who the other guy was no I've never met him Ryan I've heard of his music and you know what's amazing you just don't need to tell people that stuff you just hide it in your heart and you get on with what you're doing and I found out who Matt wars and I sang his songs I heard his story and I thought what an amazing man when I heard his songs I'm like what has happened to this guy that he knows God in that way something's happened to him and and I got to know him as a friend and I got to know Mike as a friend and then many years later we were married in this church a really amazing story so how long after that particular day did you start dating well we had a strange dating experience because Matt thought it was unholy to get married and so he had told me that he wasn't one of those sad people that wanted to get married and he was very fulfilled in just ministry but I was quite offended that he told me that yes but and the funny thing was he phoned me the next day and said I am one of those that people who want to get married do you want to go attend so it was about four years before we were married that three @r about three or four years and we were friends and we just did life together I sang with him we were events that was kind of how we dated we just we did stuff together and we loved each other's hearts and we loved to each other we loved everything the future looked really bright and we got married here and we have five children and it's been a really special journey how long have you been married 13 years 13 years so you've been living with a lead worshiper for a few years is just is he so heavenly minded he's of no earthly use I'm annoying because it's just so wise and he just goes like the short way the whole time he's pretty special but he is very creative are so many times I'll turn over and bang and have a nightmare or you know or you just you think where is he where's he is 2:00 in the morning where's he gone and he's downstairs with his guitar I mean just a really special moment and he's just the creative you know he's just he's not kind of straight down the line he's just very creative he's always crafting songs as always thinking outside the box comes up with the most random quotes which I'm sure you're here tonight but these are main thing and you've got children tell us about your children we have five children I have one daughter and four son and then that in itself is is amazing miracle five children is hilarious loads of work but after the birth of our second child you know we loved children we kind of decided we wanted to have a big family and then we we lost a baby and that was a really hard I was a big shock and I don't know why but for some reason I thought that kind of stuff wouldn't happen to us but it did and so we process that and then very quickly afterwards we had another loss and then another loss and we ended up having six miscarriages and actually a lot of people think that's how we wrote blessed be the name but that's actually where we learnt to sing this would be the name we'd written that way before that had happened and then actually we walked it through and really learnt how to sing that song and then we were planning a party for my 30th birthday and I really so wanted the situation to be over and I prayed and we're walking it out publicly and so we'd invited a lot of neighbors and friends we've moved house big 30th we might about 150 people and Matt wanted to write a song that we could sing to our neighbors and our friends and we hired a gospel choir that sort of really spoke about where we're at in our life and I actually had a miscarriage on the day of that party and but we had written you never let go and so we were able to sing that to our friends and to our neighbors right in the middle of that circumstance and you know it's not always easy but you just keep walking through you keep speaking truth keep singing truth and what is amazing is that it was over we had six miscarriages and then we were able to have another child and then we would having another one and another one so we're just so it's been an amazing journey amazing adventure yeah there are there are some plants that produce a beautiful fragrance but they only produce a beautiful fragrance when they're crushed and I think that often is what happens in our lives isn't it it's interesting what you're now focusing on in terms of your work with human trafficking tell us that how did you get into that and what what are you trying to do I was an event with a woman called Christine cane and I'd heard of her through heal soul and I've seen her spigen on God TV and was just so impressed by her so dynamic on fire but um I was at a conference with her June 2010 and we were in the green room we just were meeting and reconnecting and I was talking about you know I just had my fifth baby and we were moving back from America and you know I told him about life and she started to tell me about some of the things that she was doing in her life and she started to tell me about the issue of human trafficking and she told me for the first time there were 27 million slaves on the earth and she told me that last year in America that almost twenty eight billion dollars had been made from trafficking and that it's this million dollars that it's just huge awful thing that is going on the earth and she told me there were baby factories she told me all this information and I just thought how did I not know this stuff yeah where have I been I've been writing these songs I've been seeing these songs I've been speaking to people in church why didn't I know about these 27 million slaves that I share the earth with and I was completely I mean you can't sell this stuff to someone either the Holy Spirit does it inside of you and or not and that's what happened she told me and we were in a bar and I just fell on the floor and I started weeping and crying and I knew that it was time for me to wake up and yes encourage the church and write songs and sing songs and support Matt and do the best I can raising my children but it's time to be a voice for those that don't have a voice and it's time to stand up for those that slaves because there have been so many slaves on the earth and they've never been as cheap and easy to get as they are now and so I just thought what can I do what do I do this information also sat back for six months prayed thought about it you don't want to react out the flesh because that's just going to do nothing but that back and decided with Matt that we wanted to do something we wrote some songs we started a 21 here in the UK and the vision and the dream is to be able to go into schools and to you know educate young people about this get edged get young people to actually get this under their skin right to their MPs you know be passionate about this but also it's not just awareness you know if I tell you I'm just telling one more person sure and it's not just prevention you know we want to go to the places and get to these girls before they're taken but we also want to be a place where these girls can be rescued and rehabilitated and restored and and give them back their papers give them back their their lives give them back their freedom given back their voice and so it's my dream to be able to start and he wente one shelter here there's some there's one in the Ukraine is going to be one in Bulgaria there's one in Greece and so I was able to go to Greece with Christine and she was trying to explain to me about this issue of human trafficking and how big it is and as we were driving through the streets of Thessalonica you see prostitution is legal there and the lights are on in these brothels and they're open 24 hours a day and as we drive around it's late at night I'm exhausted and you just see person after person after person going into these brothels and there's no windows there's just one tiny door in theirs brothel after brothel and inside of there there's girl after girl after girl who's been tricked and deceived trapped and has found her way in then only 1% of those girls would ever be rescued and as we came around the corner trying to take it all in this young girl stepped out of the shadow and bearing in mind my daughter's 11 she's sleeping at home she's safe she's she's loved she's cared for and out the shadows this girl came and she didn't look much older than our daughter and she came out wearing the most illicit clothing late it's pouring with rain it was dark and she sold herself to us she kind of had her hand on her hip and she pushed herself out towards the car you could see in the distance there was someone right far back which was her pimp watching over her and as our car passed another car pulled up and she got inside and I just thought something has to be done I've got every person I can tell I need to tell about this every every moment I have that spell want to give to this I wanted to help people want to rescue these girls I think there's a lot of misinformation actually Beth work with this whole area because there's you know there's an William Wilberforce abolished slavery and so wait a minute there are 27 million slaves today it's like it kind of blows your way really yeah when you say human trafficking what exactly is happening someone who's been trafficked to somebody who's first been deceived somebody who's been tricked and taken against their will into force slavery and that can be working in a factory for no money next and nothing that can be working in somebody's home that can be the extreme of being sold by a relative being trafficked on foot I've met a girl who's trafficked on foot from me from Uganda to Greece two months to get there 19 girls died on the way there are big extremes when we're talking about these 27 million but they're basically somebody who's been deceived taken against their will in his enforced slavery and here illuminant children and here in England in preparation for the Olympics it's going to become big business it definitely is going to become big business I mean for the Olympics is about 18,000 construction workers that are now working in in London and the police estimate that now there are 2,000 new sex exploitation premises that have been set up just to service the needs of those there and that's only going to grow and increase as the Olympics get closer and closer and so we want to be able to as the Olympics get closer release this film 27 million get people singing get people thinking about it we want to be going into schools in London we want to be going around the Olympic Village raising awareness that this is happening now but it's only going to get bigger and bigger and it's not just something that's global and you can't touch it in its grease or it's Uganda it's here in the UK it's happening and it's growing and it's dark and it's away but it's still happening and thriving so for those of us who are listening in to what you're just saying what what can we do I think there's lots of things you can do and you can go on to the a21 website and the a21 campaigns or org and there are seven things that you can do so I think we all hear this stuff and first of all we can't believe it and then when we take it and we think what can I do but we really can be a part of the solution and it's not just being aware but praying that is a powerful weapon sure it's giving you can give to the charity you can give to the shelters you can give but you can also you can knit scarves for the girls that are in these shelters you can send presents to them on Valentine's Day and at Christmas you can make contact with them you can start little prayer groups in your own church you could come you know ambassadors then you can start saying you know as a church you know we care about this and we want to start raising awareness in our area and raising money and it's got to be here in Hartford sure so let's work with the police and find out where let's become a safe place and you can work in your areas work together and be a part of being the change and turn it around there's only as I say one percent of girls that are being rescued and we want to see that growing and growing and growing so this is wiped out in our lifetime as you saying William Wilberforce his date was supposed to be that's at the end of slavery and there are now more slaves on the earth and there's ever been before and so here we are we're aware we're together we do what we can we've we've got in our hands and we step forward and we do we make a change well it's it's quite stirring Beth hearing you you know talk about human trafficking and it know it's real and we we've got to do something and we've all got to do you can't do everything but we could do something exactly and together we're together we're a loud noise absolutely you've written this book Beth God knows my name tell us about this book well and what happened in 2006 I had had our third child and some of my blood results had come back a bit strange and they were a little bit worried about my liver and they said you know we're going to run some tests but be really helpful you could talk to some of your mediate family members about is there any liver problems in the fam like that and that was automatically a little bit tricky because I come from a very broken fracture family and I hadn't seen my father for many years at that point I was very sporadic contact but I had reached out with an email and just asked about this is there any liver problems and mine my dad had responded and there's actually a devastating moment but that became a defining moment and he responded he said there was that in the family and he did hope that I had that and he hoped that I would suffer and that would make me a good person and there was lots of other things in that email and as I say that's the devastating yeah rejection and so I took a step back and that wasn't there and I'm there by myself in that moment but in that moment you know God is enough and there's truth and there's recovery that my father might have given me the ultimate rejection in that moment but Jesus paid the ultimate price and that does not have to be the t-shirt that I wear for the rest of my life I'm a victim this is where I've come from and it's what's been done to me so this is therefore what I'm going to do to others and it became a defining moment so I thought you know what I'm going to find out everything that God the Father says about me and I'm going to find out everything I can about recovery and restoration and I want to tell everyone else that that was a really hard email yes but you know what something amazing is happiness I Know Who I am and I know who's I am and actually what's amazing is obviously I wrote that book and I haven't seen my father now for 10 years and and he you know doesn't know my children or my husband and things like that but you know you learn to accept that God gives you the grace to accept that and to move on in your life but I had recently heard that my my my dad had read the book and my dad had reached out to me and has been emailing and asking for a relationship and contacts and I love that when God is involved it's not over yes and actually restoration is possible you know anything is possible based not over and so I wrote that book and kind of their full stop because you know God loves me and it's okay and this is who we are and don't worry girls let's go through it lift up your hairs the future's bright and I never ever foresaw that email coming dear Beth I love you dear Beth I'm sorry love dad but that's the journey that just so-so recently have begun so maybe I'll do another book there'll be another story another story Beth it is it's wonderful listening to you because obviously I know a little bit more about your upbringing and your life that you haven't allowed your past hurts to hinder you and with God in your life you know the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in his followers and therefore the potential the future is huge amazing and you're a real testimony to that it was a delight talk to you thank you very much hi I'm Jay John I support compassion and compassion supports facing the Canon please enjoy the film well we're here at a compassion project in Ethiopia and just the work that compassion is doing is just absolutely extraordinary the amazing thing is that each child that gets sponsored doesn't only get health care education and their needs met but they also get introduced to Jesus and the faith that these children is just extraordinary it's just quite incredible to think about how we're actually meeting these children who have been found by the local church the church has gone out found the children who in the greatest need they've given them the start in life and most importantly they've introduced into Jesus yesterday we saw some students that have gone through the entire program and they are world changers and they're they're staying in Ethiopia because they want to change Ethiopia for the better they want to stamp out poverty and these are people who've gone through this program just because someone tows to sponsor them for twenty-one pounds a month I mean there's nothing basically 21 pounds a month just thinking about what we spend and 21 pounds on in in England it's an absolute privilege for us to be able to to help these children and they just sponsor them and the work that compassion is doing is changing this country but more importantly it's changing these children's lives you

Channel: Facing the Canon

Views: 17,507

Rating: 4.7538462 out of 5

Keywords: facing, the, canon, facing the canon, beth redman, beth, redman, interview, j.john, jjohn, j john, matt redman, matt, grammy, a21 campaign, a21, campaign, philo trust, philo, bible, Jesus, God, Holy Spirit, Lord, Christianity, Christian

Id: WzVEFBeizkA

Length: 26min 28sec (1588 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 13 2013