15th December, 2005

Rev Karl Faase, 45, is the senior minister at the Gymea Baptist Church in Sydney and presenter of weekly national TV talk show Face to Face. He spoke with DAVID ADAMS...

Can you tell us a bit about yourself - you’re the senior pastor at Gymea Baptist Church in Sydney?
“Yes, I’ve been doing that for about 11 years and alongside that I’ve always had a number of different ministry roles, including in television for about the last 10 years where I've hosted a whole bunch of different series. Over the past year, I’ve also been doing radio spots which are played nationally and on top of that I’ve also been involved in a media project which is an evangelistic effort using mainstream media to present the Gospel (the Jesus. All About Life campaign).”

ON THE SET: Karl Faase with Tom Evans, the Ten Network's floor manager. 'Face to Face' is now in its third series. “The aim of 'Face to Face' is really to tell people’s stories and to communicate the Gospel into the community through the media and through the medium of people’s stories," says Rev Faase.

When did you become a Christian - was it a sudden conversion or a gradual process?
“I grew up in a Christian home so the Christian faith was always part of my life as a young person. But at the age of 11, I was at an outdoor outreach event and a guy - I don’t even remember his name, let alone what was said - was asking people to go forward. I remember spotting a couple of people and thinking 'They need to go forward, they look like they need help'. But I remember a real sense of God saying ‘No, it’s for you’ and I walked forward. It was a pretty simple thing as a kid but obviously it was a pretty significant decision. And living in a Christian family meant that was nurtured both before and after.”

How old were you when you received your call into ministry?
“Interesting question. I felt the call to start working in church roles with young people as a 21-year-old but I wouldn’t say that was a call to ministry, it was more a call to work in a Christian environment to help young people. After doing that for a few years it really developed into a real sense of call for doing longer term ministry.”

When did you start presenting Face to Face and how did that come about?
“Three years ago. Christian Television Association of New South Wales - as it was then - were looking for a new presenter and, because of the contacts that I had, decided to ask if I would give it a try. That was with a show called Challenges. Since then, I’ve done about three series, so to some degree I’ve been probably the key presenter for CTA in New South Wales for around the last 10 years. Christian Television Australia - which is actually a combination of the old CTA Queensland and New South Wales - started a late night show a few years ago called Talk to Me which was headed up by a Queensland-based pastor, Rick Benson. That ran for a couple of years and then because of a few reasons, they wanted to change the direction. With this change of direction, they felt they wanted a new host so they asked if I would host this new show called Face to Face."

What, essentially, is the aim of Face to Face?
“The aim of Face to Face is really to tell people’s stories and to communicate the Gospel into the community through the media and through the medium of people’s stories. So what we seek to do is not so much have somebody on discussing a point of Christian belief or theology (but) to have people on who can tell their story. Now, every person that tells their story has a combination of bits and pieces...People I’ve interviewed such as Ross Clifford (president of the Baptist Union of Australia) or Gordon Moyes - these guys will talk about how they became a Christian but that will also include what they do in Christian ministry, so that might (bring up) some issues of Christian ministry. It’s a Parkinson-style show - in other words we have two guests every week and we talk to each guest for two segments and then, sometimes, we have some interaction. Then for the last section of the show - it’s a one hour show - Richard Quadrio comes on and we do an all-in general discussion. Now at that point we often discuss issues - why is there evil in the world, why does God allow suffering, how should we deal with bitterness or anger - so in that last section, all four of us that are on the set at that time kind of discuss issues that come out of what they have said in their stories.”

How do you decide on who to bring on?
“We’ve worked in co-operation with Christian Television Australia in that whole process so Greg Gardiner (chief executive of Christian Television Australia) and Jasmine who work in Queensland actually do a lot of the background work...We’ve had people like, as I mentioned, Gordon Moyes; we’ve put Marina Prior on; Brian Houston and Darlene Zschech; so there’s a whole number of those sorts of people. But we also put on people of interest like Gladys Staines who lost her two sons and husband who were burnt to death in India. We’ve also done an interview with one of my favorite interview(ees), Professor Ian Harper. A lot of people won’t know Ian even though he’s quite well known in the area of economics around Australia and he’s been appointed by the Prime Minister to head up the new Fair Pay Commission...I’ve known Ian for a while and his story is an outstanding story...(Then there's) people like a guy who used to be in the gangs in Cabramatta and it was his story of how that unfolded. That was another great story. So, in essence, it’s a real mix. But the key for me as host is that I’d rather have somebody who nobody knows but who’s got a story that just really shows God’s work in their life in a really special, personal way than a high profile person who is well known in the community but who doesn’t have a story at all.”

Do you get much audience feedback?
“We’ve developed a new website - www.facetofacetv.com.au - and (people) have got the opportunity to order a Bible and give us some responses back through that. There’s four or five things that come through that each week at the moment (which are) responses out of the program. So it’s not a lot, but we’ve just giving the opportunity for that to happen. On Channel Ten we’re shown quite late now - we used to be on at about 11.30pm but we’ve been shuffled back to about 1.30 am now and that reduces the audience enormously. The last series (however) is now on the Australian Christian Channel at nine o’clock on a Sunday night - that’s a great spot - and now that the Australian Christian Channel is on Fox and Austar, there’s a much broader viewership. So we see there will be more responses coming out of that as we get into next year.”

What’s, for you, been the most memorable moment on the show?
“We’ve had a fair few. Having Colin Buchanan on and his doing a couple of songs while he was on - that was a lot of fun...I remember Doug Collins from Nowra - Doug told the story of losing his son who was 13 when he was killed on his bike. Somebody came to his house and said, ‘There’s been an accident down the road, come down’ and he walks down the road and the crowd parts and he saw his son who had died or was dying on the road. I remember also the story of a guy who was caught in the September 11 tragedy in the States - he was in a building at the base of the World Trade Centre and he tells the story of feeling a shudder when the first plane hit and walking outside and watching the second plane. That was quite a moving and remarkable story. Also...Ken Duncan’s got a great story to talk about and got a terrific personality as well. And another one was where a mum whose daughter was looking like she was going to die from cancer and all the turmoil that went with that and yet at the end of the show we were able to bring her daughter on who had survived and was fine. That was a really special moment.”

Has there been a moment you’d rather forget?
“I do remember doing one interview where I got through the first half and thought 'I’ve got nowhere to go with this, I’ve got nothing left - I’ve asked absolutely everything I could think of and I’ve got another eight minutes to go'. I remember asking - 'What do you think of that, what do you think of x and y' and she said, ‘I don’t know, what do you think?’ and I said ‘I don’t know, I’m the one doing the interview’. So there have been a few of those kind of moment where you’re just not sure...”

As you mentioned, the timeslot on Channel Ten is quite late - do you ever think the day will come when you’re on prime time?
“Probably never prime time, I don’t think, because of the narrowish nature of what we do which is talk about faith. Unfortunately what happens is that if you get a better time, you actually have to sort of water down what you’re trying to say and there’s an interesting balance between doing both of those things...(but) I think one of the things that I would like to see the leadership of the networks understand is that they’re pitching at a much broader part of the population than they think they are...”

Why do you think television is such an effective medium to talk to people about God?
“Television is the most powerful medium with which you can communicate the message because it’s both sight and sound. Radio has got an enormous place in the community but it’s harder to get the message across...Television is called mass media but it’s actually a very personal form of communication. You’re sitting in a studio which is a very cold environment but you’re actually talking to people in their most comfortable and intimate environment. They are normally sitting in a darkened, quiet room by themselves listening directly to you. So it’s very much a one-on-one conversation even though it’s not an interactive conversation. There’s lots of drawbacks in all of that...but I still think that the fact you get to talk intimately to people directly and that it’s both sight and sound makes an enormous difference.”

Face to Face have released a “best of” DVD featuring interviews with guests including Ian Harper, Marina Prior, Ken Duncan and Jim Wallace. To order your copy, visit www.facetofacetv.com.au.

Face to Face can be seen on Channel Ten very early Thursday mornings until 4th January. It also airs on the Australian Christian Channel available on the Foxtel, Optus and the Austar cable networks. Check program guides for times.